I am writing this partly out of desperation because of the neverending lack of clarity but also to hopefully discover some potential leads. I won't bore you with the whole story but it is one of hose legendarily ridiculous chronic pain situations where you don't even know how you got in there exactly and it's been going on for close to 10 years.

I have multiple injuries throughout my body, leading to instability no doubt which impacts nerves and the likes, but 90% of my pain comes from what I feel in my hands and arms all day every day. I write for a living which has certainly exacerbated it, but the worst of all is phone use - leaning forward, craned neck, arms lifted in that book-reading position. This is the worst action to set off my issues and get aches flaring. So now I barely use my phone and use voice command as much as possible. I can't read, so I use audiobooks.

Interestingly, dynamic activites are where I am mostly okay - weightlifting at the gym, cooking, and so on. Static stuff involving sitting in a chair, watching a movie, or using devices is the worst. My right arm often cannot fully engage its power, resulting one time in a heavy barbell being lifted in a dangerous diaganol fashion (that was the end of barbells for me). There is an irritated, trapped ulnar nerve on my right arm that definitely goes back to guitar playing in my teens and 20s. If I go into the bad position I used at the time, it instantly feels neural tension. However, the overarching pain pattern isn't necessrily to do with this factor, since I feel pain throught my arm and hand, a kind of buildup of an ache in a knuckle, my forearm, the palm, or wrist, and then when I flex my wrist, there is always an audible click, and the pain dissipates. This happens around 50-100 times a day.

Now the left arm is exhibiting the same pattern as of the last 6 months. It was also joined by vascular problems indicative of thoracic outlet syndrome, and vigorous work to free up the scalenes appears to have improved that aspect. The nerve pain, however, has not let up at all. Diligent efforts to refrain from use buy me a 20% reduction in pain, but if I slipup and use my phone for 5-10 minutes, the next 24 hours I'm back to square one with tonnes of clicking and arm/hand pain. At this stage, it does not appear that quitting my job and banning phones will save me.

Nerve conduction studies have twice come up negative. MRIs of the neck, arm, and wrist, all negative. An orthopedic surgeon noticed some muscle wastage on my right hand and some restriction in the ring finger but could not comment further. I have two mild herniations in the thoracic spine and possible one in the lumbar. Sciatic nerve irritation is present, and my back is constantly stiff from years of forward leaning posture, combined with scoliosis that was only diagnosed in my late 20s.

My doctor has repeatedly raised myofascial pain syndrome as the main issue, and while I don't exclude this, to me it's trapped/damaged nerves that are the problem. The two issues can overlap for sure, but it is abundantly clear the overlap in bad behavior and increased pain - inlcuding this newly ingrained pattern on the left that mimics the right - is surely to do with comression or something impacting the nerves, rather simple pain sensitization.

Does anyone out there recognize the interminable click aassociated with pain in the arm and wrist? It is the signature action that accompanies every burst of pain, no matter where in the arm or circuit.