Half of my hand is numb and tingly after an elbow injury. Why?

Question

Hi doctor,

I am a 38-year-old female, and my height is 5 feet 9 inches with a weight of about 125 lbs. One day I hit my left elbow really hard on the broken end of a two-by-four wood. Since then, my thumb, index finger, and half of my arm all the way up to my elbow have been numb and tingly. The position of the arm does not seem to matter. Numbness and the tingly feeling never go away. Also, I am not able to grip with my left hand the way that I used to.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

Looking into your problem, I feel there is entrapment of the nerve supplying at the elbow. Basically, three nerves pass through the elbow: radius, median and ulnar nerves. In your case, you might have two nerves injured which include the median and radius that supply the thumb and index finger.

I want you to do the nerve conduction study of the radius, ulnar and median nerve. The ulnar nerve has the worst prognosis compared to the other two nerves.

Meanwhile, I would recommend you to use some elbow support braces and take the following drugs that will help in the regeneration of these nerves.

Tablet Methylcobalamin 1500 mcg PO sublingual once daily for two weeks.
Capsule Gabapentin 100 mg twice daily for two weeks.

Wishing you a speedy recovery