Everyone has at least once, struck their elbow on an entrance way, wall, floor or some other hard surface and promptly experienced sharp pain in the bone. Most individuals allude to this as hitting their funny bone. For many the pain subsides within a couple of minutes. However in some cases, you may have actually chipped your elbow or cracked the bone. What should you do and will it recuperate and show signs of improvement if left alone to heal?
There are some best chipped elbow bone practices and advice you show learn and become familiar with before you start shelling out money on hospital visits or worrying about going under the knife for elbow surgery.
As with sort of extremity injury, the first step is to immediately apply ice – this is simple first aid stuff. This will help dull the pain and help decrease the swelling in your elbow. If the pain and/or swelling does not subside within 24 hours, then please get to your hospital as soon as possible as medical professionals will most definitely need to x-ray your elbow to rule out a broken or cracked bone.
Below is a picture of what a chipped right humerus elbow bone looks like on an x-ray:
Did you know that your elbow is formed by the connection of 3 bones? The humerus bone which runs from your shoulder down to your elbow. The ulna and radius bones run up/down your forearm and connect at the elbow as well.
The 3 bones are held together at the joint by tendons, muscles and ligaments. This permits your elbow joint to move freely and maintains stability.
When you strike or hit your funny bone, you’re really not hitting your elbow bone whatsoever. The shivering feeling is really an after effect of hitting the ulnar nerve that runs down within your arm close to your elbow from your neck to your hand. When you strike your ulnar nerve it gets pressed or squeezed against your humerus bone(upper arm bone) and you get a “pins and needles” feeling in your elbow/arm. This sensation and feeling usually goes away after 2 or 3 minutes.
If the pain does not subside with 30 mins, it is possible that you have sprained your elbow. Go here to read about the recommended recovery time for a sprained elbow.
There are many ways in which you can chip or crack the bone in your elbow. The usual two ways are from direct or indirect blows.
A direct blow to the elbow can be from a fall onto a hard surface where the brunt of the force is take at your elbow. You could also be hit with a hard object such as bat, shovel, stick. There are cases of people chipping their elbow from car crash roll overs.
Rarely does it occur whereby someone causes a bone chip when they outstretch their arm to break their fall and the suffer a dislocation of their elbow. Although not considered a bone chip, this is a serious and painful injury that will require immediate medical help.
It is possible in some cases that your elbow pain does not go away. In a worst case scenario, it is possible that you’ve really chipped one of the bones in your elbow. It is then you start to experience some chipped or broken elbow bone symptoms such as swelling and you are not able to move your arm/bend your elbow like you used to.
On the off chance that you’ve really taken a chip out of your elbow, you will most likely have to see a surgeon. Chipping the bone requires a hard, blunt strike to the bone. Most Doctors simply refer to it as a broken arm as opposed to a broken elbow.
Symptoms you can expect when your elbow is chipped can include any or all of the following:
• Discomfort at the location of the strike or fall.
• Inability to use your arm as you normally would.
• Decrease in your arm’s range of motion.
• Inflammation and swelling of your affected arm.
Some people can actually feel the chipped piece of bone under their skin. It may even distend a little and be greatly delicate to the touch. In the event that you can really feel the bone drifting around under the skin, I suggest you take a trek to your closest clinic and be seen by a specialist.
The Doctor or specialist will immediately do the following:
• Observe the injured area and look for any signs of swelling, bruising or contusions.
• Get you to point to the area where you have the most pain.
• Ask you to wiggle your fingers of your affected arm.
• Ask you to extend your arm fully to see if you have pain.
Next you will have a x-ray to discover the affected area of your chipped elbow. Contingent upon the size of the chip and area, you may oblige surgery to expel the chip from your elbow. It may take a few weeks for your issue that has yet to be resolved and chip to “develop back”. The specialist may prescribe that your arm be put into a cast to minimize development and quicken the recuperation and healing time.
So as you can tell from this article, a chipped bone in your elbow is very much the same as a broken arm. The steps that a Doctor normally takes to diagnose it and treat it are almost identical.
So what can you do for a chipped and cracked elbow bone? With respect to treatment, after the bone has recuperated and your arm cast has been cut off, you will require particular elbow and arm strengthening exercises. The best kind of activity standard to take after to help recuperate from a chipped elbow bone are the ones recommended for tennis elbow injuries. We know that the only way to overcome these types of injuries is by focusing on the tennis elbow muscles and learning how to strengthen them.
All it truly takes are 5 straight forward tennis elbow treatment steps for a chipped elbow bone that you can perform and take after from the solace and accommodation of your own home. Also the best part is that you can sit in your comfortable seat and do them while viewing your most loved TV program.
