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Richard Jernigan -> RE: Left hand ulnar nerve (Jan. 24 2017 5:59:00)
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I am uncertain as to the exact medical details, but I will offer a personal story, meaning to shed a ray of hope for people with nerve injuries.
Somewhere around 2004 or 2005 I began to experience brief occasions of sharp pain in the spine of the neck. When it struck it was enough to bring tears to my eyes for several seconds. It was a little worrying because part of my job was to supervise a radar operating crew during missions, which cost millions of dollars to carry out. I stood behind the seated crew and looked at computerized displays. Episodes of being unable to see clearly could have been a serious problem, but in the event it never was.
At least once a week I flew the fifty miles from one end of Kwajalein Atoll to the other, and back again aboard a relatively cramped commuter plane. Turning my head in an unaccustomed way as I tried to settle into my seat, I felt and heard a brief "crunching" in my neck, accompanied by very sharp pain. I dreaded possible further effects. Instead, episodes of neck pain became less frequent, and eventually subsided altogether.
Accompanying the neck pain was numbness in left hand fingers 3 and 4 (pinky and ring, meñique y anular). That's the reason the "ulnar nerve" title of this thread attracted my attention. The numbness was bad enough to seriously interfere with guitar playing. I finally gave up for at least four or five years.
After I retired at the end of 2009 I had plenty of time on my hands to travel and do whatever I wanted. About 6 years ago I got out one of my guitars and started fooling around. Left hand pinky was so numb it wouldn't even go the the correct string, much less be of practical use in playing. But I decided to try playing and see where it would go.
Long story short, the left hand kept improving slowly, but fast enough for me to stay interested. After six years of work I'm back to playing well enough to really enjoy it. There's a great classical guitar scene here in Austin. I'm thinking of signing up for lessons with a local concert artist (a winner of the Guitar Foundation of America contest a few years ago), and to get used to playing for others again.
Talking it over with my brother the M.D. we theorized that a bone spur in my neck may have resulted from an old motorcycle injury. The crunch aboard the airplane may have broken off part of the spur that was causing nerve damage. I was surprised by the regenerative capacity of the peripheral nervous system. There might have been some brain re-wiring involved.
Bottom line: I have been surprised and very pleased to experience almost complete recovery from a disabling nerve injury, as a result of good luck in accidentally busting up the bone spur (we theorize), and persistence in re-training the affected fingers.
As usual for me, the biggest obstacle to overcome in learning to play again was impatience. Many times I had to tell myself to slow down and get it under control. Eventually it paid off.
So hang in there guys! Your body is capable of great feats of repairing itself.
RNJ
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