Nerve Injury Question

I think you missed the point. He was asking: if Denard was eligible to come back into the game once his grip came back, was there any type of treatment availible in order to expedite the process?  From my limited understanding, things like this (as long as they don't require surgury) just have to go away-- not sure there was much to be done. 

I clearly state in my post I was not questioning anyones toughness.  I assumed he was out for the game, but Hoke said in his presser he kept checking to see if he was ready to go.   On the TV coverage they never showed Denard doing anything but standing there.   If he was cleared to play I would thought you get treatment.

They say it's due to repetitive motion, but my mom always said I'd go blind, too, if I kept that up and it didn't happen.

Personally I'm hoping to see Denard in one of these next time out:

I too have had the same injury, actually did it on the job. Hit my elbow extremely hard on a machine and ended up going to the emergency room and then seeing an elbow specialist. The only thing they could do for me was put a protective pad and brace around it, which limited my mobility and didn't really protect it much whenever I bumped it.

You are correct in that the only way to treat it is time, it's very painful, you lose strength in your hand and arm plus its difficult to do simple tasks. The only other treatment that was mentioned was to go in and move the nerve to the interior of the arm but the dr said he couldn't garauntee it would fix the problem. In my case I have a bone spur on my elbow and that's what irritates the nerve. It did eventually go away but it took a long time and even to this day I cannot lean on that elbow and bumping it can bring instant pain. I cannot imagine being a football player like Denard with that injury.

It's very difficult to say how much he will play the rest of the season. I imagine his ability to throw accurately will be severly tested and as we all know he's not entirely accurate when healthy. Didn't he have this injury last season? If this continues to be an issue they had better get Bellomy and the receivers a lot of rep time together.

I was watching the game with a family member who works in the medical field.  He said exactly as you have that the ulner nerve would affect the pinky and ring finger only.  He says he's known people that have taken over a year for the numbness to completely go away.  Not saying this will take that long to heal for Denard or that it can't reach a manageable level to play through more quickly than that, but this could take some time.

Eeyore's refrain of 'Days, weeks, months, who knows' applies here.

Depends on if there is just a contusion (aka neuropraxic) or injury to the axons themselves (axonotmesis).

You can go by clinical signs (sensation, hand strength improving) or you can do an EMG/NCV test to evaluate for axonal damage (nerve conduction study will demonstrate a conduction block at the cubital tunnel for both).

But there is no way Denard could have played Saturday after this injury.  He would have diminished ability to grip with his right hand, in addition to impaired sensation on the medial aspect of the hand as well.

The unlar nerve controls the the main flexors of the ring and small fingers, however it also controls the intrinsic muscles of the hand for all fingers including the thumb. (these muscles control the side to side movement of your fingers and thumb strength)  In summary, damage to the unlar nerve affects the entire hand.

Doesn't this fall more into the category of what really grinds your gears?

Nothing definitive will be said, we probably won't know anything till gametime saturday.

Do you think if he carried the ball in his left hand that he would get extreme cutting pain as someone mentioned above on every hit or is it more of a rare occurence that he would experience severe pain during the course of a half being basically a running back?

Its funny that people honestly had this same question on Saturday night (I'm guilty as well, I actually wondered the same myself at one point).  And by funny I mean sad.  This is a 22-year-old kid with a professional career ahead of him and we all want him to be out there as long as his legs work, basically.  Its hard not to feel that way and, at the same time, pretty sh-tty that we do.  I'm glad the trainers don't think like us!

Steve Slaton vs. Louisville, 2006. When your quarterback can't field a snap and your opponent is picking them up and running them into your endzone, that's a lot worse.

Or is that what you meant by an "occasional 'oh no'"? The usual meaning of the phrase was probably out of the question unless he threw it left-handed.

you need both hands to receive the snap, secure the ball and hand it off safely.  Even if he's not passing, Denard playing and risking further problems wouldn't have helped at all.  He doesn't need his hands to run, but he damn well needs them to hold on to the ball. 

And poor Denard.  The criticism he'd get on his first fumble if we hadn't known the nature of his "boo-boo."