my elbow?

[joanabanana321]

for a long time, probably a year or more, on my left elbow i've had a long, hard, but very palpable thing right on top of my funny bone and recently i noticed some things. maybe these have been going on longer but i'd never thought of it until now. basically if I put my hand in a fist and open it up again, my ring finger and pinky are stiff. like they do that motion but it like goes through two positions; it's not a fluid movement like with all my other fingers. also those same two fingers get numb when my elbow's bent or i'm leaning on it or something. sometimes they also get numb on my right hand but my right hand doesn't have this weird long palpable thing. i tried googling it and got "entrapped ulnar nerve" but i don't know if that is what i have. what could this long palpable thing on my funny bone be? i feel it and touch it when my elbow is bent but not when it's straight. It doesn't feel like a lymph node, but could it be one? it's like 2 inches long, and it's scary. should i be concerned? THANKS!

also, some things that might help:
1. i do sports a lot and have fallen flat on my arms multiple times
2. i lean on my elbows a lot (like bad table manners), esp. the left one
3. about a year ago i was running and i fell hard on my arms so maybe but i'm not sure that could've sparked this. just for some reason i always get paranoid that i have cancer or something and i want to make sure this isn't something that serious. thanks!

[Michael L Gross, MD]

this may be a subluxating ulnar nerve.  The ulnar nerve travels through a canal behind the elbow known as the cubital tunnel,  Sometimes the tunnel is weakened, possibly by trauma, and the nerve begins to pop in and out of the tunnel.  This is known as subluxating or dislocating.  This irritates the nerve and can cause some of the symptoms you are discribing.  Usually surgical repair is recommended before there is permanent damage to the nerve.