9 Years On Now

Also rbwalton it's good to hear your AIN is gone, from what I've read the majority of AIN case take care of themselves. The research I did stated that initial treatment of AIN is just to wait, and then surgery if the symptom shows no improvement. Most sources said wait 6 months, a few as early as four. I was at 11 months with no improvement at all. I learned that damaged nerves regrow for up to a year, and so i was very nervous my hand would be like that forever. I actually wanted to do it earlier but it being a workers comp claim there was a lot of back and forth and fighting to finally get it done.

Thank you for the information and for replying rbwalton!

My AINS resulted from trauma to my palm and elbow, with a hair crack in the ulnar head. My doctor who performed the surgery said i had a lot of scar tissue in both locations. I also had an artery in my carpal tunnel that normally goes away after birth taking up more room!

But it's been 2 months since the surgery with no improvement in my finger/thumb mobility. But I the doctor is optimistic and I am getting nerve regeneration pains so maybe everything will work out!!

Last comment for now. I found this on AINS suggesting that maybe doctors have realized that inflammation of the nerves can cause AINS in a similar way as PTS. See the link here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anterior_interosseous_syndrome

“Most cases of AIN syndrome are due to a transient neuritis, although compression of the AIN can happen. Trauma to the median nerve have also been reported as a cause of AIN syndrome.

Although there is still controversy among upper extremity surgeons, AIN syndrome is now regarded as a neuritis (inflammation of the nerve) in most cases; this is similar to parsonage-turner syndrome. Although the exact etiology is unknown, there is evidence that it is caused by an immune mediated response.

Studies are limited, and no randomized controlled trials have been performed regarding the treatment of AIN syndrome. While the natural history of AIN syndrome is not fully understood, studies following patients who have been treated without surgery show that symptoms can resolve starting as late as one year after onset. Other retrospective studies have shown that there is no difference in outcome in surgically versus nonsurgically treated patients. Surgical decompression is rarely indicated in AIN syndrome. Indications for considering surgery include a known space-occupying lesion that is compressing the nerve (a mass) and persistent symptoms beyond 1 year of conservative treatment.”

By the way subgub, they tried to get me to do surgery. They had wanted to do exploratory surgery in forearm to find compressed nerve. If they found nothing, they were going to go on and do tendon transfers to get my thumb and index finger moving again. I said no. Not until I wait to see if the nerves grow back. It took a while, but they did grow back. I have pretty normal strength and movement in index finger, and good movement in thumb, but not much strength in thumb. There was no guarantee surgery would have worked at all, and as it turned out, it was totally not needed as the damage to the nerve was done at the root of the nerve- nowhere near where they would have cut on me.

About the secondary diagnosis- Anterior Interosseous Nerve syndrome-
PTS can cause symptoms that are exactly like AINS. I had this diagnosis also, but for me I was diagnosed first with AINS, then the secondary diagnosis of PTS. The nerve damage that PTS causes can be misdiagnosed as AINS. The surgery may not be warranted. DO cross searches on Google. See section below on anatomy for list of nerves that can be impacted by PTS

http://wiki.cns.org/wiki/index.php/Neuralgic_Amyotrophy

Description
Neuralgic amyotrophy is also called Parsonage-Turner syndrome, brachial neuritis, and brachial plexitis. In response to bodily stress (e.g., surgery, flu, unusually excessive exercise, post-vaccination), the brachial plexus, branches of the brachial plexus, or other upper (rarely lower) extremity nerves may develop idiopathic inflammation. The exact cause is unknown. This inflammation is quite painful, which limits use of the arm. As the pain slowly resolves over a few days or weeks, the patient now notices paralysis and a variable degree of numbness in the shoulder and arm. The amount of paralysis varies, with unusually severe cases having complete arm paralysis. Weakness and numbness slowly resolves over time. This may take many months, or even 1-3 years. Although most people improve, the arm may not return to normal and remain partially paralyzed. Brachial plexitis may involve nerves controlling almost any muscle, however, nerves to the shoulder, scapula, and forearm are more commonly affected.

Anatomy
The following nerves may be affected (unilateral or bilateral): brachial plexus, long thoracic nerve, anterior interosseous nerve, posterior interosseous nerve, suprascapular nerve, lumbosacral plexus, and others).