Question
I injured my Ulnar nerve on my left hand nearly 5 months back. I had tingling feeling at my small and ring fingers and initially I could not bend my elbow properly, but after a month I was able to bend my elbow to a good degree. I visited a doc and he said it will get well automatically and gave me a few antioxidants/multivitamin tabs. I am still continuing those. After 2 months of the injury I was still feeling the tingling sensation at the two fingers. I was advised to take Methyl Cobalamin injections of 500 mcg for 15 days, which I took religiously. There was some improvement after that. Now, since the last 5-6 weeks I am having some irritation on my wrist joint, my elbow (sometimes), my forearm (I can feel the nerve) and sometimes on my upper arm. While typing I can feel some irritation on my finger tips - middle and index. After some use of my left hand the irritation starts. The arteries/veins(?) near my wrist becomes fatter and prominent. My index, middle and thumb do not have any numbness, only some irritation while doing some activity (like typing). If I hold a book for sometime, the irritation starts. So, I have to read keeping the book on a table.

There is no sign of muscle weakness, no problem in the movement of the arm. One or two days, I had some pain in my left shoulder towards the neck. Currently I am having Gabapantene (300 mg) and Methyl Cobalamin (500 mcg) tablets for 10 days now. Also I am taking multivitamins and antioxidants.

After typing this long, I can feel a little discomfort in my upper arm, and can feel the nerve on my forearm towards the elbow, albeit, without any pain. Some bit of irritation is there on my thumb as well.

I have given the exact description of the problem I am facing. Please let me know if I need to do something else too, or wait for a few more weeks to get the pain subsided.

Thanks in Advance
-Joshua

Answer
Dear Joshua,

I am sorry for your arm pain.  Thank you for the detailed description of your symptoms and what you have tried to do to help yourself.

The thing that becomes evident as I read your history is that your care so far has been limited to only medication and nutritional support. While these can be helpful, if you are suffering from a nerve compression syndrome, you might require more of a physical therapy/rehabilitation approach.

It is difficult to know, because it is impossible to know to what extent the ulnar nerve was injured.  

I do know that cervical spine... or neck problems... can also cause neurological symptoms in the arms and legs.  You should make sure that your doctor is addressing this possibility through a good physcial exam of the neck and, if warranted, advanced imaging of the neck to determine if there is neuropathy related to cervical discopathy or spondylosis/arthritis.

It sounds to me like you might benefit from nerve conduction velocity and EMG neurologica testing. At times, these types of tests can help to determine the location of neurological entrapment or pathology.  A neurologist MD would help you with this.

I hope that this gives you some ideas, Joshua.  Good luck with your arm pain. Please forgive my late response to your question.  The demands of chiropractic practice can often dominate a lot of one's time.

Thank you, good luck.

Keith Biggs, DC
http://www.eastmesachiropractor.com