I Need Injury Help Please?

Question

My elbow (funny bone area) was hurt during basketball today. I think it is bruised, but its not visible. But when I feel my funny bone it is all puffy and hurts pretty badly. Do you know what happened?

Answer 1

its probally just internal bruising.. if it hurts really bad when you press on it, it might be fractured.  But if it just kinda hurts a little bit and feels wierd its just bruised.  Put ice on it for about 30 mins and it should go away in a few days.  Happend to my elbows a few times to.

Answer 2

It's possible to get bruises below the surface.  All a bruise is, is a busted blood vessel below the skin.  But with the swelling (puffiness) and pain it's also possible you sprained the joint.

You're best bet is to take a couple of Advil and ice the area for 15-20 minutes every 4 hours.  And make sure you put a towel or something between the ice pack on your skin, to prevent frostbite.

If it's not feeling better in a couple days or if the pain gets worse I'd go to the doctor and get it checked out to make sure it's not something more serious.  I know it's the weekend so you won't be able to get into your PCP until Tuesday, but if it gets to bad I'd go to Urgent Care to rule out any serious damage.

There are variety of things that could be wrong and a lot of it depends on the way it was injured.  But you could have simple sprain or you could have a hair fracture.  And just FYI, it's possible to walk on a fractured bone in your foot without realizing it so even if you can move your elbow/arm doesn't rule out the possiblity of a fracture.