Hello all,

I am new to this forum, I was just diagnosed last week with Cubital Tunnel Syndrome. I am currently in the process of trying conservative therapy consisting of an elbow pad and physical therapy. If my symptoms do not improve within 6 weeks, I will probably undergo a nerve tranposition. I have been having pain in my left arm for two years and I recently started to have trouble with grip and strength as well as numbness. I am a registered nurse and I work at a children's hospital in the neonatal intensive care unit. My hands are so important in my job, I have to be precise, especially on the smallest patients, some as small as 1 lb. I am hoping to have the pain and numbness resolved as soon as possible, without jumping in to anything unnescessary. I am fortunate to have a very good group of hand surgeons available to me. Louisville, Kentucky is the home of Kleinert and Kutz, they were the first physicians to do a hand transplant. I feel very lucky to have such skilled surgeons in my area.

One question that has been on my mind is how long will I have to be off work? I know that no one will will know for sure and that the best person to ask is the surgeon but I would like to know how long each of you was off of work and what type of work you do. Thanks so much!!!

Kari

Hi Kari, time off depends alot on you and your job. In June I had decompression surgery, which is less invasive than tranposition. I was back to work 5 days after surgery but not using my arm. It was about 2 weeks before I could try typing, and about 4 weeks before I was proficient again. Still not 100% after 10 weeks but better than before surgery.

Good luck with your treatment!

Howdy Kari,

I had multiple surgeries just so you know. In so far as the Cubital Tunnel (plus I had Guyon's release in the hand and wrist), I was back with light duty after 5 weeks. My job - Law Enforcement. I had my surgery in April, still not 100%, but better since surgery. Light duty for an additional 6 weeks. I still restrict myself a little bit (hand), but overall, full duty after 3 months. Hope that helps.

One month off for me, then light duty for another month. Still being somewhat guarded after 3 months. Good luck with your surgery!

simodo wrote:

QUOTE:
One month off for me, then light duty for another month. Still being somewhat guarded after 3 months. Good luck with your surgery!

Simodo, guarded, good word. I don't wear any covering over my elbow anymore, but I still wear a "glove" to cover the incision on my hand. I can put pressure on it, and squish the scar to massage it, but it still doesn't like "light" touches as it is still sensitive. "Guarded" I like that term.

Best use of elbow pad may be to reverse it so that you can't bend your arm.

Does return to work imply using your hand?

Mine was a club for 2 weeks and it was 4 weeks before I
could squeeze my bikes brakes and 4 months before I trusted it enough to operate the clutch lever.

YMMV

get quantitative grip and pinch testing
and a comparable pre intervention measure of personally relevant function , ie some task you do such as typing, guitar picking , flipping off cell phone users ,or signaling to Vulcans, so you can have an objective measure of change for comparison