Question about minor nerve damage following fractured arm and ORIF surgery

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regder

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Figured I'd ask here, perhaps a few others here have had something similar

Fractured the ulna and radius in my left forearm in a bike crash a little over two months ago. Had plates and screws put on both bones the same day.

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From the beginning after the surgery I had numbness in my left thumb. Had the cast removed after three weeks and the numbness continued. It has become better over time but the progress seems to have plateaued. At this point, between the joint at the middle of my thumb to the base of the fingernail on the top half of my thumb, I can't feel texture or much of anything except pressure. There is also some minor tingling when I touch the fleshy area between my index finger and my thumb. This tingling feeling is duplicated if I rub the scar over the radius incision.

Both my family doctor and orthopedist have told me it might get better with time, but not to worry about it as it's so minor. I haven't had any other issues following the surgery so I'm conflicted if it's worth pursuing, but it does bother me that I might have this for the rest of my life. Any had something similar before or advice?
 
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meant to post this in Romper Room if one of the mods can move it
 
Take this with a grain of salt as I'm not a neurologist but I have worked on developing new neurological drugs in the past. Everything I heard/read of relating to nerve damage like this repairs slowly. A lot slower than many other repair processes in the body. As an example I used to have some pretty interesting nerve damage in my hand and arm from exposure to some nasty chemicals a long time ago. I figure that took several years to go away completely. The breaks in my leg also had some nerve damage, numbness etc. This got slowly better over a period of years. Right now it's basically all fine but this is after several years.
 
I had wrist surgery on the left hand which required the tendons to be cut and during my recovery, i noticed something might be wrong, but it was hard to notice, as my hand was pretty much useless anyways. After about 2 months, i went in for rehab, to start using my hand again, and i found out that the nerves were severed then repaired during the operation. i lost complete feeling from the inside of my ring finger to the pinky the palm was fine, but the top was gone. it was like someone covered that area in wax/tape.
used to have fun with it at the bar, or during a party, i could put a cigarette out on it, lol
anyways, the surgeon told me that the feeling might come back in time, but i figured that was crap

maybe about 6 or 7 years went by and i had all but given up on it, or maybe it was just me being used to it but it seemed like one day i started to notice that i was stgarting to have feelings again in that area. a few more years went by and now i have total feeling back.

however, i get pins and needles alot , especially when i ride. no big deal for me, i just let my arm hang down for a minute and its fixed. who knows, maybe that might fix itself as well.

anyways, the point is, yes the feeling CAN come back, but it takes a long time.
my sugery was maybe 12 years ago.
 
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I fell while skiing a few years back and injured my hand. Outwardly there wasn't any obvious injury, but I must have hit it in a way that damaged a nerve and i lost all feeling in my thumb. I could still move it, but like the poster above I probably could have put a cigarette out on it and wouldn't have felt a thing. I gave up on getting any feeling back after 6 months, but out of nowhere I got all feeling back after a year.

So don't despair, it's not unusual for the nerves to take a much longer time to heal.
 
I had knee surgery back in 1983. The whole front of my knee has no feeling to this day. Depending upon how well they aligned the tissues from the incision the nerves will either rejoin or they won't. In my case they never made the connection. YMMV
 
the type of nerve damage you report is common after injury/surgery. there is nothing that can be done about it and there is generally practically nothing that can be done to prevent it (aside from what is already done).

it will likely resolve over time. nerves grow back at a rate of 2-3 millimeters per month.

seeing as it's only sensation in a small area, I wouldn't be too concerned about it. just be careful when handling sharp/hot objects on that portion of your hand, so as to avoid injury.
 
Hey,

I snapped my arm pretty bad almost 9 years ago near the wrist. It looked like my radius ended up in the palm of my hand. Nerve damage and all. Had 2 surgeries, some hardware and an external fixation device installed, later, all removed. 9 years past and my hand is still numb and a little bit retarded :D

Most noticeable when fondling women, holding something hot or cold and popping wheelies. Don't worry about it, life goes on.
 
I had surgery on my leg 11 years ago. I still have yet to feel anything on that portion of my leg.
 
bunmanchi said:
I had wrist surgery on the left hand which required the tendons to be cut and during my recovery, i noticed something might be wrong, but it was hard to notice, as my hand was pretty much useless anyways. After about 2 months, i went in for rehab, to start using my hand again, and i found out that the nerves were severed then repaired during the operation. i lost complete feeling from the inside of my ring finger to the pinky the palm was fine, but the top was gone. it was like someone covered that area in wax/tape.
used to have fun with it at the bar, or during a party, i could put a cigarette out on it, lol
anyways, the surgeon told me that the feeling might come back in time, but i figured that was crap

maybe about 6 or 7 years went by and i had all but given up on it, or maybe it was just me being used to it but it seemed like one day i started to notice that i was stgarting to have feelings again in that area. a few more years went by and now i have total feeling back.

however, i get pins and needles alot , especially when i ride. no big deal for me, i just let my arm hang down for a minute and its fixed. who knows, maybe that might fix itself as well.

anyways, the point is, yes the feeling CAN come back, but it takes a long time.
my sugery was maybe 12 years ago.
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did you feel like someone else was doing it when masturbating?
 
Thanks for putting my fears to rest guys. Guess it's pretty common and not much can be done either way.

Besides this minor issue, everything else seems to have gone great. It's been ten weeks now and I'm back in the gym with zero pain
 
I have some numbness at the other side of my left hand. My pinkie and the outer (= distal) half of my ring finger have much less feeling than they had before January 2009. Nothing particular happened at the time the numbness began. I was on a ride from Florida to Texas and back, some 3200 kilometers, and I noticed the numbness when I was about half-way home.

Understand, if I had serious carpal tunnel syndrome, I could expect numbness
in my index, middle, and inner (= proximal) half of my ring finger. So that is not it.

I have been living with this minor nuisance, and it seems to be mending, slowly, very slowly. Meanwhile, it does not interfere with anything I do, specifically operating the motorcycle's clutch.

I suppose that your numb thumb will be just that, a nuisance, and you will adapt to it well. Perhaps you will mend the damage, in some months or years. I think a good attitude will help, whether it helps you operate the clutch, recover, or merely endure the nuisance.

If you find it dangerous to operate a clutch, I hope that you find a suitable motorcycle that has no clutch. Perhaps Honda's new NC700XD will be just what you need. <-- I don't think this will happen.

In your place, unless a doctor advised otherwise, I would carry a rubber ball, and knead it often.

Good luck!
 
regder said:
...between the joint at the middle of my thumb to the base of the fingernail on the top half of my thumb, I can't feel texture or much of anything except pressure. There is also some minor tingling when I touch the fleshy area between my index finger and my thumb. This tingling feeling is duplicated if I rub the scar over the radius incision...
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There are three major nerves to the hand: ulnar (3d and 4th finger, palm and top of hand), radial (top of hand for thumb, top of 1st and 2nd fingers, outer side of thumb) and median (palm side of thumb, palm side of 1st and 2nd finger).

If you have nerve damage to a major nerve of your thumb, there are other fingers that would also be affected. Since you do not write about sensation loss in your other fingers, major nerve damage is unlikely. Loss of skin sensation is common with surgery and should grow back, but it is very slow. Different nerves grow back at different rates. I have heard of rates that vary between 1mm/month to 1mm/day. For sure, two months is far too short for full recovery.

I am sure there is some wacky Chinese herb/animal body part or other elixir that you could drink to accelerate nerve growth, but I'll leave this for your research.
 
bunmanchi said:
Wicked | thats almost exaclty the areas that i had no sensation. The Ulnar.. i even outlined it with a pen one night.lol
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Get yourself an anatomy textbook and follow the affected nerve back through the forearm and arm. You can even find 3d photos of cross cuts on the internet. Nerve damage should be traceable back to your original injury or surgery in the area where the nerve runs.

This excludes topical skin sensation loss, where most of the nerves are close to the top of the skin.
 
I know that feeling for sure I suffered a tibia plateau fracture shaztner type 6 top of tibia exploded into 10-15 shards along with fibia breaks, acl rupture, miniscus tears to my left leg skiing 5 years ago it was repaired with the placement of 16 screws and two steel plates,I had much nerve damage and still suffer that tingly feeling on the top of my foot but it has gotten much better for sure.I even lost the limp most people cant even tell.Things will get better in time and you will become accustomed to the sensation.Wish you the best of luck in your rehab.
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