Anybody ever have trouble with your ulnar nerve? The worst part is I don’t know what caused it. Swimming was making my pinky and ring finger tingle, but it could have been the road bike (hands on bars) too. Been on diclofenac for a couple of weeks and now it just seems to be at the elbow. It was in my forearm and on the inside of my upper arm. Holding my arm in a bent postion definately aggrevates it. What can I do?
Stay on your medication. If not better, see your doctor. I don’t know what tests you’ve had done, but you may need a nerve conduction study on your arm to see if your ulnar nerve truly is being impeded in which case you may need an ulnar nerve release (surgery). Good luck.
I had this problem very seriously several years ago caused by many things, including my computer station at work, cycling, swimming, side sleeping, and who knows what else. One of the problems was shoulder impingement from several of these activities, as well as pressure on the bottom-outside of my palms from the bike handlebars. Typing and using the mouse at work also aggravated it.
I got the nerve test done for $800 and then the doc told me they would do surgery to remove my ulnar nerve from the channel where it goes through the elbow (the funny bone). Then the nerve would sit on the outside of the elbow joint. I decided that surgery should be the last resort, not the first, so I tried several other remedies. Here they are in no particular order:
- deep tissue massage therapy, especially in the pec/shoulder/arm. Find an experienced massage therapist. This was very painful but very effective.
- switch to a more ergonomic computer station at work.
- stretches for shoulder, as well as for hands. PM me if you want more details.
- Learned to sleep on back instead of side. This caused a different problem for my wife - snoring.
- Adopted a more upright position on my road bike to take pressure off of hands. Also found ways to dampen vibrations in handlebars, bought gloves with special pads for ulnar nerve, and switched to Specialized bar tape with gel. I find I have fewer problems on my tt bike than on my road bike.
- NSAIDS
- More stretching, especially before and after bike rides and swims.
I never had the surgery. Sometimes I have minor flareups, but I just try to manage it. I read many accounts of bad experiences with the surgery, so I don’t plan to ever go that route.
I had an issue with this last fall and it ridiculously obvious (in hindsight).
Started a new job with new furniture and had started a bad habit of leaning on the desk with my forearms, resting forearms on cubicle walls talking with people and lean on my armrests when I wasn’t leaning on my desk. Took a few months (3?) for things to get back to normal.
I’ve had it in my left elbow/ funny bone for almost a year. I first thought it was from Crossfit (pullups and dips) or from riding the drops. I stopped CF, tried riding in different positions…nothing helped it. Also thought running with arms locked at 90 degree angle might aggravate it so I shake out the arms every 20 min or so while running.
I tried massage, Perform gel, Tigerbalm, even a few laser treatments. Its not super painful, just enough to let me know its there. I do miss pullups though : (