Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staffSigns and symptoms of a brachial plexus injury can vary greatly, depending on the severity and location of your injury. Usually only one arm is affected.
Less-severe injuries
Minor damage often occurs during contact sports, such as football or wrestling, when the brachial plexus nerves get stretched. Known as "stingers" or "burners," these injuries can produce the following symptoms:
- A feeling like an electric shock or a burning sensation shooting down your arm
- Numbness and weakness in your arm
These symptoms usually last only a few seconds or minutes, but in some people may linger for days or even longer.
More-severe injuries
More-severe symptoms result from injuries that tear or rupture the nerves. The most serious brachial plexus injury (avulsion) occurs when the nerve root is torn from the spinal cord.
Signs and symptoms of more-severe injuries can include:
- The ability to use your fingers, but little to no control of your shoulder and elbow muscles
- The ability to use your arm but not your fingers
- Complete lack of movement and feeling in your arm
- Severe pain
When to see a doctor
Brachial plexus injuries can cause permanent weakness or disability. Don't take them for granted, even if they seem minor. See your doctor if you have recurrent burners and stingers, weakness in your hand or arm that lasts more than a few days, neck pain, or symptoms in both arms.
- Brachial plexus injury (Erb's palsy). American Society for Surgery of the Hand. http://www.assh.org/Content/NavigationMenu/PatientsPublic/HandConditions/BrachialPlexusInjury/Brachial_Plexus_Inj.htm. Accessed Oct. 24, 2008.
- Burners and stingers. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/fact/thr_report.cfm?Thread_ID=226&topcategory=Shoulder. Accessed Oct. 24, 2008.
- NINDS brachial plexus information page. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/brachial_plexus/brachial_plexus.htm. Accessed Oct. 24, 2008.
- Erb's palsy (brachial plexus birth injury). American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/fact/thr_report.cfm?Thread_ID=314&topcategory=Shoulder. Accessed Oct. 24, 2008.
- Shin AY, et al. Adult traumatic brachial plexus injuries. Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. 2005;13(6):382-396.
- Uehara DT et al. Injuries to the Shoulder Complex and Humerus. In: Tintinalli JE et al. Tintinalli's Emergency Medicine: A Comprehensive Study Guide. 6th ed. Chapel Hill, N.C.: The McGraw-Hill Companies; 2004. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=612543&searchStr=injury+of+brachial+plexus. Accessed Nov. 11, 2008.
- McMahon PJ et al. Sports Medicine: Shoulder Neurovascular Injury. In: Skinner HB. Current Diagnosis & Treatment in Orthopedics. 4th ed. Irvine, Calif.: The McGraw-Hill Companies; 2006. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2319261&searchStr=injury+of+brachial+plexus. Accessed Nov. 11, 2008.
