When should you go to the doctor for a fall on your elbow?

Call your doctor right away if you have: Severe pain, swelling and bruising around the joint. Trouble moving your elbow normally, using your arm or turning your arm from palm up to palm down and vice versa.

Can hitting your elbow cause nerve damage?

Its most vulnerable point is at the elbow. If you’ve ever hit your elbow, or “funny bone,” hard and felt a tingling down to your fingers, you’ve compressed your ulnar nerve. Leaning on your elbow for a long time can also irritate the nerve.

How do you tell if your elbow is broken or sprained?

6 Signs of an Elbow Fracture

1. Swelling and bruising of the elbow.
2. Extreme pain.
3. Stiffness in and around the elbow.
4. Snap or pop at the time of the injury.
5. Visible deformity.
6. Numbness or weakness in the arm, wrist and hand.

Can hitting your elbow cause numbness?

Fluid buildup in the elbow can cause swelling that may compress the nerve. A direct blow to the inside of the elbow can cause pain, electric shock sensation, and numbness in the little and ring fingers. This is commonly called “hitting your funny bone.”

What common injury occurs at the elbow joint?

Many things can make your elbow hurt. A common cause is tendinitis, an inflammation or injury to the tendons that attach muscle to bone. Tendinitis of the elbow is a sports injury, often from playing tennis or golf. You may also get tendinitis from overuse of the elbow.

What should you do if you hit a nerve in your elbow?

At its most vulnerable spot, the ulnar nerve passes through a channel called the cubital tunnel. It is there that protection is limited to only a thin coating of skin and minimal fat. Typically, when you hit the ulnar nerve, you give it 30 seconds, shake your arm around and that fleetingly pain goes away.

Do you need a cast for a fractured elbow?

Your treatment depends on how bad the break is. Your doctor may have put your arm in a cast or splint to allow your elbow to heal or to keep it stable until you see another doctor. You also may wear a sling to help support your arm. It may take weeks or months for your elbow to heal.

Can you move your arm if you have a fractured elbow?

The elbow is made up of a group of bones that connect the humerus (upper arm) to the ulna and the radius (the forearm bones). The olecranon or “tip of the elbow” is part of the ulna. If a fracture occurs in any of these bones, it can cause extreme pain and greatly impair your ability to move your arm.

What happens if you hit your ulnar nerve really hard?

The ulnar nerve is what creates the shock-like sensation when you hit the funny bone in your elbow. You may lose sensation and have muscle weakness in your hand if you damage your ulnar nerve. This is known as ulnar nerve palsy or ulnar neuropathy.