Information about Brachial Plexus

By: Peter Hutch


The goal of treatment is to enable the patient to return to sport or activity as soon as possible while not worsening the injury, which could lead to permanent damage. Return to activity will be determined by how quickly the nerves recover. A patient should be able to have full range of motion in the neck, including being able to turn the head fully to look over both shoulders, and extend the head backward, forward and side to side as far as possible. If any of these actions causes burning in the neck or shoulder, the patient should not return to contact sports. In general, the longer the patient has symptoms before treatment is started, the longer it will take to make a full recovery.

Surgery may be indicated if the patient doesn't recover adequate function within several months. Surgery on the nerves, if required, should ideally occur within three to six months and not later than one year after the injury. When evaluation is delayed beyond six to nine months, treatment options are fewer and more limited, although evaluation and treatment will likely still be of value.

Of the 187 joints in your body, knee is the most commonly injured joint.
Approximately 50 million people in USA suffer from knee pain. From accidents to falls and sport injuries there could be countless instances in your daily lives that can.

Brachial plexus palsy, also known as Erb’s palsy, is a paralysis or weakness of the arm caused by an injury to one or more nerves that control and supply the muscles of the shoulder and upper extremities (upper brachial plexus). It is more commonly seen in newborns (neonates) and is often the result of a difficult delivery. When it occurs in adults, the cause typically is an injury that has caused stretching, tearing or other trauma to the brachial plexus network. The brachial plexus is the network of nerves that conducts signals from the spine to the shoulder, arm, and hand.

Symptoms may include a limp or paralyzed arm, lack of muscle control in the arm, hand, or wrist, and lack of feeling or sensation in the arm or hand. There are four types of brachial plexus injuries: avulsion, the most severe type, in which the nerve is torn from the spine; rupture, in which the nerve is torn but not at the spinal attachment; neuroma, in which the nerve has tried to heal itself but scar tissue has grown around the injury, putting pressure on the injured nerve and preventing the nerve from conducting signals to the muscles; and neuropraxia or stretch, in which the nerve has been damaged but not torn. Neuropraxia is the most common type of brachial plexus injury.

Pain in the cervical and shoulder area is common and may reflect a multitude of conditions. However, when a patient develops neurologic deficits, the list of differential diagnoses becomes shorter. Cervical radiculopathy is the most common condition. Patients with cervical radiculopathy present with cervical pain and neurologic deficits resulting from a herniated nucleus pulposus or an osteophyte. Acute brachial plexus neuritis mimics cervical radiculopathy in several aspects, but the treatments are significantly different.

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