The brachial plexus is a nerve cluster in your shoulder. The nerve cluster comes from the lower cervical spine into the upper thoracic spine. Specifically, the brachial plexus is anchored in C5, 6, 7, 8, and T1. This particular nerve cluster controls your arms, hands, and wrists. The brachial plexus also is in charge of sensations coming from the skin of your arms, wrist, and hands. When this nerve cluster is damaged, the affected arm will be weaker and have less sensation. The more severe the original injury, the worse the effects will be. 

Causes

Brachial plexus injuries can be an artifact of birth. They can be caused by compression, by the baby's neck and shoulders during birth, or by the baby's shoulders getting stretched out as the baby is being born. But those aren't the only causes of these injuries. Sports injuries can cause them, as can blunt force trauma and over-vigorously stretching. These cause brachial plexus injuries since the nerve plexus is injured when your neck stretches away from your shoulder while your shoulder is being pushed down.  

Diagnosis

If you think you have one of these injuries, a visit to the doctor is in order. They will do several tests to see if you have injured your brachial plexus. Those tests will include checking the sensation in your arm and hand. Your doctor will also check to see if your arm or hand is weaker than the other arm. Imaging is another way to diagnose this problem. Generally, you will need to get an MRI since nerves are soft tissue injuries and don't show up on X-rays. 

Treatment

A mild brachial plexus injury may heal with nothing but time working on it. It will likely take several months for it to heal on its own completely. Your doctor may send you to physical therapy (PT) to learn some exercises to help your shoulder heal and help you manage in the meantime. If you have a severe injury, your doctor will likely go straight to recommending you get surgery and PT after that. 

If you have recently had a child who has suffered a brachial plexus injury, contact an attorney who works with these kinds of cases. They will be able to tell you if you have a case and help you get the case filed. The attorney will do what they can to help win the case and get everything you are entitled to. 

Contact a local brachial plexus birth injury lawyer to learn more.