Versus any other point on your arm.
In: Biology
basically, the blood vessels are forced to come up near the skin to get around the elbow joint.
normally they are much deeper, and its just easier to do it at around the eblow. also, it keeps any needles and such away form the donors hands and anything they might be doing, so its less likely to get disturbed.
The large blood vessels typically run between the bones under the muscle. This is where they are best protected so that only deep cuts damages them. There are a few places where the blood vessels have to come right under the skin though. The elbow is one of these places. They can not go between the bones because the bones in the elbow move a lot in relation to each other creating pinch points. And there are no muscles or even fat in your elbow to protect the blood vessels. So they run just under the skin making it easy to insert a needle into them. You can even see your blood vessels through the skin.
Same reason addicts start using that one. It’s large, near the surface, doesn’t roll around as much, it’s just easy to get to. Next are the ones going up your forearm and finally the hand. You see someone with track marks on their hands and you know they’ve been doing it for so long they can no longer hit their elbow veins.
The blood vessels run close enough to the surface that you can see them there, and they’re large enough for a needle to fit.
The veins are generally bigger there and it’s much less likely to roll than a forearm vein.
Mostly because it’s easier.
When I was taught to take bloods they demonstrated on the underside of the forearm but pretty much always talked about how you go to the crook of the Elbow if you have *any* difficulty as it’s much easier to find the veins going through that joint
Most people don’t have as much muscle and subcutaneous fat in the anticubital (also referred to as AC, the name for that fold on your elbow). As such the large vein or veins generally aren’t as deep and they are less likely to roll when trying to get a needle in them. It’s also just generally the biggest and juiciest vein that’s easy to access. It’s also the least painful to access. Anatomically the layout of veins varies a bit in location but everyone has a vein generally dead center in the anticubital.
Now I will say as a floor nurse it’s my least favorite IV access point, it’s fine for blood draws and for medication pushes. But if I have to run continuous infusions, the fact that it bends means I have to consistently restart my pumps as the IV becomes occluded every time the patient bends their arm (it’s kind of like a bent straw effect).
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