My Brachial Plexus Injury Story

So 15 months have passed by... And feels great! Using the arm gets easier as time goes by.  Visually, doesn't seem to make a huge difference compared to 12 months mark. But I can feel quite a difference since.  A few weeks ago I started doing small planks, and I think I might be able to do one push up at some point. I started using my right arm to soap my hair and to brush my teeth, generally I try to make it the leading arm again. Some movements are easier than others, and most of them are not fluid yet.  To me, some of the key recovery points are achieving the movements needed to perform my hobbies. I'm a big fan of eating, so there goes one. Running, swimming and cycling are there too (although might not get on a road bike for some time, MTB or city bikes are good for now). The ultimate challenge will be riding my motorbike regularly again - or at least, have the choice to do it if I feel like it. Combined movements (flexion / abduction) are still a challenge and not very ac

During the first 10 months it will be easier to track progress. First contractions, start flexing the elbow, start moving the arm and so on. I found that around the 10th month it was harder to track progress, I felt the arm abduction was very similar week after week. And I often found myself thinking the arm improvements slowed down. Eventually I came up with measurements that showed me otherwise: The numbers are time references (10th month and 1 week, and so on). As you can see, there's a weekly improvement on the measurements. This keeps my motivation up for daily rehab exercises. I think finding your motivation is an essential key for the best final result, which can be 2 to 3 years down the road. What I do is, pick up a few movements I can do, and measure how high I get on them against the closet and mark them with a timestamp. There are other ways to measure progress, for example, how high you get while soaping your hair in the shower or how far you get trying to open that tal

It's been 1 year from my surgery. And I'm really happy with the progress. I'm back to running since the 10th month. That completes the last sport I used to practice (running, cycling and swimming).  I can eat with my right arm again. All the motions to turn the spoon and so on takes some adjusting, but the movement is there. After so long being a left-handed, it takes some "rewiring" to get used to do some things with the right arm again. Around this time, a measurement is done to find out the transfer efficiency (M2, M3, M4...). I am not sure which 'M' I have at this moment, but this is what I have: For some people, this could be seen as little. To me, this is great. After all the bad expectations I was put upon at the beginning, this feels like a second chance to have a full movement life. This might not be the final result. I've shared my progress with my physicians and they believe I could improve further - if I stick to my current rehab exercises

Oberlin transfer is commonly used to restore elbow flexion. Single or double fascicle can make a difference for you, but from a medical point of view, surprisingly it doesn't. The medical objective is to reach M3, which can be accomplished by just a single transfer from the ulnar nerve to the biceps. Pros are basically a lesser chance of side effects of a nerve transfer happening, like accidentally damaging the nerve or residual weakness in the hand. Cons are, basically, less strength on your elbow flexion. A double fascicle transfer will additionally innervate the brachiallis from the median nerve. Arm movement might be similar to single fascicle transfer (or that's the general believe), but about half of the elbow flexion's strength comes from this muscle according to physicians. To you, his means you might not be able to pull up that box of milk anymore when carrying groceries - although this is just an speculation from my side. A double transfer will be more expensive,

I ruptured my C5 and C6 nerves - from what I have been told, these are the usual nerves affected in motorcycle accidents. C7 was initially damaged as the MRI reported, but luckily it was just a pull and quickly recovered. My C5 is supposed to be post ganglionic, but the supraspinatus nerve was affected as well. I lost elbow flexion and arm abduction. This is, I couldn't move the arm but I could move my wrist and fingers. Sensation, however not as before, remained in the respective areas. Some doctors believe some fibers survived hence I conserved sensitivity, others mentioned sensory nerves can sometimes be innervated by different nerves. Pain wise, it was excruciating. C7 nerve pain while reconnecting wouldn't let me sleep. C6 sensory area was like having your skin on fire. This lasted for about 2 months, then the pain was more manageable. MRI done 1.5 months after the accident was very clear about the damage. Electromyography and nerve conduction studies performed 1 and 2 mon

Reaching the 9th month life quality gets improved a lot. Elbow flexion is pretty good at this point. I was able to do 5 KG weights easily for biceps, and 3 KG weights for brachiallis. Arm abduction was not close to M3, but a good range of motion was achieved. A slight increase in muscle density could be felt in the deltoid. By the 8th month I started cycling again. Not on a road bike like before, but on a comfortable, stable and more upright city bike. Swimming became an everyday thing for me since the 7th month. I believe it helps with the recovery, since in the water you can easily move the arm it is more practical to get the muscles going. I developed a set of exercises that will be shared in a separate post. Long walks of more than 10 KM with minimal arm support were comfortable. The affected arm becomes of use for the day to day. At that time I opened doors with it, carried light objects, used it to get dressed etc. I was occasionally able to snack and reposition my specs with it.

The 6th month is usually the review point with your doctor. Results at this point may vary depending on individuals. This is just how it went down for me. Elbow flexion started to be functional since around 4.5 months. This is, for example, I was able to raise a small bottle of water (not to my mouth, but to pick it up from the table i.e.). It would get much better over months to come. Flexion after supination of the forearm wasn't good until around the 9th month, but at 6th month it started to get a decent range of motion while making a fist. This means I couldn't wash my hands following the old usual motions but it was a start. I could supinate and raise the forearm while making a fist, but not with an open hand.  At this point I was doing exercises with 1-2kg weights for elbow flexion. For arm abduction, I started to have some tiny movements while standing. Laying down was easier and I could sometimes raise my arm. It was around this time that I ditched the arm sling around