Yesterday, I discovered that my elbow was causing me excruciating pain. I was mystified; I wasn’t doing any unusual physical activity the day before, and I don’t remember bumping into anything with my elbow. I have no idea what happened.
Except, now that I have a flaming hot lance of incredible fiery pain in my elbow, I’ve discovered that I bang into things all the time. Walk into the bedroom, there’s a door…of course I hit it with my elbow. Go to the bathroom…whoops, there’s a divider by the sink, give it a good whack. Is it possible for me to make coffee in the morning without bumping into anything? No, it is not. Now I go around hissing in agony and cussing up a storm.
At least I have learned the evolutionary function of elbows. They are knobby bony things that act as antennae to detect obstacles in the environment for clumsy people. No other purpose. Also, they have a direct neural connection to the expletive lobule of the brain.
I found a massive scratch on my back last night that I didn’t know was there and I have no idea where it came from. I’m finding as I get older, I tear myself up without even noticing it until I sit down for an hour or so at the end of the day and I’m like “oh why does that hurt?”. Especially my hands.
Could be bursitis, that can happen with no apparent cause.
And a pro tip: Don’t accept a low CPR as definitive evidence against bacterial infection. It took 3 months for the infection to surface, and even two years later it still hurts if I try to do heavy work.
Probably just got bit by a radioactive spider. There may be further side effects.
Welcome to old age! Things that were once effortless…
I try to remember to work on proprioception and also to get out of the muddle in my head and focus on my immediate surroundings.
Having regular good nights of sleep can make a big difference.
Don’t know about your elbow though, maybe slept on it wrong, a ligament/tendon thing?
@2, CPR or CRP? CRP is a sign of inflammation and possible infection and can be elevated by injury, autoimmune diseases or infection.
@PZ, sorry, but your theory on the evolutionary function of elbows is incorrect. Elbows exist to compensate for errors in balance and proprioception. When elbows fail to correct course and a fall is likely, the fallback is shoulder, then head.
Which reminds me, it’s starting to get expensive, replacing all of those broken bricks from the wall, gotta price some structural steel…
I had something similar last year right around this time… The physician’s assistant said it was cat scratch fever. A few days later, my doctor insisted it was gout. Three months later when I finally got an appointment with a rheumatologist, she said it was degenerative arthritis because of calcifications in my elbow (but she didn’t have an original x-ray to compare to so…). But she also left the door open for Lupus (or Lyme Disease, I honestly can’t even remember). Because who needs answers when they can just order me prescription Aleve with an $800 copay! Ah, health “care”…
Pah ,you are all wrong ,elbows have been designed by our one true god so our arms can bend in the middle .Just think of them as knees for your arms .
Isn’t getting old(er) a bitch? For me, it’s thumb pain, from, it seems, no reason in particular.
The end of my elbow essentially fell off when the muscle froze.
Is it possible you have gout?
Thank dog I’m not the only one who has elbow “issues”.
It always amazes me to find out how much an injured body part is used when it’s hurting.
A sore big toe,for instance, makes life surprisingly difficult.
Studies have shown that swearing when injured actually decreases the pain (no joke). So let ‘er rip, man. It’s cheaper than medicine with no known side effects. Also, rubbing the affected area helps.