How much do you know about nerve damage?

[Peej 0]

Ok so in case you didn't know, i had a really bad fall after a pond swoop the other day. I tripped and fell and landed with my left arm across my chest and landed on a rock or something, smashing my elbow.

They operated and installed a whole bunch of metal to put me back together and after the op i had very little movement in my hand and wrist. The doc reckons that my radial nerve, which runs along the top of your elbow and controls feeling in your thumb and wrist had been badly traumatised from the impact.

So I went back into surgery and they opened up my arm and had a look. The doc said that the nerve is 90% intact but the area around the nerve was really badly bruised. He says that the movement will come back in time and now it's just a matter of waiting.

My question to you is: is there anything i can do to help this process along? i'm already taking a supplement called Neurobian, it's a vitamin b supplement that is supposed to be very good for nerves and healing them.

Any other advice?

Thanks!

Advertisio Rodriguez / Sky

[DangerRoo 0]

my opinion......
go get some chiropractic work done, nerves coming out of the bones in the neck and upper thoracic can be affected when those bones are even slightly out of place putting pressure on not only the nerves but the blood supply coming out of there feeding the organs and tissues. sounds like a rough landing, sorry to hear that, i would bet that with the fall and jaring you have stuff out of place as well. when everything is in place your body can heal so much faster

(I.C.D#2 VP)
"<3 ..Looks like breasts coming out of an ice cream cone. Mmmm."~John Mitchell
"I'm good with my purple penis straw" ~sky mama

[Nightingale 0]

Chiropractors are scary... One of the professors at the university where I went to law school was paralyzed by one, and apparently that isn't too uncommon...

http://www.chiropracticstroke.com/
http://www.chirowatch.com/cw-main.html

[DangerRoo 0]

Chiropractors deal with the nervous system.
I agree some are! (scary) Just like any profession not everyone is good, there are horror stories in every thing...take precaution interview who you want to treat you!!
This might be just me, but because someone or even more than one had a bad experience at something, I cant through the whole validity or purpose of the profession or activity out...people get into bad situations in everything...bad dentist, doctors, lawyers..I'm still going to use them, all sports, even this awesome sport-many people seriously injured or worse-I still want to jump.
Thats where resurch, and your own descision making need to happen.
There are 2 types of Chiropractors, ones who just put motion in you-usally the ones who dont take or refer to your x-rays, and then there are specific-correction care focused. Its up to you to do the work to find who you want to do the work on you, be it chiro, dentist, surgery, or even regular general family docs. At least you can ask questions and not get assigned who is doing the treatment like some surgerys, or other treatments where you get passed around. You definatly want someone who is specific and takes x-rays--and goes over them with you before they ever adjust you but as far as strokes and paralyzing, some people who have placking in the arteries can stroke out and sometimes it might happen on the table, other times its not due to placking and its from them "popping" their own neck and not knowing what they are doing but it feels good and they weaken the arteries that come out of the spinal cord the damage is already done and it could be just a matter of time before they stroke out. Paralyzing well that is another reason for good x-rays and going off of them, sometimes people are born with abnormal or even minute Odontoid process-the dens process on the Axis bone not to mention all the other vertebra in the spine and with out an x-ray you wouldnt see that, which could result in the terrible out come. Now your concern is a valid one but just like most everything, you really hear about the bad things that happen, so take caution and ask questions, reasurch. The benifits do out weigh the bad cases or experiences.
Try checking out some sites that are for chiropractic also, its easy to go to the negitive but to see the other side too will give you more information to help you make informed descisions for your self especially if you've never really found out that chiropractic isnt always about being a pain reliever.
Bottem line so not to completly hijakyour thread--they--Chiropractors work with nerve flow from your brain through the spinal column to all the organs and tissue in the body. Think of what happens to those organs and tissue if the supply is restricted or worse cut off.....malfuntion, sickness or even disease of that thing being fed by those nerves.
edit for spelling --I suck

(I.C.D#2 VP)
""I'm good with my purple penis straw" ~sky mama

[CSpenceFLY 1]

Skydiving is scary. Are you kidding me? People have died doing that.

To the OP. i hit my elbow once on a sharp corner. For a long time when I woke up in the morning my middle and third fingers would bend but would not straighten out. I would have to move them manually a few times to get them to move. It healed over time.

[Muenkel 0]

Peej,

First, sorry for your injury. I hope you heal quick.

When I had my injury falling down the staircase, I screwed up my neck and spine. I mostly talk about the head injury because that was the more serious injury. Anyway, I had cervicals and vertabrae misaligned and pressing on nerves. I also had pretty bad bruising. All I can say is that it does take a long time to heal. You gotta be patient. I got some relief from chiropractic, but I didn't have any metal put in me. I wish I had more info to give you. You're going to have to do some homework. Like I said, it takes a long time. I'm over 4 years now and I'm still having problems.

Feel better soon.

_________________________________________
Chris

[hosehead634 0]

Peej I am fairly quite on these forums as I have little experiance in most things, however I am very well versed in nerve damage. At age 22 I had a left vertibral disection witch resulted in a CVA (Stroke) this was caused by....yup you guessed it the Chiropractor. I had deficits on my right side of my body that was mostly caused by the fact that my brain was dying. All in all it took almost 6 months to totally get back to normal, I suffered no long term deficits, for that I feel very lucky. About 4 years ago I was testing my luck and dumped a bike at high speed causing sever damage to my nerves in my neck on my left side, after all the physical therapy I had managed to not wake up daily with a headache and life was back to normal. Last year at work I fell 37 feet and tried to move earth, the result was broken wrist 4 pins , 2 screws and a nice plate to boot. I had damaged my brachial nerve and it was only 50% connected however they figured that. I still have pins and needle feeling in my palm and thumb but it is slowly going away. The only advice I can give, is stick with the physical therapy not matter how lame and god awful painful it is. I feel for you and wish you the best.

P.S. As far as Chiropractors go, if you do go that route do a lot of research, ask questions. I personally don't trust them as far as I could shit one, but that just me one of the "FEW" people that have been fuck in the drive thru by a chiropractor.

"How high are we? Man I need to poop"

[stitch 0]

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To the OP. i hit my elbow once on a sharp corner. For a long time when I woke up in the morning my middle and third fingers would bend but would not straighten out. I would have to move them manually a few times to get them to move. It healed over time.

The cause behund that was probably jacking-off too much.

"No cookies for you"- GFD
"I don't think I like the sound of that" ~ MB65
Don't be a "Racer Hater"

[CSpenceFLY 1]

Nope, it was the other hand.

[PROGRESSIVE 0]

Its sounds like you may be very lucky in that 90% of the nerve is intact.

I slammed in my hangglider and I'm currently paralyzed below my knees due to a hematoma that was formed against my spine. I'm beginning to get a little feeling in my lower legs and feet, but not much.

Nerves do regenerate at a rate of 1 mm/day. Blood and nerves do not mix, i.e. bruising, which may also cause nerve damage. Exercise, and therapy that is endorsed by your doctor is the best cure. Try to "fire" off those nerves by moving the area that is affected, if your doctor agrees. Even though you may not be able to move these areas, its good to attempt this daily. After a day of walking around work with my walker, my feet are on fire at night. This tells me that my nerves are trying to activate. Painful, but a good sign.

I'm personally going to look into accupuncture to help speed up the process. This may work, or I may have to live with my paralysis for the rest of my life.

Bottom line, if you ask a dozen doctors what they think, you'll get a dozen different answers. No one really knows.

Pete

[Peej 0]

Thanks for your well wishes and answers everyone
It will be another few weeks before i start physio therapy, i am however having all of my staples out this thursday, yay. I guess the physio will have more answers for me and i am going to ask my Doc what he thinks about accupuncture to get blood flowing and moving through my arm again.

Anyone else with advice, feel free to chime in.

Advertisio Rodriguez / Sky

[BillyVance 34]

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Chiropractors are scary... One of the professors at the university where I went to law school was paralyzed by one, and apparently that isn't too uncommon...

http://www.chiropracticstroke.com/
http://www.chirowatch.com/cw-main.html

There are chiropractors out there with no other medical background. You generally want to stay away from those. Unfortunately, that covers probably the majority of them. I was lucky though, the two chiropractors I have used in the past actually have medical training and degrees, and they know when they see a problem they should not try and work on, and refer their patients to the appropriate medical field. I have a bulging disc in my lower back and I won't let any chiropractor work on that part of my back, and the one I see, agrees. I had problems and persistent pain in my neck and between the shoulder blades years ago, and chiropractic care really helped eliminate the pain completely. I would go again if I had a problem and the X-rays confirmed the nature of the problem and if it could be fixed.

Getting an MRI isn't a bad idea either. That is what caught my disc problem. I did go to the hospital first for that because I had partial numbness down my left leg and I was dragging that foot when I walked.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[Shotgun 1]

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Chiropractors are scary... One of the professors at the university where I went to law school was paralyzed by one, and apparently that isn't too uncommon...

I've had good and bad experiences with chiropractors, just as I've had good and bad experiences with "traditional" doctors and other types of medical professionals. I think it's wise to be careful of anyone who you trust to perform or prescribe any type of treatment that has potential to do harm.

[Nightingale 0]

I'd feel better about chiropractors if someone could show me some solid science behind what they do.

[Shotgun 1]

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I'd feel better about chiropractors if someone could show me some solid science behind what they do.

I don't know what (if any) scientific evidence is available to support chiropractic. But my personal experience with it is mostly positive. I spent about three years in serious pain, due to something going on with my neck and right shoulder. I went to a lot of different doctors, who didn't seem to have any answers other than to give me painkillers. So after spending all this time either in pain and/or doped up, I finally went to a highly-recommended chiropractor. It took a few months of regular treatments before I really started feeling better, and I continued going for about a year, but it worked.

Since then, I've met a number of people who have become addicted to pain meds that their doctors prescribed to them for similar problems, and I'm lucky that I did not become addicted to any of those meds myself (though I'm sure the amount I was taking at times wasn't exactly good for me)... But because of this type of thing, I don't necessarily trust "traditional" doctors any more than I trust those who practice alternative methods.

But that's just my personal experience, FWIW.

[BillyVance 34]

Basically, chiropractors, the ones who actually know what they're doing anyway, manipulate the vertebrae so that they're aligned properly and no nerves are being pressed or pinched by the vertebrae, which can lead to muscle tightness and pain, and a host of other ailments.

I have never needed to go back to the chiropractor since I learned to pop my own upper back and neck. Call it self-maintenance.
You just have to be sure you know exactly what the problem is before having a good reputable chiropractor do his/her work on you. Disc problems is generally not something they can fix.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[Amazon 7]

I know that some people are really trying to disturb my calm..... and they are stepping on my last nerve...

[Shotgun 1]

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It will be another few weeks before i start physio therapy, i am however having all of my staples out this thursday, yay. I guess the physio will have more answers for me and i am going to ask my Doc what he thinks about accupuncture to get blood flowing and moving through my arm again.

Anyone else with advice, feel free to chime in.

I also tried acupuncture when I was having my shoulder problem. I found that I felt better immediately after the treatment, but it didn't provide lasting relief. (I enjoyed it though!)

Anyhow, hopefully the physical therapy will be all that you need. Hope you get to feeling better soon!

[NWFlyer 2]

I have lasting surface nerve damage in my left leg from a deep puncture wound. The wound also caused significant compresson of my femoral nerve and it took a while for that to get back to normal.

What I was told by the doctors and physical therapists that I was working with was pretty much "it'll be what it'll be." Some people told me that nerves can take as much as two years to regrow, but that pretty much where it is at two years out is where it'll be. I found that to be pretty much true - for the first few months my leg was like a network of wires that weren't always sending signals where they were supposed to - I could definitely feel things "shorting out." Now, I just have less sensitivity in that area of my leg; I can feel things but it's definitely less sensitive to pressure, hot, cold, etc.

I'd say just keep up with what your doc and physical therapist are recommending and continue to ask questions.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[monkycndo 0]

For about 10 years, I was a human handtruck. The result was my back was pretty f'd up. Not painful, just always sore. I went to a recommended chiro that took xrays prior to starting the adjustments. After about 6 months of treatment, my back was much better. I can know tell when my back is misaligned. A couple quick pops and I'm back to normal. Do your homework prior to letting someone pound/crack/twist your spinal cord.

50 donations so far. Give it a try.

You know you want to spank it
Jump an Infinity

[stevebabin 0]

Quote

Quote

Chiropractors are scary... One of the professors at the university where I went to law school was paralyzed by one, and apparently that isn't too uncommon...

http://www.chiropracticstroke.com/
http://www.chirowatch.com/cw-main.html

There are chiropractors out there with no other medical background. You generally want to stay away from those. Unfortunately, that covers probably the majority of them. I was lucky though, the two chiropractors I have used in the past actually have medical training and degrees, and they know when they see a problem they should not try and work on, and refer their patients to the appropriate medical field. I have a bulging disc in my lower back and I won't let any chiropractor work on that part of my back, and the one I see, agrees. I had problems and persistent pain in my neck and between the shoulder blades years ago, and chiropractic care really helped eliminate the pain completely. I would go again if I had a problem and the X-rays confirmed the nature of the problem and if it could be fixed.

Getting an MRI isn't a bad idea either. That is what caught my disc problem. I did go to the hospital first for that because I had partial numbness down my left leg and I was dragging that foot when I walked.

I wouldn't recommend a chiropractor for the nerve problem you're having. It should rectify itself. It's caused by your surgery and probably has nothing to do with your spine.

In the cases where a chiropractor might be recommended, I'd go with a Doctor of Osteopathy instead. They're the best of both worlds because they can do anything a chiropractor can do, and are also an MD(so they can prescribe meds when appropriate)

I've had similar surgery.
I've been to both chiropractors and DO's.
YMMV.

"Science, logic and reason will fly you to the moon. Religion will fly you into buildings."
"Because figuring things out is always better than making shit up."

[BillyVance 34]

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I wouldn't recommend a chiropractor for the nerve problem you're having. It should rectify itself. It's caused by your surgery and probably has nothing to do with your spine.

In the cases where a chiropractor might be recommended, I'd go with a Doctor of Osteopathy instead. They're the best of both worlds because they can do anything a chiropractor can do, and are also an MD(so they can prescribe meds when appropriate)

I've had similar surgery.
I've been to both chiropractors and DO's.
YMMV.

I never said I had surgery on my back... I did get a series of steroid shots via epidurals that helped shrink the disc back off of the nerve, but I will always have to be careful with how much weight I try to pick up and carry. I triggered the problem just trying to carry too much firewood in one trip into the house. That was 4 or 5 years ago. However, it may have laid dormant just waiting to spring loose after a really hard butt landing on a windy day in 1996.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[stevebabin 0]

Sorry, Billy, I was trying to respond to Peej.

"Science, logic and reason will fly you to the moon. Religion will fly you into buildings."
"Because figuring things out is always better than making shit up."