J Korean Soc Emerg Med.  2006 Oct;17(5):500-504.

A Case of Brachial Plexus Injury Due to Physical Restraint

• Park YJ
• Kim SJ
• Park GC

Abstract

The brachial plexus may be visualized simply as beginning with five nerves and terminating in five nerves. It begins with the anterior rami of C5, C6, C7, C8, and the first thoracic nerve. It terminates with the formation of the musculocutaneous, median, ulnar, axillary, and radial nerves. The anatomy of the brachial plexus can be confusing, especially because of frequent variations in the length and the caliber of each of its components. The most common type of injury is one involving a motorcycle or bicycle crash in which a forceful impact on the shoulder depresses the entire shoulder girdle and avules a portion of the plexus. The injuried area is usually the upper trunk althrough the lower trunk can be involved either in addition to or as the main site of injury. Our case involves brachial plexus injury due to physical restraint that had been used to avoid using a pharmachologic restraint.

Keyword

Brachial plexus injury; Physical restraint

MeSH Terms

Brachial Plexus*
Motorcycles
Radial Nerve
Restraint, Physical*
Shoulder
Thoracic Nerves