Hi. i hope i can have someone to talk about this BPI. i had a motorcycle accident last year and since then i can't move my left arm. i can only feel my shoulder only. but no movements for the rest of my left arm. I didn't continue therapy because i lack financially.is this going to be well? even without surgeries? just exercise. will i still be able to move my arm again?
Background:
I was diagnosed shortly after birth with a brachial plexus injury on my left side. No surgery was done but physical therapy was done with some improvements.
Over time I developed an elbow contracture, accompanied by bony deformities in my elbow. In 2013 I saw the first orthopedic surgeon, who preformed x rays and mentioned the following: The glenoid is hypoplastic with a flattened humeral head. However, the humeral head is congruent with the glenoid. The glenoid is retroverted. The olecranon process is underdeveloped. The ulnohumeral joint appears dysplastic. The radial head is congruent with the capitellum.
The deformity never caused any issues, so I decided to not pursue anything further.
Current issue:
Approximately a year ago I started having sudden extreme sharp pain directly in that elbow joint, along with numbness of my pinkie and ring fingers in my hand on that side. The pain would come on very suddenly, but only last 5-10 seconds. It would sometimes be triggered by usage, but could also occur just if the arm moved. The sharp pain was accompanied by a feeling that something involving or inside the joint itself would snap, pop, or break somehow.
I had second set of x rays preformed for that joint May 2021 with no apparent changes since the ones done in 2013, and saw a different orthopedic surgeon as I have now aged out of the pediatric network. A EMG/NCV test was done in June, following a suspicion from the surgeon of cubital tunnel syndrome. The results of the EMG/NCV showed very mild Carpal Tunnel syndrome, but it would be asymptomatic. Slight slowing at the cubital tunnel, but not enough even for a diagnosis.
After these results I saw the orthopedic surgeon again and he suggested that the pain may just be due to the bony deformities, and that it would be ongoing and lifelong with nothing that could be done.
I would like to get a second opinion, as I'm concerned due to how extreme the pain is that there is something seriously wrong with the joint and I do not want to injure it further or be in this kind of pain for the rest of my life. Is there another type of doctor I should try to see that may be more equipped to help with this than an orthopedic surgeon? Or would I be best to get an opinion from a different orthopedic surgeon? I am feeling defeated and frustrated at this point.
i can't type my medical hx...it's too long but my emg/ncvs/mris of neck and bp are all normal. I cannot click on a mouse without extreme pain or make pinching movements/press buttons.
is this possible with a brachial plexus injury? my grip strength is normal. or is it carpal tunnel
23, male, 5 11, 59kg
So I have hereditary multiple exostosis. I've have an exostosis from my first rib which was growing into my neck and lung removed five years ago. The good news is that hasn't returned. The bad news is that a exostosis from my shoulder blade is occupying the same position and rubbing off the metal plate left on my clavicle. What are the risks for leaving this alone or getting it removed Waiting a very long time for an appointment with a consultant.
No joke this is super serious, you can tell by all the adjectives.
Hi all,
Hope you are safe and well.
I have a disability on my right arm, namely Brachial Plexus Injury (BPI), which occurred during my childbirth. That's why, the mobility of my right arm is severely limited.
I regularly do some exercises to improve the mobility of my arm. In the last year, I have seen visible improvement in its mobility. That's why, I decided to get professional help to improve it further (hopefully, to the extent where it can function as a healthy arm). So, I would like to ask:
i) Can you suggest to me a physiotherapist in Toronto, who has worked with people with BPI before?
ii) Moreover, while looking for a physiotherapist on the internet, I read about Ontario Disability Support Program, which provides a government-funded physiotherapy service. I am an international Ph.D. student at the University of Toronto. Do you think that I can utilize government-funded physiotherapy services?
Many thanks!
Good day to all,
I am reaching out today for any information from you and your community.
I won’t get into too many specifics and waste your time, but I’m very curious if you may be able to help me.
A little bit of background on myself..
In 2006, at the age of 19, I was in a traumatic snowmobile accident, where I received a tree branch to the neck at high speeds, causing not only a spinal cord injury, but also a brachial plexus and sub dural Brain hematoma. (C4-6 fusion) I’m very lucky and recovery in the grand scheme of things is quite wonderful, as I am walking and +90% functional having been told I would do no such thing. I even was able to continue my journey as a pilot and currently fly large jumbo jets. A story for the ages, I’m sure.
As for what I’m reaching out about. It hasn’t all been rainbows and butterflies. I have large muscle atrophy in both my right bicep, forearm and right deltoid, as well as my left wrist/hand and fingers. (Left grip is extremely weak).
Among all that is a constant numbness and pain that has caused me much grief over the years. I was 19 when this happened, currently at the age of 34. It has me feeling as though I’m much older and my life could definitely be worse, but I’m thinking much has changed in the nerve world since 2006. I am thankful I have what function I do, and I do well to compensate around my weakness, but getting to this point with my no quit attitude, is the exact reason I am reaching out today. I would love the chance to try and better my current situation.
I’m not sure if anyone has new information on this subject, but I would be immensely overjoyed if there was a chance of getting closer to 100% someday.
I’m tired of just getting by and want to try something else. I’ve tried all massage, chiro, acupuncture, even a stem cell procedure in Vancouver a few years ago, which seemed to settle the back pain I was having. I’m willing to try anything. The idea of nerve grafting/transfer always excites me. I’ve learned an exceptional amount about the spinal cord and traumatic injuries, much more than I ever thought I would. I know there are individuals in much worse condition than myself, but I can’t pass up the opportunity to try to better my situation.
I’m not sure if this is the right outlet, but I do hope to hear from anyone with more information.
Kind wishes. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Have a great week
I am a 15 year old boy with brachial plexus injury. In simple words, there are numerous nerves in the Brachial / shoulder region. I was overweight for normal delivery. But the doctor conducted normal delivery. So, my left shoulder didn't have much space to come out smoothly. The doctor, though, literally pulled my hand out very hard, which resulted all the nerves to break. Now, I have permanent disability.
Edit: https://www.reddit.com/user/Artisticspawm/comments/hmom1b/hi_this_is_my_proof/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share.
Here's the photo of one of 15 of my surgeries.
→For those who don't know, brachial plexus injury is the injury when the motor and sensory nerves are damaged of a body part. I don't perfectly know the definition, but this is approximately it.
→ So this happened when I was being born. I was too overweight for the normal delivery and doctor said they may have to undergo C-section. But they didn't. And during normal delivery, my left shoulder got stuck in the... (You know... That). So the doctor pulled my hand so hard that all the nerves got damaged.
→ As a result, I had to undergo 6 major surgeries, which had two or more surgical cuts per surgery. The recent surgery (on 26th April, 2019) was the most important surgery in all of the surgeries. It was a tendon draft. The tendons from my left thigh were transplanted to my left bicep.
→ I am posting this as I thought doctor Mike might find this interesting. I can also give photos of some of my surgical cuts if you need them. Also,you can ask me questions about this and I'll answer if I know the answer.
I know you think that I'm a karma seeker, like that one kid. But no, I'm not. (I can provide you proof if you ask).
Anyways. So basically, brachial plexus injury is an injury which is caused by breaking of motor nerves and sensory nerves. I have it since my birth. My injury is a major one. It is rather common in my country. I have undergone around 15 surgeries of my left hand. And my recovery is around 30% right now.
Hi everyone! First wanted to say that I hope this post is alright here. I checked the rules and there was no rule against posting this here and I just want to specify that I am just trying to grow our little BPI support community, not make money or anything else. I am a moderator over at r/bpisupport and I recently had a redditor approach me about trying to revive the (formerly quite dead) subreddit to find more people with BPIs. I am also trying to get a Discord server set up as a more instant way of communication within a community of BPI sufferers and their family and friends. The link to the not-yet-finished server is stickied on the sub. I spent my whole childhood feeling alone in my injury/disability so I'm just trying to bridge that gap for other people and create a community where we can all make friends, share tips for adapting/coping, and just chat. If you guys have any questions, let me know. Hoping to expand our community of people with BPIs. :)
Hey guys.
As you may have gleaned from the title, I've been living with a Brachial Plexus injury all my life. If you don't know what that is, let my good mate Wikipedia help you out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachial_plexus_injury
Proof is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=pXL1NXl0RrA
Ask me anything about my injury that comes to mind. I will gladly answer questions about other aspects of my life as well. I'm available for the next 9 hours!
EDIT 1: Screw it, I'll try and answer questions for as long as I see fit. Keep them coming! Thanks for the responses so far!
EDIT 2: Signing off and going to bed. Thanks guys, this was great!
In my right arm I’ve got a nerve injury it’s no the most severe thing but usually people ask about it
Hey - I'm in Seattle.
I was diagnosed last week with long thoracic nerve compression in my neck - this has been a fairly painful condition. Any activity in which I need to reach in front of me or over my head brings me a lot of pain because the trapezius and levator and other muscles are compensating for the palsy of the serratus anterior.
This started six weeks after I was hit and run on. Someone caught his license plate and called the police on my behalf. I didn't seek medical attention at the time because I thought I was "fine." A few weeks later I started developing some mid and upper back pain. I took a couple of weeks off from the gym not sure what I may have done and then started seeing doctor after doctor, chiros, PT's, rolfers, massage therapists, craniosacral, etc. No answers. They kept telling me along the way that I could probably continue my activity of weightlifting, though, so I did. Mentally I think it helped a bit - it gave me lots of horrid compensation patterns but at least I could do what I loved.
Finally at the end of January I put the weights down and said I wouldn't go back until I had a diagnosis that I could believe. I traveled to Montana to meet a well-known nerve specialist who ran ultrasound from my spinal cord to multiple muscles and he found a large entrapment in my neck of the long thoracic nerve - this was throwing off all of the mechanics of my shoulder for even the simplest of tasks. He also found spasming in my paraspinal muscles. He treated them and said he's 75% sure the motor function will come back in 30-60 days as the nerve heals (3cm entrapment; nerve was swelled to 3x the normal size).
I asked him if this could have been caused by that rear-end collision I had a few weeks before it developed. He said it certainly could have but because I was also a weightlifter it would be really hard to prove. I also have been briefly chatting with an attorney via email and she says I may have a case. I'm probably nearing $10k in total costs for doctors, imaging, specialists, travel, missed work. Not to mention the pain associated with this.
Is this worth pursuing or will it just become a witchhunt because I didn't seek medical help immediately and continued to weightlift after the symptoms developed?
