Read more about this disease, some with Classification – Types – Signs and symptoms – Genetics – Pathophysiology – Diagnosis – Screening – Prevention – Treatment and management – Cures and much more, some including pictures and video when available.
Erb’s Palsy (Erb-Duchenne Palsy, Brachial plexus paralysis) is a paralysis of the arm caused by injury to the upper group of the arm’s main nerves (specifically, spinal roots C5-C7), almost always occurring during birth. Depending on the nature of the damage, the paralysis can either resolve on its own over a period of months, necessitate physical therapy or require surgery.[1]
The most common cause of Erb’s palsy is dystocia, an abnormal or difficult childbirth or labour. For example, it can occur if the infant’s head and neck are pulled toward the side at the same time as the shoulders pass through the birth canal.[2]
The condition can also be caused by excessive pulling on the shoulders during a vertex delivery (head first).[2]
A similar injury may be observed in adults or following a traumatic fall on the side of the neck. It can also affect neonates affected by a clavicle fracture unrelated to dystocia.[3]
The paralysis can be partial or complete; the damage to each nerve can range from bruising to tearing. The most commonly involved root is C5 (aka Erb’s point: the union of C5 & C6 roots) as this is mechanically, the furthest point from the force of traction, therefore, the first/most affected.
The most commonly involved nerves are the suprascapular nerve, musculocutaneous nerve, and the axillary nerve.[4]
The injury often leaves patients with stunted growth in the affected arm with everything from the shoulder though to the fingertips smaller than the unaffected arm. This also leaves the patients with impaired muscular, nervous and circulatory development. The lack of muscular development leads to the arm being much weaker than the unaffected one, and less articulate, with many patients unable to lift the arm above shoulder height unaided, as well as leaving many with an elbow contracture.
The lack of development to the circulatory system can leave the arm with almost no ability to regulate its temperature, which often proves problematic during winter months when it would need to be closely monitored to ensure that the temperature of the arm was not dropping too far below that of the rest of the body. However the damage to the circulatory system also leaves the arm with another problem. It reduces the healing ability of the skin, so that skin damage takes far longer than usual to heal, and infections in the arm can be quite common if cuts are not sterlised as soon as possible. This will often cause many problems for children since they often injure themselves in the course of their childhoods.
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