Unable to flex and straighten left hypermobile elbow

(india)

Hello Joshua, im a 21 yr old female. im a student. after sleeping over my left hand and waking up i felt slightly uncomfortable and thought of it as a sprain. after 3 days the condition worsened and i wasnt able to flex or straighten my arm. i visited my family doctor who gave medicines and it got cured in about 10days. this was in october2010. later around dec 25 i again had the same problem and hence my doctor asked me to consult an orthologist. he started giving me medicines for RA, though my blood report on RA test was negative.

the xrays did show inflammation around the joint. probably synovitis. as there was no improvement i took second opinion. this doctor presumed it to be tendinitis as i had pain when he pressed the point of common extensor. but he still asked me to get an mri scan which didnt say much an only that it may be a cause of infection. the tb test also came neg.

now im not on medication as the doctor wants to see how my wound behaves. he has asked me to exercise ie. to try flexing my arm as much as possible. the problem is whether this is an infection or inflammatory cause ha snot yet been found. i didnt do any sort of exercise or have any injury before having this condition. now its april 2011 and my hand is still not cured. the swelling is slightly reducing due to ice packs but never goes away.so do please help me about this. if its any sort of arthritis wouldnt it be detected in an mri scan?

also what is hypermobility? can it cause this condition? im able to touch my arm with my thumb by bending it. is it hypermobility syndrome?

i have uploaded some pictures. the swelling is now mostly around the joint olecranon process
and what do you suggest for me? please reply to me.

thanking you in advance...



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Joshua Answers:

Hi India.

If it's an infection I can't help you. But if it was an infection I think you'd be complaining of other things like fever, etc.

You don't just wake up with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) one day, though you certainly may have Gluten Intolerance.

Hyper-mobile means that your ligaments don't hold your joints together very firmly. There's a little hypermobile, and there's a lot hypermobile.

If you can go thumb to forearm pretty easy, that's a clue that you're hypermobile. When you straighten good elbow, does it go past straight? past 90 degrees? That would be another clue.

If you are hypermobile, and you slept on your elbow on such a way that the joint was in a dangerous position, and your ligament was overstretched, or the joint capsule got stretched (probably), then it makes sense that your nervous system could flip on a huge Process of Inflammation that would create the swelling and pain.

That would explain all your symptoms, even the pain and swelling coming and going. Now that it's irritated, it can easily get irritated again, or stay irritated, which it is doing.

I'm guessing that Elbow Tendonitis is not your problem, that instead you freaked out your nervous system and now have chronic acute Inflammation.

I suggest an intensive week of Ice Dipping, as described on the How To Reduce Inflammation page.

Also, this is a good thread to read: Can't Straighten Elbow



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Joshua Tucker, B.A., C.M.T.
The Tendonitis Expert
www.TendonitisExpert.com