Brachial Plexus Injury – Physical Therapy

Transcript

Physical therapy is a critical part of the recovery from a brachial plexus injury. Even injuries that don’t require reconstructive surgery, if a patient is rendered weak, he will need a therapist to help retrain the movements of the arm until he recovers full strength. Even subtle weakness of some different muscle groups can result in muscle imbalance and pain about the shoulder girdle. So to be under the care of a physical therapist who understands these injuries is critical. After a reconstructive procedure, a patient will often have to relearn how to move the limb. Sometimes a reconstructive procedure involves using nerves that don’t normally animate the arm. So nerves that are between the ribs that contribute to chest flexion and exhaling can often be transferred over to cause the elbow to flex. As you can imagine, this is a difficult function to retrain and to have a therapist who understands how to teach a patient how to do this maneuver would really aid in the recovery of function of that limb.