I've been seeing plenty of drs but I have a quick question before my next appointment on Wednesday, hopefully this is ok.
Can you see issues with the brachial plexus on a cervical spine without contrast MRI?
Long version, if it matters: 36/m/no injuries Basically I've had issues with my neck/shoulder/arm since December 4. Earlier this week my arm was in so much pain I went to the ER and the Dr suggested I get an MRI and mentioned my arm pain might be due to brachial plexus problems (it's all very over my head). I had x-rays done by a chiropractor a few weeks ago who suggested degenerating disc and punched nerve (btw, I felt way way way worse after every visit). Anyway, I already had an appt with another Dr for the next day (after ER visit) so I mentioned the MRI and he scheduled me for one this Wednesday. I was just looking over the paperwork, and instead of ordering a brachial plexus MRI, he ordered the cervical spine one.
I assume it's all related and my pinched nerve (~C6/7? I think?) Is what is actually causing the brachial plexus issues but the pain is so intense I want to make sure I have all my bases covered and I don't have to wait another week to schedule a second MRI.
Pain is in upper chest around collarbone, front of armpit, upper lats, triceps, and back of forearm. My index and middle finger tingle constantly. Forearm and fingers get fairly swollen. It's difficult sleeping for more than 2 hours at a time, I wake up with arm muscles spasming and excruciating pain shooting into hand. Thanks!
Hi all, I wanted to make this post to ask if anyone knows of any good Qbanks for brachial plexus questions? I have memorized the brachial plexus from many high-yield resources (e.g., BnB, The Noted Anatomist, anki etc.) yet the questions on my in-school exams were so hard to localize the lesion that I had to guess on the questions. My school does not give explanations to the answers we get wrong on exams and we just have to accept that we don't know it. Please let me know if there are any extremely hard five hammer-like amboss questions out there on the brachial plexus with answer explanations. TIA!
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?
Does anyone have any resources that are helpful for learning the brachial plexus? I'm kind of lost with my universities lecturer....
I see this thread occasionally and thought it would be fun/helpful to bring it up again!
If you have a helpful tidbit or explanation for a certain topic, leave a response to that comment.
(Obviously I’m procrastinating re-learning the brachial plexus by making this post)
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.
Hello all, little MS1 here asking if anyone has any tips on studying the brachial plexus and muscles the plexus innervates. So far I’ve only been drawing/redrawing it and labeling the roots, trunks, divisions, cords, and branches with “eh” results. Any other study methods that are more efficient?
How much do I need to study? Do I need to memorize every little branch of it? I hated studying it back in M1
I AM NOT LOOKING FOR A DIAGNOSIS OR MEDICAL ADVICE
Hey everyone! Just got my 3rd MRI done today and was allowed to take home a copy this time. I am wondering if anyone can give me an idea of what I am looking at / looking for when reading this type of imaging. My doctor should be calling me this week to go over it anyways so I am not looking for medical interpretation, I just really enjoy looking at these and am beyond curious. I am having a difficult time locating the nerves in detail. To me one side looks different than the other but I have no idea what that could mean.
It has now been 6 weeks of weakness, shaking, tingling and pain from my left shoulder down to my fingers. The Gabapentin they gave me helped a lot as far as functioning better but it interacted with another scrip so I had to discontinue. I am really hoping this MRI will finally show what is wrong so I can get it resolved.
I can share images but there are so many I wouldn't even know where to begin.
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
hey y’all, I had a visit to urgent care today because overnight I had some issues with my heart racing/pounding and chest pain. I’ve been seeing a cardiologist so it’s not new to me to have cardiac issues, but right now we don’t know what’s wrong with my heart or if it’s related to TOS (though I suspect it is). Anyway, occasionally last night my chest would burn when I breathed in, and I had some really bad pain for a couple hours. The doctors at urgent care said since my EKG came back totally normal and vitals were good, it was most likely hurting because of brachial plexus damage. Super interesting to me since I’ve had nTOS since 2016 or so and never had anything like this, so I’m wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience? I’m not looking for medical advice or anything to be clear, I’m calling my cardiologist on Monday to tell him about these new symptoms as well as my PCP so no worries there, but I’m super curious if this is a common symptom for TOS?
Hey everyone, AT Grad Student here just studying my way through school. I was wondering if anyone had any good tips/tricks to remembering the brachial plexus, dermatomes, and myotomes for the upper extremity? I have the basics down but I am having a hard time putting everything into one whole component. I am curious to see the ways you all memorized all of this information!
Thus far, I have not had a UWorld question on brachial plexu or saw anything on the NBMEs s (maybe applications like Erb-Duchenne palsy)
Some of my classmates keep talking about drawing out their brachial plexus for step, and i'm wondering if i need to go back and draw it out.
Would prefer to avoid relearning haha
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.
Hey anyone have good idea to study the brachial plexus? especially its terminal branches
No joke this is super serious, you can tell by all the adjectives.
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
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!
That shit is unnecessarily complicated and now I have to learn it.
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.
I had an injury about 3 years ago (Oct 2017), after much pain, crying, and going in and out of Drs' offices, multiple referrals, etc I finally got an MRI of my cervical spine and they found a bulging disc between C5-C6. I got a new disc and it fixed some of the issue but not all, I still constantly have pain in my shoulder, and numbness tingling in my R hand at times, it gets worse with use (just typing this up is causing pain).
I now have a new neurologist who believes it could be TOS. I've had 3 EMGs and nerve conduction studies that showed nothing. I've had so many MRIs of my shoulder, spine, brain, everything is normal. I finally (after a year of my physical therapist requests) had a brachial plexus MRI and it still shows normal.
My neurologist wants to try a brachial plexus ultrasound, it's newish and not many people do it. I'd have to drive 2 hours for the test. I think I'm just at a loss here maybe? After so many tests, and injections, I just don't know what else to do. I'm not sure what I'm looking for in this post. Does anyone else have experience with a breachial plexus ultrasound?
Thank you for your time.
→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.
Has anyone had this procedure? I (43M) have had thoracic outlet syndrome for 25 years. I had bilateral first rib resections in my early 20s. Now I have severe recurrent neuropathic pain, especially on the left side. I wonder if brachial plexus decompression surgery could be a possibility. I never have a moment of respite from severe burning pain in my left shoulder, extending to the left side of my neck and also associated with a left-sided headache. I think I also have vascular symptoms due to baroreceptor damage which results in near-fainting sensations on exertion.
