Humerus bone funny bone

Where'd the name come from, and why is it so painful? The funny bone is actually the ulnar nerve , a nerve that runs from the neck all the way to the hand, where it innervates several muscles in the hand and forearm and ends in two branches that innervate the pinkie and half of the ring finger. As the nerve passes the elbow, though, it runs through a channel called the cubital tunnel, and here it's protected only by skin and fat, making it vulnerable to bumps. When you hit your funny bone, you're actually hitting the nerve against bone and compressing it.

Instead, the decidedly unpleasant sensation comes from the ulnar nerve, a set of sensitive fibres that runs along your arm and passes behind your elbow joint. Others instead argue that the name is derived from the funny, tingly feeling you get when you strike it the wrong way. Using a phone for long periods of time can have an effect on the ulnar nerve Credit: Getty Images. The ulnar nerve begins in the spine and branches out through the shoulder and down the arm, ending ultimately in the little finger and the adjacent ring finger. As the bundle of neurons travels down your arm, layers of bone and muscle offer protection as it sends and receives signals to and from the muscles of the forearm and the hand. The problem is that as the ulnar nerve passes the elbow it travels behind a knob of the humerus called the medial epicondyle and through a small, 4mm-long channel called the cubital tunnel, right next to the olecranon , the bony hook where the radius and ulna meet the humerus. And in that spot, the nerve is sandwiched between the bone and the skin, without much in the way of padding or protection.

Michael Vagg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Feel inwards from there about half and inch or slightly more until you find another bony outcrop. The funny bone is one of my favourite bits of medical slang because whoever came up with it had a savage sense of irony. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first recorded use of the term occurred in a dreadful doggerel poem published in called Bloudie Jack of Shrewsberrie.

In human anatomy , the ulnar nerve is a nerve that runs near the ulna bone. The ulnar collateral ligament of elbow joint is in relation with the ulnar nerve. The nerve is the largest in the human body unprotected by muscle or bone, so injury is common. This nerve is directly connected to the little finger, and the adjacent half of the ring finger, innervating the palmar aspect of these fingers, including both front and back of the tips, perhaps as far back as the fingernail beds. This nerve can cause an electric shock-like sensation by striking the medial epicondyle of the humerus from posteriorly, or inferiorly with the elbow flexed.