When New Jersey moms give birth, they trust in their medical facility to offer their best care. While many births these days go without complication or issue, things still go wrong. In some of those cases, the issues tie back to actions a medical professional did or did not take.
What is Erb’s palsy?
OrthoInfo looks at Erb’s palsy, which is a type of brachial plexus palsy. It affects the brachial plexus nerve, which controls the entirety of the arm. The brachial plexus nerve affects everything from your fingertips to shoulder. When injury damages it, the victim may suffer from:
- Weakness in the shoulder, arm, wrist or hand
- A total inability to move the affected areas
- Numbness or tingling in the affected areas
- Shooting pain originating from the nerve
Can children recover from Erb’s palsy?
Erb’s palsy has a good prognosis. Many children who begin physical therapy recover the mobility of the affected arm. But this process still takes months or even years. By the time a victim’s arm recovers, they have to play catch-up to match their peers.
Not only that, but going through physical therapy at a young age is often traumatic. It is a hard experience not only for the affected child, but also for the parent.
The nerve damage that causes Erb’s palsy often happens during the delivery process. If a child does not move out of the birth canal, a doctor or assistant may attempt to help guide them out. If they tug the neck too hard or catch the shoulder on something, this stretches the nerves. This in turn causes the palsy.
