Question for Elbow Doctors

[Shaun @ Tru6]

3 weeks ago I was trying to get the torsion bar adjuster bolts out of my 4Runner but they wouldn't budge. Bolt is 8 inches long and 7/16 inch thick and I eventually snapped them with my jack handle as a breaker bar.

One side I had to use my left arm to pull and since then, I've had some serious pain on the inside bottom of my elbow and feels like the tendon that connects the triceps to the elbow is torn.

Hurts a lot when I pick something up and hold in front of me, like a box.

I was laying off of it (somewhat) since it was hurt but hauled around a few boxes of pants yesterday and it's very painful just resting today.

Any thoughts? Anything I can do about it?

[steve911]

Shaun-
I'm not a doc, nor did I stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night. However, I do have experience with painful elbows.
It 'sounds' like tennis elbow - aka lateral epicondylitis

Try this link:
http://www.scoi.com/teniselb.htm

I had it several years ago - same symptoms as you - could not even pick up a quart of milk. I iced it and took double doses of aleve (naproxin sodium), which helped - a little.

Finally bit the bullet and saw an orthopedist - got 2 cortisone shots over 9 months IIFC - been pain-free ever since.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Thanks Steve, I'll read up on it.
Hoping to not go to the doctor, but sounds like a good idea from your experience.

[Super_Dave_D]

Use your right hand from now on.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by Super_Dave_D

Use your right hand from now on.

just sit on it for a while first until it goes to sleep and you can do the "Stranger"

Ice is your friend, so is ibuprofen.

[Super_Dave_D]

Sit on your left hand until it goes to sleep while holding ice in your right and you can have a "3some"

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by Shaun 84 Targa

One side I had to use my left arm to pull and since then, I've had some serious pain on the inside bottom of my elbow

"Inside" of elbow? Or "outside" of elbow?

This is the medial side ("inside") of the elbow: Look at the "x"


This is the lateral side ("outside") of the elbow.


If you have pain after pulling (using the flexor forearm/wrist/hand muscles), and your pain is on the "inside" of the elbow, then I'd guess you have medial epicondylitis (aka golfer's elbow).

Give it a lot of rest (no lifting or gripping with that right arm), ice, and NSAIDS like Tobra recommends. You can also do some stretching exercises: arm straight in front of you, palm up, use the other (good) hand to grab the fingers and bend the wrist back. You should feel a stretch along the medial side of the elbow.

[the]

Originally Posted by Shaun 84 Targa

3

Hurts a lot when I pick something up and hold in front of me, like a box.

Anything I can do about it?

Don't pick things up and hold them in front of you, like a box.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

It hurts medially, and now that I'm researching a little, whatever in my upper arm that connects to the ulna is what hurts.

so if I hold my left arm out in front of me and bend my elbow up a soft 90 degrees, i can push a finger/thumb up in the flesh spot on the inside/underside of my upper arm and feel the end of the ulna. it's that area that hurts.

pressing on it a lot makes my hand a little tingly/numb.

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by Shaun 84 Targa

pressing on it a lot makes my hand a little tingly/numb.

Pinky and ring fingers, by any chance? Maybe the pinky side of the hand?

[nostatic]

figures that it's your left arm

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by Shaun 84 Targa

so if I hold my left arm out in front of me and bend my elbow up a soft 90 degrees, i can push a finger/thumb up in the flesh spot on the inside/underside of my upper arm and feel the end of the ulna. it's that area that hurts.

Where, exactly do you have pain? The tip of your elbow (the point of your elbow) is the olecranon. That's the "end" of the ulna (or, rather the "beginning" but that's semantics). It would be unusual if that's what truly hurts.

There's also a bony prominence about two fingerbreadths from the olecranon towards the "x." That's the medial epicondyle, a part of the humerus. Forearm flexor tendon muscles originate from that, and that's what hurts in medial epicondylitis.

Also possible (because it's in that area), but not common, is a partial tear of the biceps tendon. Yes, you can feel the main tendon in the soft fleshy "front" of the elbow (the antecubital fossa, where you get blood drawn). But there are also strands--like a sheet--of connective tissue that anchors the tendon down to the medial side of the elbow; it's called the lacertus fibrosis. That can be torn (or partially torn), giving pain in that area, too. If you have a lot of pain when you rotate your arm to turn your palm up (like in turning a screwdriver), then that might be the culprit. Usually, though, you'd have noticed some bruising in the area. And, usually, biceps tears are more likely in people in their 40s and 50s.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by Noah930

Pinky and ring fingers, by any chance? Maybe the pinky side of the hand?

yup! I can feel a pull in the valley between the two fingers as well.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I hit it with a Sharpie.

[Noah930]

Those black areas look like they're somewhere on the triceps--pretty far away from the elbow. If so, probably some general musculoskeletal strain, as a triceps tear is pretty unusual, there. I'd stick with Tobra's recommendation, in the meantime.

The hand/fingers are numb because of nerve irritation. Between the olecranon and medial epicondyle is the cubital tunnel. That's where the ulnar nerve runs. In layman's terms, that's the "funny bone." With elbow inflammation, the nerve can become pinched in the cubital tunnel. You feel that as numbness and tingling in the distribution of that nerve: the small finger, ring finger, and pinky side of the hand.

Most likely, it'll resolve as the elbow swelling resolves. You can try to sleep with your arms straight in the meantime (most of us sleep with our arms curled, which stretches the ulnar nerve as it runs the "long way" around the axis of rotation of the elbow, and further irritates it). And avoid resting your elbow/nerve on anything (i.e. table, armchair) for awhile. If it still bothers you, then you can go see an upper extremity surgeon about cubital tunnel syndrome.

If you want to see someone, I can give you a few names to call.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

THanks a lot, this is a big help, as well for the offer of referrals. I just got the Mass mandatory basic (free) health insurance so I'm going to meet my assigned Dr. on this to start, but may want to see someone you would recommend.

Red is the outline of my ulna. I'll lay off of it even more than I have been and ice it as well. I do tend to sleep with one arm straight under my pillow, so that's good. Appreciate the help!

[Tobra]

Olecranon, I always loved that word

ice 20-30 min on 30 min off, repeat, don't do stuff that irritates it for a while, if you lived here I would give you some tubigrip, cylindrical compressive stuff, very handy, prefer it to ace wrap. You can also take a small paper cup, a dixie cup if you will, fill it up from 1/2 to 2/3 or even full with water, stick it in the freezer; when solid peel the paper back from the open end and rub on affected area. Don't do it for more than 5 or 10 minutes if applying directly or you will damage the skin, which can be a very bad thing. Cold injuries really suck, they are painful and can become a sensitivity to cold, think of it as severe allergic to cold. Hello Central America, hope you aren't blonde or red with hazel or blue eyes. You could just wear lots of sunscreen, I suppose, that is what I make my wife do.

Eat something, take ibuprofen 600-800 mg WITH FOOD 3 times a day or two alleve twice a day WITH FOOD

Take it easy

[Noah930]

That red crescent you drew looks to be the medial epicondyle. The bony bump that you'll feel (but can't really see in your pic) at the location of the dimple in the skin folds is where the olecranon is.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Thank you again for the great advice. I'll put it to work today and get some tubigrip online. surprised CVS doesn't carry it.

[Tobra]

thereare various sizes of tubigrip, you will probably have to buy a whole roll(a lot) You don't want it too tight, can double it up(sort of turn it inside out so you have two layers and increase compression.) If you have to buy a big ass roll of it, just use an ace wrap. I like it because it gives nice, even compression.