Brachial plexus injury patterns
Erb's palsy
Mechanism
increase in angle between neck and shoulder - classically difficult birth
clinical presentation
weakness/loss of:
- abduction
- lateral rotation
- flexion
therefore, 'waiter's tip deformity' is described as:
- arm held in medial rotation and extention
Klumpke's palsy
mechanism
arrest of a fall by grabbing on to a projection, or motor vehicle accidents
may be accompanied by damage to sympathetic fibres → Horner's syndrome
pathogenesis
functionally injury to ulnar and median nerves
C8-T1
clinical presentation
clawed hand -
paralysis of lumbricals = hand becomes extended at the MCPJs and flexed at the IPJs