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Ulnar Nerve Entrapment 2-Feb-2012 At 3:00:39 AM elaine stevenson

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Hi There,

Ulnar nerve entrapment, assuming that's what you've got, is quite a common problem and arises at a number of points along the nerve's pathway. Would strongly suggest you seek out a good manual therapist and get them to assess and treat.

Personally I'd suggest seeing an osteopath or perhaps a myotherapist with a **particular** interest in manual (hands-on) therapy for upper limb problems and peripheral joints. Ideally I'd be seeking out someone with an appreciation of the sorts of things you do - ie climbing etc. Both would have the assessment skills to be able to work out what was going on for you. They also have a range of different soft tissue and joint manipulation/mobilisation techniques which would assist in decompressing the nerve in question. A physiotherapist may also be helpful too, but again, ask around and find someone with a particular interest in elbow/arm issues. Equally, there are some excellent remedial therapists out there who get very good results too.

That said, make sure you get a recommendation before you see someone. Not all therapists are alike and often it's a matter of the skills and interests of the person you see - and the additional training they've done **after** they finished their physio/osteo/chiro/myo etc training, rather than the base qualifications that they hold. If you're stuck, email me some details of whereabouts you are - ie which city/state - and I'll make some enquiries among my colleagues.

There are surgical procedures which can assist in decompressing the nerve - assuming that's the problem, however, like all surgery, there'll be a degree of collateral damage (ie incisions into skin and subcutaneous layers, etc), you'll also have some down-time - for healing, and any surgery carries some level risk (admittedly small these days) for complications such as infection, scarring, adhesions etc and therefore the general recommendation is to avoid it unless absolutely necessary - ie where conservative approaches aren't available and/or fail to produce the desired result.

Hope that helps and good luck with getting it sorted.

Cheers!

Elaine.