Accessory muscles in arms

**5ifthCitizen** · 07-22-2007, 08:45 PM

this might be kinda long but whatever... so i went to an orthopedic surgeon because i had been having extreme pain in the underside of my forearm along the bone when i lift or do anything else that puts too much strain on it. i figured it might be some kind of stress fracture so i thought it may be a good idea to see a doctor so my forearm doesn't break!

so i go to this guy and tell him about it and he agrees that it might be a stress fracture but sounds unsure because he hasn't ever really heard of this before....so just in case, he gives me an MRI. about a week later the MRIs came back. he tells me that i have "accessory muscles surrounding the ulnar nerve." he said that he's never seen or heard of anything like it, he explains that the ulnar nerve is the main nerve from your elbow to your hands and it controls most of the functioning. so these extra muscles are growing around the ulnar nerve in my elbow and cutting it off more and more slowly and that is what is causing the pain in my forearm.

so basically as i continue to lift and grow the muscles get bigger and constrict the nerve more... so he had me go get a nerve study done. they hooked up electrodes to my fingers and arm and stuck needles in my hand while they shocked me about 30 times (kinda painful lol) to see how much function the ulnar nerve has lost because of the constriction. they said that i was right on the borderline where i could make the decision whether or not i wanted to get the surgery to basically go in and cut the muscles to release them from the nerve.

has anybody ever heard of this or experienced it themselves? don't know whether i should just ignore it and deal with the pain as i continue to my weight goal or go ahead and get the surgery and have to deal with recovery time.

**fenceguy** · 07-23-2007, 06:13 AM

Bro, first thing I would do is get a second opinion. I wouldn't trust a doc who says " he said that he's never seen or heard of anything like it" I would try to find a specialist that has experience in that sort of thing.

Just remember, they don't call it a "practice" for nothing.

**stacked566** · 07-23-2007, 08:25 AM

Originally Posted by fenceguy

Bro, first thing I would do is get a second opinion. I wouldn't trust a doc who says " he said that he's never seen or heard of anything like it" I would try to find a specialist that has experience in that sort of thing.

Just remember, they don't call it a "practice" for nothing.

The fact is that most doctors have never dealt with neurolysis decompression (surgical free-ing of nerve from muscle or other apposition). It is however fairly safe procedure, and has been around for awhile. It is your best option, since no amount of physical therapy short of cessation of training will help you. If I had to guess, your pronator teres, anconeus, and possibly one of the adductor muscles for the wrist/thumb, are the muscle causing you problems. You will continue to use these muscles in everyday life, so this may be a good option. Talk to your doc about down time, risk, etc etc...GL bro

**holden** · 07-23-2007, 10:15 AM

I have the same pain on my arm also.. But I just carry on through it :S

**5ifthCitizen** · 07-23-2007, 12:01 PM

ya i guess getting a second opinion would probably be a good idea. i didn't really think about that because this doctor i went to is one of the best known orthopedic surgeons in the OC. probably just keep on going to my goal and if i cant take it anymore then i will just go in for a second opinion