While most often transient, brachial plexus birth injury can cause permanent neurologic injury. The major risk factors for brachial plexus birth injury are fetal macrosomia and shoulder dystocia. The degree of injury to the brachial plexus should be determined in the neonatal nursery, as those infants with the most severe injury--root avulsion--should be referred early for surgical evaluation s...

OBJECTIVE To identify the range of activities limited following adult traumatic brachial plexus injury and triangulate these with existing patient-reported outcome measures identified from the literature. DESIGN A qualitative cross-sectional design. SUBJECTS Adults with traumatic brachial plexus injury and expert clinicians. METHODS Using an International Classification of Functioning, Di...

In the treatment of brachial plexus injury, nerves that are functionally less important are transferred onto the distal ends of damaged crucial nerves to help recover neuromuscular function in the target region. For example, intercostal nerves are transferred onto axillary nerves, and accessory nerves are transferred onto suprascapular nerves, the phrenic nerve is transferred onto the musculocu...

Our previous studies have demonstrated that some male patients suffering from brachial plexus injury, particularly brachial plexus root avulsion, show erectile dysfunction to varying degrees. However, the underlying mechanism remains poorly understood. In this study, we evaluated the erectile function after establishing brachial plexus root avulsion models with or without spinal cord injury in ...

This article reports a series of severe permanent brachial plexus injuries in American football players. The authors describe the mechanisms of injury and outcomes from a more contemporary treatment approach in the form of nerve transfer tailored to the specific injuries sustained. Three cases of nerve transfer for brachial plexus injury in American football players are discussed in detail. Two...

Adult brachial plexus injuries frequently lead to significant and permanent physical disabilities. Investigating the mechanism of the injury using biomechanical approaches may lead to further knowledge with regard to preventing brachial plexus injuries. However, there are no reports of biomechanical studies of brachial plexus injuries till date. Therefore, the present study used a complex three...

in upper brachial plexus (c5-c6 or c5-c6-c7 roots) injuries, restoration of elbow flexion is the first aim. several methods have been used to achieve this goal. among these procedures, oberlin’s method (transfer of part of ulnar nerve to the nerve to biceps muscle) is the newest one. from april 2002 to march 2003 we used this method in 9 cases, 8 males and 1 female, of upper brachial plexus inj...