Transcript
Speaker: Finals plus stress equal a mess.
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Speaker: Hey, and welcome to the short stuff.
Speaker: I'm Josh and there's Chuck and it's just the Juck Chosh show.
Speaker: Short stuff.
Speaker: It's a start.
Speaker: I thought something happens when we do short stuff.
Speaker: Because I'm trying to do something different, and then I fail at it.
Speaker: We've been doing such a good job for 13 years, and whenever we do short stuff, you're just like, I don't know how to do this anymore.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: I don't, something.
Speaker: But I think it has to do with just trying too hard.
Speaker: There it is.
Speaker: You're a loser.
Speaker: Okay?
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: They're looser.
Speaker: I think it's fine.
Speaker: Oh, maybe I'm not trying hard enough then.
Speaker: So, Chuck, since we're laughing here, let's talk about laughing.
Speaker: Great setup.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: Again, I'm not trying hard enough.
Speaker: I don't know where we talked about this, but we did a little sidebar on this many, many years ago.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: In some episode...
Speaker: I don't know what it was, but it doesn't matter because the funny bone deserves its own little shorty episode.
Speaker: Everyone knows what we're talking about.
Speaker: We're talking about when you whack your elbow like on the corner of a counter or something and you get that weird singular pain.
Speaker: Singular sensation.
Speaker: Everywhere around the world.
Speaker: It's kind of painful, but it's kind of stingy and shocky feeling, and it does kind of make you laugh sometimes.
Speaker: Yeah, like hysterically.
Speaker: It's a weird, like I said, it's a singular feeling unlike hitting any other part of your body.
Speaker: It's hitting your funny bone.
Speaker: That's right.
Speaker: So that's why it has its own name and its own thing.
Speaker: It is its own experience for sure.
Speaker: And no one apparently from anywhere I could see is quite sure exactly where the funny bone got its name because what you're doing there is hitting your funny bone.
Speaker: But what you're hitting is not really a bone.
Speaker: It's a nerve.
Speaker: Although some people think that it got its name from the bone right above this area that you're hitting, the humerus, which I like.
Speaker: That's what I heard on the playground.
Speaker: Yeah, it's a little play on words.
Speaker: I think I might have heard that on the playground, too.
Speaker: That's one of those first little kid factoids that they think, you know, you know why it's called that is because it's the humerus bone.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: I think you're absolutely right.
Speaker: And then somebody else says, hey, you want some Lickamade?
Speaker: And the other kid says, I'll sue your dad.
Speaker: That's right.
Speaker: And then recess is over and you wonder where your life's gone.
Speaker: And you just go inside and eat glue and boogers.
Speaker: There you go.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You get right back on top of the horse.
Speaker: That's right.
Speaker: So the funny bone isn't a bone.
Speaker: I think probably everybody knows that.
Speaker: I regret saying it now, you know, that I think about it.
Speaker: But what you're actually doing is hitting a nerve.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: a specific nerve called the ulnar nerve that's responsible for, it's really niche, it's responsible for the sensation, singular sensation, in your ring finger and your pinky finger.
Speaker: And you have one on each arm because you have a ring finger and pinky finger on each arm.
Speaker: Ostensibly both are receiving sensation and they're getting it from the ulnar nerve you have in each of your arms.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, it begins in your spine and it goes from your neck all the way down your arm, all the way past your elbow, all the way to the tips of those little fingers there.
Speaker: And I think there are only three primary nerves for your arm and that's one of them.
Speaker: And the big role of that is, aside from the sensation of those fingertips, is helping those muscles out, helping your hand coordinate movement, find movement, and your grip, like helping your forearm control grip.
Speaker: Which, by the way, I just had a very weird sensation.
Speaker: I don't get massages much.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: But I just got a massage recently.
Speaker: Uh-huh.
Speaker: And this dude worked me over in the best way, but he did this thing where he was rolling down the inside of my forearm with his arm, and every time he hit the midpoint, like Luke Skywalker, my hand would just clench shut.
Speaker: Oh, that's cool.
Speaker: It was so weird feeling.
Speaker: And I laughed.
Speaker: I was like, boy, that feels really weird.
Speaker: And I tried to keep it from happening.
Speaker: And he would roll down my forearm, my inner forearm, and my hand would just go and close shut.
Speaker: It was like Empire Strikes Back.
Speaker: It was very strange.
Speaker: I'll bet it was funny for him to watch you try to play off like it wasn't a thing.
Speaker: Yeah, I tried to.
Speaker: And I'll bet that guy was like, I'm going to give him another one of these.
Speaker: It was pretty great, actually.
Speaker: So they call it the Kung Fu grip move, I believe.
Speaker: That's what it felt like.
Speaker: But yeah, that made me think of those.
Speaker: I mean, that's what's going on with those nerves.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I wonder if he was hitting your ulnar nerve.
Speaker: Probably.
Speaker: But you said something.
Speaker: You said a little jackpot tidbit there, Chuck.
Speaker: That was the ulnar nerve goes from your spine to your neck, down your arm, through your elbow to your hand.
Speaker: And it is where it passes through your elbow that the potential for hitting your phony bone in that extremely weird singular sensation can take place.
Speaker: That feels like a cliffhanger to me.
Speaker: I think so.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: We'll be back and tell you what's going on in that little spot right after this.
Speaker: I'm not going to lie.
Speaker: I have a problem with procrastination.
Speaker: I've always been that way.
Speaker: But lately, I'm trying to turn over a new leaf.
Speaker: I use Quizlet to study for all my exams and finals.
Speaker: It's easy to use and having it available on my phone reminds me to study more.
Speaker: Quizlet is great because you can actually quiz yourself with their study modes.
Speaker: Science shows that testing yourself is a way more effective way to study than rereading your notes.
Speaker: I can make my own study set by scanning my notes or just picking from millions of pre-made sets until I find the one that's right for me.
Speaker: I can customize my sets with diagrams or images, which is helpful for my anatomy class.
Speaker: With Quizlet Plus, I can even make a study plan that lets me know exactly what to work on.
Speaker: With finals around the corner, if you haven't tried Quizlet, you need to.
Speaker: It makes studying so convenient that I almost don't even mind doing it.
Speaker: Go to Quizlet.com today to check it out and start a free trial of Quizlet Plus while you're at it.
Speaker: I think it's worth the extra cost.
Speaker: Learn it.
Speaker: Own it.
Speaker: Quizlet.
Speaker: I'm not going to lie.
Speaker: I have a problem with procrastination.
Speaker: I've always been that way.
Speaker: But...
Speaker: Lately, I'm trying to turn over a new leaf.
Speaker: I use Quizlet to study for all my exams and finals.
Speaker: It's easy to use, and having it available on my phone reminds me to study more.
Speaker: Quizlet is great because you can actually quiz yourself with their study modes.
Speaker: Science shows that testing yourself is a way more effective way to study than rereading your notes.
Speaker: I can make my own study set by scanning my notes or just picking from millions of pre-made sets until I find the one that's right for me.
Speaker: I can customize my sets with diagrams or images, which is helpful for my anatomy class.
Speaker: With Quizlet Plus, I can even make a study plan that lets me know exactly what to work on.
Speaker: With finals around the corner, if you haven't tried Quizlet, you need to.
Speaker: It makes studying so convenient that I almost don't even mind doing it.
Speaker: Go to Quizlet.com today to check it out and start a free trial of Quizlet Plus while you're at it.
Speaker: I think it's worth the extra cost.
Speaker: Learn it.
Speaker: Own it.
Speaker: Quizlet.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Here we are.
Speaker: We're in your elbow.
Speaker: And here's the big reveal.
Speaker: This is going to creep me out.
Speaker: You have a little tunnel there.
Speaker: I'm so creeped out.
Speaker: That the ulnar nerve goes through called the cubital tunnel.
Speaker: It's very small.
Speaker: It's about four millimeters long.
Speaker: And it goes underneath, you know, that bump...
Speaker: That little bony bump on your elbow is called the medial, oh man, I had it earlier, epicondyle?
Speaker: Yeah, I think so.
Speaker: Epicondyle?
Speaker: It's like argyle, but argyle's cousin.
Speaker: Epicondyle?
Speaker: Uh-huh.
Speaker: All right, so your medial epicondyle, and that's that little bony bump.
Speaker: on the inside of the back of your elbow there.
Speaker: And right there is where that nerve is sandwiched between your bone and your skin.
Speaker: And the reason it's really easy to get hurt is because there's not a lot there.
Speaker: And especially if your elbow is bent, it's kind of right there under the skin.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So when you hit it just right, when your elbow's bent, you're mashing your nerve between the bone above it and whatever hard surface you're hitting it on.
Speaker: And the reason why you're hitting your funny bone is so weird is twofold.
Speaker: I have the impression, Chuck, that if your other nerves in your body were similarly exposed, like the ulnar nerve is when it enters the cubital tunnel,
Speaker: That if you hit those nerves, you would have the same singular sensation, but you don't have nerves that are exposed like that elsewhere in your body, which is why it's just the funny bone.
Speaker: But that's the point.
Speaker: You're actually banging a nerve and you don't normally do that, which produces a different kind of pain than the normal pain you get.
Speaker: Like when you accidentally like hit yourself in the testicles.
Speaker: Well, it's funny you bring that up because I wonder if there's a shorty on that because that is also a singular sensational pain.
Speaker: Okay, save it, save it.
Speaker: Let me just say it's different than when you accidentally punch yourself in the stomach.
Speaker: Okay, you're like stubbed your toe?
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: It's weird that you mentioned testicles, though, because that is a pain that feels different than any other pain.
Speaker: It is, and I think it was a terrible example now that you say that.
Speaker: But I'm glad that I said it because it brought up a future short stuff for us.
Speaker: That's right.
Speaker: But what you're talking about is the difference between nociceptive pain and actual nerve pain.
Speaker: Nociceptive being the perception of pain, like when you stub your toe or something, and your body, using the nerves, sends signals that say, like, you need more clearance around your bed, dummy.
Speaker: Don't do that again.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Whereas the other kind of pain is actual literal pain on that nerve.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Yeah, like the nerves are involved in nociception, but they're just kind of like, oh, it's time to get to work and let this guy know to stop doing that.
Speaker: But that nerve pain is the actual nerve being hurt.
Speaker: And so it says, I'm reserving a special kind of pain for myself.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's right.
Speaker: I don't know if you remember a couple of years ago when I banged my shin really badly.
Speaker: I did some kind of nerve damage and for six months I had a four inch space where it was just dead on the front of my leg.
Speaker: That is crazy.
Speaker: On my shin.
Speaker: It felt like it was the worst pain I've ever experienced in my life.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: I'm glad.
Speaker: And it was just kicking my bed.
Speaker: It's awful.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, the numbness was fine.
Speaker: I mean, it weirded me out, but when it actually happened, I cried.
Speaker: I, like, crumbled to the floor, and, like, it wasn't crying, but, like, water just started pouring out of my eyes.
Speaker: Yeah, I know.
Speaker: It hurt so bad.
Speaker: Tough guy.
Speaker: No, but I wasn't like, I hurt my chin.
Speaker: I know what you mean.
Speaker: It was just like the body's reaction was, all right, we're going to start sending water out of your eyeballs now.
Speaker: Yeah, that is a weird reaction or response if you think about it.
Speaker: It is.
Speaker: But the thing— Another short stuff.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: The one good thing about hitting your funny bone in particular, hitting that nerve, is after a very short while, especially if you rub it for some weird reason, it will subside and you'll be—
Speaker: you'll go back to normal.
Speaker: Like you won't have that pain any longer.
Speaker: And by the way, there's one other thing about that funny bone pain that reveals that it's the ulnar nerve you're hitting.
Speaker: You'll notice that that pain shoots all the way down into your pinky and your ring finger because the ulnar nerve terminates there.
Speaker: Oh, I don't know if I've noticed that.
Speaker: It's been a while since I've hit the old funny nerve.
Speaker: That's what I'm going to start calling it.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: What about cubital tunnel syndrome?
Speaker: That's another thing, right?
Speaker: It's like a chronic condition.
Speaker: Yeah, that's what I was going to say.
Speaker: There's some cases where you can have like a strained ulnar nerve and it can produce chronic pain.
Speaker: Is that tennis elbow?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: I don't know why they wouldn't call it tennis elbow.
Speaker: It seems a little bizarre not to, but maybe.
Speaker: Who knows?
Speaker: Just curious.
Speaker: But there was, let's see, this was a Methodist Hospital website we have to thank, a BBC site, and a couple other good ones.
Speaker: Was it JamaicaHospital.org?
Speaker: I love that one.
Speaker: That's a classic.
Speaker: I wish that whole exchange would just be printed on a T-shirt.
Speaker: Maybe we could sell that as a non-fungible token.
Speaker: Oh, that's a good one.
Speaker: But then somebody would just... Tarantino's getting sued.
Speaker: No, I didn't hear that.
Speaker: What are you talking about?
Speaker: He's trying to sell Pulp Fiction NFTs.
Speaker: He's trying to sell scenes from Pulp Fiction.
Speaker: And Miramax is like, you don't own that.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: Yeah, very interesting.
Speaker: It's surprising that he would do that.
Speaker: He's been in the business long enough that you'd think he would know what he can and can't do.
Speaker: You would think.
Speaker: Well, you got anything else?
Speaker: Nope.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Well, everybody that means short stuff is out.
Speaker: Stuff You Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
