Two common sites of ulnar nerve compression are at the elbow and at the wrist. Name them.

• A. Cubital tunnel at the elbow and Guyon's canal at the wrist
• B. Carpal tunnel and pronator teres
• C. Tinel at the elbow and suboccipital
• D. Medial epicondyle compression and wrist crease

Answer: (A)

The ulnar nerve is commonly compressed where it changes direction along its path: at the elbow in the cubital tunnel and at the wrist in Guyon’s canal. At the elbow, the nerve travels behind the medial epicondyle through the cubital tunnel formed near the elbow, and repetitive bending or pressure here can narrow the tunnel, leading to numbness and weakness in the ulnar-innervated areas of the hand. At the wrist, the nerve passes through Guyon’s canal between the pisiform and the hook of the hamate; compression in this canal causes similar sensory changes and motor weakness of the intrinsic hand muscles.

Other options mix in sites or nerves that aren’t the two classic ulnar compression points—carpal tunnel involves the median nerve; pronator teres syndrome is a median nerve entrapment at the elbow; a few signs or vague anatomical areas aren’t recognized compression sites for the ulnar nerve.