<b>Brachial plexus</b> traction injury?

Translate Request has too much data
Parameter name: request
Translate Request has too much data
Parameter name: request
Brachial plexus traction injury? Home The Physio Shop The Physio Directory Physiotherapy Jobs Physiotherapy Courses Physiotherapy PI Insurance Welcome to the Online Physio Forum. Login: Remember Me? Home Forum Today's Posts FAQ Calendar Community Groups Forum Actions Mark Forums Read Quick Links View Site Leaders Blogs Physio Links What's New? Advanced Search Forum Physiotherapy Discussion Areas, News and General Interest Musculoskeletal/Outpatients Brachial plexus traction injury? + Reply to Thread Results 1 to 3 of 3 Thread: Brachial plexus traction injury? LinkBack LinkBack URL About LinkBacks   Bookmark & Share Digg this Thread!Add Thread to del.icio.usBookmark in TechnoratiTweet this Thread! Thread Tools Show Printable Version Email this Page… Subscribe to this Thread… Search Thread   Advanced Search Display Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode 21-01-2011 12:40 PM #1 alfiePT Forum Member Join Date Dec 2010 Location Australia Posts 1 Rep Power 0 Brachial plexus traction injury?

Would like to hear some other opinions on a client I have started seeing recently. Two months ago she sustained an injury unlocking a heavy mechanism on a caravan (this is the best description she can give me) which should have had two people operating it. She felt a "pop" and then had pain which steadily got worse over the top of her left shoulder. She saw a PT a couple of times who did some needling which helped a little bit, and has now started at my clinic two months post injury. She describes burning over her upper shoulder area, and tingling in her whole arm, and says it feels heavy. The symptoms seem glove-like over the whole arm and hand. Her reflexes appear intact and she has decent strength but it is a bit weaker generally, possibly from pain inhibition however. She has normal neck range of motion now (this is what we worked on at first). Her CT says narrowing at C5/6 foramen on the same side but she also has a history of a whiplash injury. I can give her some relief by taping the shoulder into elevation from its dropped position but everything else either doesn't help or makes it feel worse (needling, attempts at postural exercises). She is in tears from the pain when she tries to work (nursing) and is only on Mobic. Any ideas???

Reply With Quote 23-01-2011 10:42 AM #2 bobo Forum Member Join Date Jan 2008 Location Far away Posts 20 Rep Power 9 Re: Brachial plexus traction injury?

I had a patient with a brachial plexus injury that happened when she fell backwards and grabbed onto something infront of her - pulling the arm and stretching the plexus. She was in agony to be honest and from my (allbeit limited) experience of dealing with them, recovery can take a long time and its important the patient knows that. Like you, i taped the shoulder into elevation to offer some relief but it only lasted a while before that position became painful too. Recovery was spontaneous but I left that place of work and don't know how she got on after the first few sessions.

I did an inservice presentation on them, its a powerpoint and might give you a few ideas but from my reading for it the jist of the principles of management were education and psychosocial support (as its a nasty long term injury), ROM exercises to prevent secondary injuries and pain management. For that you could try things like TENS, massage (might be an idea to start distally as massaging the shoulder could be pretty painful - whatever works best i guess), hydrotherapy and trigger pointing. Happy to send presentation to you if you PM me an email.

Reply With Quote 24-01-2011 09:16 AM #3 pudding_bowl Forum Member Join Date Sep 2009 Location NZ Posts 276 Rep Power 30 Re: Brachial plexus traction injury?

Hey there,

sounds interesting. Please assess the thoracic spine if you haven't already and see if there is any change with manual therapy to the area. Worth a shot if you haven't already. If it is a brachial plexus injury then it'll be slow like bobo said and you should be offering symptom relief as best you can. Did the CT cover the shoulder and thoracic spine? or just the Cx?

bit of food for thought there. Would love to hear how it all goes

Puddin

Reply With Quote
  + Reply to Thread « Orthopedic Manual Therapy (OMT)|MACP recognized Master degree in UK » Thread Information Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

  Similar Threads Lumbar plexus injury By cadenza_vivace in forum Musculoskeletal/Outpatients Replies: 0 Last Post: 30-06-2010, 03:47 AM Injury from Lumbar Traction By merrm0o in forum Patient Corner: Questions & Answers Replies: 1 Last Post: 10-12-2009, 01:25 AM brachial plexus injury By spandanphysio in forum Paediatric Physiotherapy Replies: 9 Last Post: 01-08-2008, 08:26 PM brachial plexus injury By onpc in forum Neuro Physiotherapy Replies: 6 Last Post: 06-03-2007, 06:41 AM Shoulder Girdle with Brachial Plexus By physiobob in forum Medical Images Replies: 0 Last Post: 16-09-2006, 06:38 PM Bookmarks Bookmarks Digg del.icio.us StumbleUpon Google Posting Permissions You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts BB code is On Smilies are On [IMG] code is On HTML code is Off Trackbacks are On Pingbacks are On Refbacks are On Forum Rules

Contact Us The Physio Forum Archive Physio Links Privacy Statement Top Back to top All times are GMT. The time now is 06:33 AM.Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.5.2

View the original article here