United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Ive been in PT for 3 years.I have about 75% of the arm function back,but no strenghth.Anyone have any ideas why? Ive had Emgs and they continue to show intervention.That last one I had was a year ago.Is it possible there may be some not healed? I have cold fingers most of the time also.Thanks!
Sandi

have they looked to see if any scar tissue is choking the nerve... has any of the bulk muscle mass returned since any of your arm function came back?

Hi,

How does one check to see if scar tissue is choking the nerve? When I run my hand over the deltoid area its kinda bumpy,not smoth.Also when I was crushed into the warehouse overhead door,you know that metal that sticks out every 2 feet? Well my arm dented that heavy metal a good half inch/more.So I have a divot there.
Sandi

i don't think there is a way 2 check.. besides exploratory surgery actualy going in and looking at the nerves... Did you have a streach and of what nervs if so.. how long did it take you to start regaining movement?

It is a feature of tbpi, even in cases where good recovery happens, that the autonomic nervous system which controls stuff like whether your skin feels warm, goosebumps, that kind of thing, often doesn't recover so well. Some people get good motor recovery and no sensory recovery at all. I don't know why this is, and I don't think anyone else does, either. If anyone does, please post because I'm interested!

As far as the strength goes, I think that can take years and years and maybe you will never get it back as it was before the tbpi. Whether exploratory surgery/clearing scar tissue etc would help, I don't know. Check with your doc.
Sorry not to be more help....tbpi sucks eh??
Jen NZ

Hi, my physios answer to this question was that your muscles are like electric motors and if/when the motor nerve innervates the muscle any eventual strength depends on the % of the 'current' being delivered. She put this in simple terms so must think i'm simple.. There may be scar tissue pressing on the nerve, it might have some tears, any nerve grafts you may have had may not have taken fully etc. So if say the nerve is sending a 50% signal to the muscle the maximum strength of that muscle can only be 50% what it was. Jenny is right it can take years to come back, it's been 5 years since my injury and strength is still very slowly improving. Stretching doesn't improve strength only resistance. That's what i was told anyway! My hand and arm is colder and feels it too so has some sensory recovery, i think that is a circulation thing. Good luck!

Im curious if an MRI would show up scar tissue on the nerves?

I don't think an mri would.. i believe the only way is too go in and look at the nerve

Sandi,
Being the highly educated man that I am, I thought I would answer your question. That is until I realised I had no clue. So I proceeded to ask my PT (this guy walks on water). He explaned to me that like Dave said, you can actully measure how many motor units are feeding each muscle that you teat with an emg. Lets say for instance that normally 40,000 motor units reach a normal bicep. But you doc reads only 10,000. Basically you only have 25 %. He can't tell why without more tests, but he can tell how much you do have. So Dave wins the prise. Hope this helps...Karl...

Karl,

Do they mwasure the motor units,etc when the Emg is being done? Or is their another test for that?Thanks!!
Sandi