ulnar nerve

hello all,

okay so long story short, i think i may have cut my ulnar nerve. I was attacked about 6 days ago in a robbing and i was stabbed. i received 22 stitches to a through and through wound just under my elbow. I cant feel the right side of my hand including half of my ring finger and my entire pinky and i also cant move my fingers apart. My doctor said that it is most likely cut but i feel pain in my hand every 15 minutes like a shock and constant tingling. I was wondering if that means that it isnt cut or just healing? also if it is cut how long will it take to heal and what are the side effects. I play volleyball at a very high level and have a chance of scholarships. I am 16 and very healthy, so what does this mean for me being able to play again? Soon or never again.

Welcome to the forum. Sorry you had to look for us. Have you consulted with a neurosurgeon? The fact that you are having pain (nerve pain stinks!) means that at least something survived. Those 'shocks' are actually a good sign. I have 'permanent' nerve damage to my left ulnar nerve because of an injury to the elbow area. Most of the nerve function has come back although my pinky is weak (aren't all pinkies weak? ha ha) Definitely talk with your doctor about the nerve pain meds. They weren't around back when I was injured, I just had to tough it out. I used putty to help rehab the hand function and massage to desensitize the nerve path. No one can say exactly how long it will take to heal and how much function you will be left with. Are you in physical therapy? I think it is the reason I healed as well as I did. Keep posting, let us know how things go.

I'm sitting here smiling. You sound like an awesome person. Into sports, not the things that can mess up life. Great choice!

Nerves take a while to heal. I don't think anyone can accurately predict 'when' it will be finished healing.

I credit my physical therapist with my attaining such a good result. While your nerve may have been severed, mine was basically shredded. I had torn the rotator cuff in my shoulder and partially tore the bicep tendon and damaged the sheath that kept the nerve in it's place. The insurance company only authorized the doctor to treat the shoulder so it was 5 months of fighting them before I got my EMG done. By that time, with all of the p.t. I had been through on the shoulder and working with the nerve popping out of it's place and moving over the point of the elbow, back and forth like a saw, the nerve was almost shredded through! It couldn't be put back in place, so now it is buried under the muscles on the inside of my arm. Bump the 'funny bone' area and...NOTHING...bump the inside of my arm and get the 'funny bone' effect!

So, now for the serious part. Very carefully, you must discover if your nerves' perception has changed. When I place my arm on something cold, my brain reads it as 'wet'. Hot is still 'hot' thank goodness. I can feel 'itch' but I cannot feel 'scratched'. This used to lead to me injuring myself, scratching and scratching, trying to satisfy the itch. I found that if the area is itchy, scratching the same area of my other arm usually helps the itch to stop. Don't use extremes of temperature to 'test' your function. Warm will suffice to test 'hot'. You don't need to use ice for cold, just something from the fridge will do.

Follow the instructions of your physical therapist and don't overdo! Keep posting, let us know how things progress!

This is time consuming surgery. i believe that everyone is different when it comes to surgery and everyone deals with it differently upon how their body responds to the change. I think as time goes on you will gain strength back, but feeling will be the difficult thing to deal with. When i talked with my surgeon he said the feeling could decrease, increase, or stay the same it just will take time once it has calmed down. When you lose all feeling and you are playing sports you should stop what you are doing that time since it will worsen the pain later and could damage the nerve. Just be cautious and patient that is the best advice i could give.