Beckett injury

There is a lot going on that says basically no one knows what really is causing his symptoms. From everywhere that I see, it's being reported that he has "tingling" in his pinkie and ring finger. I don't see any mention of symptoms elsewhere. The thing that causes me concern is that this is the distribution of the ulnar nerve.

The ulnar nerve is the one that is often injured with injuries to the Ulnar Collateral Ligament of the elbow, the very same one that is involved with Tommy John surgery. As of right now, I am not suggesting that he has a deficient ligament right now but it is one of the first things that come to mind.

The ulnar nerve breaks off the Brachial Plexus, a network of nerves that receives information from the nerves coming out of the spinal cord. If there was a problem at the level of the brachial plexus where everything is interwoven, then he would likely, but not always, have symptoms elsewhere as well. These include but are not limited to tingling/burning on the back of the hand, forearm, or other fingers.

The Ulnar Nerve breaks off after everything is already intermingled with everything else at about the front of the shoulder, a little bit above the armpit level. The nerve then passes through the armpit, down through some tissue separating the biceps and triceps muscles and then down the arm/forearm, passing through the cubital tunnel as it goes past the elbow. Pressure at anyplace after the branching off could cause the tingling in the fingers.

Beckett has said that this wasn't the first time it's happened this season which is another flag against simply sleeping wrong on it. But if he has simply slept on it wrong, there are two main sites where the pressure could be coming from: as it passes through the armpit and then as it passes between the biceps and the triceps muscles. The elbow is also a concern for pitchers because of the repetitive flexing and extending which can cause problems at the cubital tunnel in the elbow. If you sleep on it and put constant pressure on it, it eventually causes symptoms that last and are similar to those by Beckett.

I want to be clear though that the Ulnar Nerve does not travel through the carpal tunnel. The Median nerve does which gives sensation to the palm and the the other fingers (it does have a slight innervation of the ring finger but none on the pinkie). Therefore I am not even considering Carpal Tunnel even though some people have mentioned it. Even if the nerve did pass through the tunnel (which it doesn't) it would be more likely to occur while throwing than waking up the next day.

Staying in one position for a while causes the muscles to tighten up, just think about when you have to sit in one position for a while. This is what causes me to think it is likely at one of the two sites noted above. If it was something related to a non-functional ligament he would be much more likely to experience it while throwing than waking up the next day.

So what does this all mean to me and might mean to you. I think it's either due to irritation in the cubital tunnel in the elbow (where you hit your funny bone), a slight compression as it passes down the arm through the tissue in between the biceps/triceps, and maybe a problem in his lower neck as the nerves come out of the spinal cord. Even though I said before that problems at that level would lead to symptoms other than what he feels, occasionally it does produce those very ones. I would put cubital tunnel issue 1, neck problems 2, and compression in between the biceps and triceps 3.

All of these have potential to keep him out for several weeks and possibly longer if it doesn't heal quickly.