I have been delighted by the response to this blog. When I decided to start it, my hope was to help…even if it was one or two people. So since I have had a few visitors, I thought it was time to write another post.
It has been just over two years since my second ulnar nerve transposition surgery (left arm). My first was three years ago (right arm). Now I can speak to longer term recovery matters.
If you have read through my blog posts and responses to visitors, you may have noticed that sometimes my elbows felt like I never even had surgery. Other times, there was some discomfort. Here are some things I can tell you:
1. Micro Flare Ups are Real. When I first researched the surgery, I came across posts from people who claimed to experience “micro flare ups” intermittently after resuming normal activity. I can attest that micro flare ups are a real thing. In my right elbow, I have experienced 4-5 of them in the three years since my surgery. My other elbow: none to date. What is a micro flare up? Not sure what of the technical definition but I say it’s when your elbow will just start hurting, seemingly for no reason. Then the pain goes away. A couple of times I thought for sure I was going to require surgery again. The discomfort was pretty severe. And again, it didn’t seem to be triggered by anything specific. I wasn’t lifting weights or playing sports at the time. It just happened. If this happens to you, DON’T PANIC! I learned that pretty quick. Ibuprophen is your best friend. I took 3 several times a day and iced my elbow and that seemed to help. The discomfort has lasted several days to over a week. But again, it went away.
2. Get Back to It! Back in the winter, I decided to really get back to normal activity. I had played hockey and tennis, but was avoiding lifting weights. Sure enough, when I finally decided to give it a shot, there was discomfort in both my elbows. Not a huge amount of pain…more like a pulling sensation. I had a hunch that this was simply because my elbows were not used to this type of activity anymore. I needed to re-train them. Thankfully, I was right. I pushed through the pain. I never “over-did it” (your body will know your limits), but I kept at it. Sure enough, over time, the pain passed. At first I was afraid to go completely “all out” and weight-lift like I did when I was a younger man. So what I did was lower weight, higher repetition exercises. If I started to feel a pulling sensation in my elbow, I stopped. This process has worked. I have found that my body re-adjusted to the increasing weight. For example, there was a point at which curling just 30 pounds of weight caused discomfort after 4 or 5 reps. But eventually, the discomfort didn’t started occurring until after more reps. So after a while I was able to do 10 reps at 30 pounds and started feeling discomfort after a few reps at 40 pounds. What I am trying to say is that my elbows seem to adjust. My limit increased slowly over time.
In June 2017, just over two full years after my left (second) elbow surgery, I decided it was time to try and go “all out.” I joined a gym and eased my way back into a weight-lifting routine. In July, I hired a personal trainer to put me through a kick-butt six-week program. And you know what? No pain. No discomfort. No issues at all with my elbows. I have no data to back it up, but I think my body, including my elbows, was ready to be pushed again. I pushed through the original pain and never looked back. *Remember, I am no doctor and results most likely vary from person to person…so don’t try to push through the pain, injure yourself further, and come back to blame me! Listen to your body, consult your doctor, and make informed decisions!
3. Stretch! Even though it has been several years since my surgeries, I still try to stretch whenever I can. I am a teacher and it’s funny to see some students give me strange looks as I walk down the hallway stretching out my elbows. I just think that if I were to stop stretching, my elbows would be more prone to re-injury. I’m sure any athlete would agree that stretching is important prior to physical activity. So my theory is that being surgically repaired, my elbows would be even more susceptible to injury than non-surgically repaired body parts. So I just take this extra precaution. So far, so good.
4. Finally, I still think to this date that having the surgeries was one of the best decisions of my life. I can’t imagine what my life would be like right now if I was still trying to manage the pain. I feel like I lost almost three years of my life trying cortisone shots and physical therapy instead of just having the surgery. Granted, surgery is reserved as a last resort option but my advice is that if your doctor has suggested it and you are thinking about having the surgery, do it!
I have gotten some really good questions and comments from some really nice people on this blog. Keep them coming. When someone posts a comment, I get an alert sent to my email inbox. So normally I can reply in a short amount of time. As I have stated many times, I am not a doctor, I am not an expert, and all people recover differently. But I am happy to share my experiences and offer what I can in terms of assistance and advice!
Thanks for reading,
Anthony
