Hey guys!
I am speaking on behalf of my friend who has been having a real tough time with what has been identified as ulnar nerve subluxation. He doesn’t know you guys very well, but I wanted to reach out and see if you have dealt with anything like this before since he is really struggling because he has had 2 surgeries now with partial alleviation of symptoms.
Some background:
My friend is 5’11,27, and is in outstanding shape. He trains like a body-builder and has trained for a number of years. About 3 years ago he started to notice his elbow ‘snapping’ during all pressing movements (At the bottom position where the arm is flexed). We used to train together and I kid you not you could feel and hear this thing snapping over his elbow. He said it was not painful, but admits it was a very strange feeling, and if he continued with the set he would begin to feel numbness and tingling in his fingers and forearm. After some time, it progressed from him just feeling it during pressing movements to whenever he would flex his elbow. He even said he would feel numbness when he would walk sometimes. After various visits with the doctor and discussion of appropriate course of action, they recommended surgery. They performed a surgery to try and fix the nerve, which I assume this meant that the nerve was entrapped and they had to move it to a secondary location to give it space? Anyways, the surgery fixed the numbness and they also found bone fragments that may have been nicking the nerve, so they removed those. There was no prescribed rehab but had to wear a sling for a month, and the arm was wrapped for 2 months, and could start extremely light training by 3 months, with no restrictions by 4-5 months post op. When he began working out again, he noticed the snapping again but no numbness. He was doing very light machines. No barbells. Heavier weights caused more severe popping than light weights. So, the first surgery did not fix the snapping, but it did fix the numbness/pain. He describes the snapping as incredibly uncomfortable (like a really vicious knee popping), and that his elbow felt very loose and not stable. They opted for another surgery to fix the snapping and was again told he could start light training 3 months post op and no restrictions 4-5months post op. This did not fix the snapping when training was resumed. He says that he feels the snapping regardless of weight on any tricep movement, and still feels it on other pressing movements as well. The doctors are recommending another surgery to try and fix it. He is really discouraged and doesn’t want to go through this again, especially since it hasn’t worked the previous two times. He just wants to get back to training with no restrictions.
Do you guys have any experience with this?