In my case

In Reply to: kathy posted by debbie on March 04, 2004 at 20:44:00:

: : : : : Hey all, how lucky am I to have come across this great site?!?!! Here is my situation: I went to a physiatrist three days ago to have him look at a chronic upperback injury as well as tingling in my pinkie and ring fingers in my left hand I have been experiencing the last three months. Appearantly the back injury and tingling are not related. After having an EMG, the doc said I have 50% blockage of the ulnar nerve at the elbow. This was a shock to me because I have never had problems with my elbow. He jumped into saying I needed surgery, but we could try a cortisone shot first. I have scheduled an appointment to have a cortisone shot next week to see if that takes care of the problem. I have also made a more conscious effort to keep my arms straight at work, sleep with a brace on at night, and I am taking Vit B-6 which I hear can help. I am real confused about all of this because I have not lost any strenth in my hand and am not having any tingling except in the pinkie and ring fingers. My elbow is not numb nor is my forearm. Do you think I should get a second opinion? Should I ask for an MRI? Do you think it is just a coincidence that the problem area is on the same side that I hurt my back? I started a job that requires me to be at a desk all day about seven month ago, so I am thinking that may be the culprit.

: : : : : If it is cubital tunnel syndrome, does anyone have any words of wisdom or advice? Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks is advance.

: : : :
: : : : I am certianly not a doc but based on my own experience I would certainly think the two can be related. I had the tingling and numbness in the pinky and ring finger start last summer. I had no back injury though. But as time progressed, the pain became pretty strong in my hand and in the elbow area and then my little finger starting getting a contracture since the nerve was not doing what it should. In Nov even though my nerve conduction test was normal, I did do the surgery to release the nerve at the elbow.

: : : : The doc found a severly constricted nerve in the tunnel and says he is glad we did it inspite of the normal nerve test. Unfortunately for me, while the surgery corrected that problem, and should have gotten me back to normal, it did not. I still have that tingling sensation in the fingers but now I have it all the way down the underside of my arm from elbow to wrist also. The surgeon decided this new development was not related to the elbow nerve issue and did xrays and an MRI on the neck/spine area. Those do show impingement at the nerve root also so he speculates the neck issue may have happend first, and caused a double crush syndrome, where the nerve in the arm is reacting to the impingement at the neck. I am seeing a spinal specialist next week to see what they think is causing it. So I would say, dependng on what part of the upper back your injury was in, that you could very well have had something that caused this issue.

: : : : If you are not losing strength in the hand or movement I would say try the shots and see what they do for you. But if you do lose the ability to use those fingers, I would ask the doc what teh risks are associated with waiting for a surgery. Mine told me there was a risk, if the nerve was bad enough, of an impact on the other fingers and I was not willing to take that risk

: : : : kathy

: : : After reading your post Kathy it would seem we should get MRI'S before deciding on surgeries then. Ellen said this awhile back, get an MRI.
: : : Debbie

: : Probably but at the cost of them I doubt that many docs are suggesting them. In my case it would have still shown that I needed the arm surgery but at least I would have known there was a neck issue too

: : kathy

: But do you think maybe if you had the MRI first and then could have taken care of your neck problems, you may have avoided surgery on your arm?
: Just a thought..
: Debbie

the tingling came on so fast and the finger problems started so quickly that he speculates the arm nerve was in bad shape and just did not give the normal warning signs. the neck had never bothered me until just recently though. But I do think that it would show what the issue is with many people. My body just tends to mask conditions to long.