Ulnar nerve glides

[SwissDanny]

I seem to be suffering a pretty classic case of ulnar nerve irritation. The ring and little fingers go numb. It comes on at night if I sleep, as is my norm, with my arms bent in a foetal position; if it wakes me I just lie on my back with arms straight, by my side and it goes away in a few seconds. It seems to be exacerbated if I've done a lot of grip intensive stuff that day, and there is no doubt that the onset has coincided with adding muscle to both triceps and forearms recently.

I used to suffer mild carpal tunnel symptoms, but since moving to a trackball for the PC and regularly doing the ST wrist and hand stretches those have basically disappeared.

I know the lying pec and bicep stretches include a neural glide component, that I do include when I regularly do those stretches. I found a number of other glides on the interweb, and not so practical advice like sleeping with towels wrapped around the elbows to prevent bending. However Im sure people here will have so great tried and tested things to integrate into a solution for this.

Thoughts greatly appreciated.

[Kit_L]

Scalenes, SwissDanny. See here:

Tight scalenes are a major and usually unsuspected cause of all the problems you describe above. Google "TOS" or "TOCS". kl

[SwissDanny]

I will give those a go, and report back... thanks Kit.

[Ciaran]

@SwissDanny - just wondering if this ever resolved for you?

[MarkTN]

I agree that releasing the scalenes (along with the pec minor) is an excellent strategy for many brachial plexus issues. I also recommend consider stretchng the subscapularis. Because this large, powerful muscle is difficult to touch I think it's often over looked. 

Last year I was having some really troublesome unlar nerve irritation/numbness. I did Kit's neck/scalene routines every couple of days for a couple weeks and that definitely helped but the numbness would return daily. I also received chiropractic and deep massage directed at the pec minor but the benefits were  short lived. What ultimately healed my situation was soft tissue work (ART) directed to the subscapularis combined with Kit's stick stretch rotator cuff routine between sessions. The rationale as the ART therapist explained it to me for my situation was my subscapularis was over working in a habitual pattern of internal rotation which was probably over compensating for a weak serratus anterior. The subscapularis can impinge the brachial plexus as it emerges from the axila similar to how the scalenes can impinge the BP as it enters the torso. 

This is my experience and understanding. Hope it helps. I think it's Effective to try working above and below, up and down stream, especially with neurological issues that have a soft tissue impingement aspect. 

[SwissDanny]

21 hours ago, Ciaran said:

@SwissDanny - just wondering if this ever resolved for you?

@Ciaran At the moment it seems to be a lot less annoying, probably coinciding with a phase where I've been doing a lot less barbell and handstand work that a few months ago.

I did do the scalene stretches for a while, perhaps not long enough, as it certainly didnt provide noticeable short term relief.  I've tried to use my arms less as a head prop as I sleep on my side and slightly modify my position.  I dont always remember to do this when Im actually asleep, but I do seem to remember to "reset" my position it it wakes me, so it is slowly becoming a habit.

[Ciaran]

@marktn - interesting thst you bring up the subscap as my attention has definitely started to go there.

@swissdanny - sorry did you mean it did provide short term relief?

[jaja]

I hijack this post for a similar issue. During summer I compressed my left ulnar nerve during dips. Form was not clean, weight was heavy and bars were narrow. Had symptoms of ischemia for days, located mainly in my hand and wrist (tingling sensations, pain, etc). A key part of recovery was pisiform mobilization, rest from dips and neural glides. Took almost a month to recover completely.

Problem is, from time to time, the nerve resumes bothering me again. I'm unsure about the actual cause and symptoms are mild (only slight discomfort in the wrist/fingers and  hypothenar muscles lightly swollen), but I'd like to get to the root of the issue or at least find a tool that I know I can rely on every time. Is there a way to treat inflammation in nerves? Some effective stretches for that area? The flexor carpi ulnaris is quite difficult to target.

 

Thank you.