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Brachial Plexus injuries quite often occur due to a difficult delivery of a baby.  Sometimes this could be due to the baby being born breach or a prolonged labour.  Sometimes the midwife or whoever is assisting in the birth my have to force the baby ourof the birth canal which can cause brachial plexus.  The symptoms are that your newborn baby may not be able to move one arm.  This is a symptom of an injury to the brachial plexus which is a network of nerves that’s provides movement and sensation to the arm hand and fingers.  Most babies born with this injury make a full recovery without any need for surgery.

What causes brachial plexus?

The arm hand and finger nerves leave the spinal cord between the bones of the neck (vertebrae) and travel into the arm below the collarbone (clavicle).  The nerves to the arm leave high in the neck, the nerves that go to the hand and fingers leave just above the check, below the neck.  All these nerves branch together near where the neck joins the shoulder and this area is called the brachial plexus.

In adults the mechanism for a branchial plexus is similar.  This can occur when an excessive force is placed on the brachial plexus area for an excessive amount of time.  For instance a patient being left on their back during surgery with their arm left dangling off the table for a long period of time.

There are four major types of brachial plexus injuries.  These are:

·         Avulsion
·         Rupture
·         Neuroma
·         Neuropraxia

The first type, an avulsion means the nerve is torn from the spine.  A rupture is where the nerve is torn from the spine but is still attached.  A neuroma is where the nerve has tried to heal but scar tissue is putting pressure on the injured nerve praxis.  Neuropraxia one of the mildest form of nerve injury and most common.  It is found quite often in babies born and normally recover within 4-6 weeks.