Ulnar nerve injury after OHS; numbness in left pinky/ring finger. Can anyone help?

[Matt123]

Hello all, this forum has been such a wonderful and inspirational venue that I really feel part of the community on here. Anyway, I just had a second OHS two weeks ago for a valve sparing and aortic root replacement. I notice that my left pinky and ring finger are 'numb' and upon researching this it appears the ulnar nerve compression during the surgery is the culprit; my doctors tell me this is normal in about 15% of procedures and will work itself out within 2 - 3 months. Does anyone have experience with this? should I be 'concerned' that this will not heal - ever? Are there ulnar nerve gliding exercises I should perform at home which would alleviate some of the compression? Any advice on this matter would be most appreciated! Matt

 

[Boston Tiger]

I didn't have that particular problem, but I would think that came about from the contortions to your arm during the surgery. That manifested as shoulder pain in my case, and it probably took two months or so for that to go away.

Hopefully this is the only bump you are going to run into.

 

[yotphix]

I didn't actually have that problem from the surgery, but I do have the problem chronically as a result of a neck injury going back 12 years or so. I can tell you that when my neck gets tense, I lose sensation in my left hand, and have pain shooting down from my shoulder. It sometimes goes on for days, even after my neck is loosened up. It always goes away eventually though, so if I were you, I'd remain optimistic that it will clear up.

I did lose sensation in a large patch of my abdomen in the surgery, I assumed from something which was cut. That was restored by itself in the course of the first year.

 

[carolinemc]

Get a tennis or soft squeeze ball and work with the hands. Just squeeze and flex several times day. It will get better, I had the same problem myself. It is quite common and within two months it is over. Good luck and hugs for today.

 

[Mentu]

Hi, Matt, your hand should return to normal. One day, I fell through the top of my greenhouse. As I dropped, I caught myself with my left hand then dropped the short distance to the ground only to find my arm was numb. It took awhile but it healed completely as should yours. After sensation had returned to most of the arm my little finger and ring finger took the longest to recover but they did and are quite normal today. After surgery, I began to understand why our surgeons don't try to help us anticipate the small problems that may arise. The after surgery minor problems are often quirky and not widely shared. Still, most of these things are minor and fade as we heal.

Gently squeezing the tennis ball should be a good thing to do, Matt. My doctor cautioned about vigorous exercise with my left arm until it healed in order to avoid further inflammation of the nerve sheath. The other things my doctor prescribed that helped were an anti inflammatory, ultrasound and heat.

Larry