Question
A few months ago I noticed that the pinky and ring finger were numb on my left hand.  The numbness then moved up to my middle, index fingers and thumb, with normal feeling being restored to my pinky and ring fingers.  Then I started to notice my pinky would lock up when I would bend it and be very painful.  While waiting for my doctors appointment, the same symptoms have happened to my right hand; locking painful pinky and numb middle and index fingers and thumb.  It's probably been a month or more since both hands have had the numbness and pain.  I have a doctors appointment next month, but to be honest, I don't have much faith in her.  When I first mentioned it to her, she really didn't pay too much attention to it.  Some background on me...I'm a 38 year old male. 5'8" 170lbs, workout in the gym a few times a week.  I have very bad aching/pain in shoulders when arms are raised above them for any extended period of time.  I have been diagnosed with tennis elbow on my left arm and had surgery to fix it in May 2007 with no additional problems, and golfers elbow on my right arm that PT did not help and otherwise has gone untreated and is very painful.  I don't know if some additional information is relevant or not, but I was in a severe car accident when I was 17 years old.  I was a passenger in the front seat of a vehicle and we hit a telephone pole going about 65 miles an hour.  I wasn't wearing a seatbelt, hit the windshield with the right side of my face and I landed on the drivers lap (who was wearing a seatbelt).  My face had many fractures, my nose was broken and pushed to the left and I had an internal fracture (the plate the brain rests on...that's how it was explained to me).  Other than that I was not diagnosed with any neck or back injuries.  Actually, I HAVE had a bad back on and off since I was about 12 years old, sometimes severe pain, sometimes not.  I have also broken 2 additional windshields with my forehead from car accidents....at much much much lower speeds.  I know I've given you a lot of information, but I hope it saves or answers some questions you may have.  I truly am grateful for any help at all, and I would like to thank you in general for helping people.  It is very very noble of you.

Answer
Without a face to face exam, it would be very difficult to diagnose.  But...given your background history, you may have a variety of conditions, all coming down to the present symptoms.  If you haven't seen a chiropractor, I would encourage you to do so, before any unnecessary surgeries are done to alleviate your problem.  You may have a repetitive motion injury to the upper arms/shoulder area, causing problems to focus to the elbows.  Couple that with weightlifting, which can cause problems in the wrists (compression leading to numbness from nerve pressure), which, when present, can also cause problems to the elbows.  A good chiropractor should be able to evaluate and treat this, and couple it with a good rehabilitative program.