What are the types of brachial plexus injuries?

What are the types of brachial plexus injuries?

Brachial plexus injuries vary greatly in severity, depending on the type of injury and the amount of force involved. You can injure several different nerves of your brachial plexus in varying severity from the same event.

The main types of brachial plexus injuries include:

• Stretch (neuropraxia): This happens when a brachial plexus nerve mildly stretches, which damages the protective covering of the nerve. This causes problems with nerve signal conduction but doesn’t always result in damage to the nerve underneath. It may heal on its own or require simple, nonsurgical treatment methods such as physical therapy to return to normal function.
• Rupture: This happens when a more forceful stretch of a brachial plexus nerve causes it to tear partially or fully. These types of injuries can often be repaired with surgery.
• Avulsion: This is the most severe type of brachial plexus injury. It happens when the nerve root tears away from your spinal cord. These types of injuries require surgery to regain function.