BRACHIAL PLEXUS INJURY IN SNOWBOARDING

Brachial plexus injuries commonly occur as a result of motorcycle and motor vehicle accidents (Pino and Colville, 1989). The injury is also, occasionally, seen in football players and wrestlers (Clancy et al., 1977; Roland, 1949). This paper reports three cases of brachial plexus C5, 6 and was treated conservatively. Seven months after injury, the motor paresis had disappeared and the deltoid, Case 2 A 23 year-old female snowboarder suffered a dislocation of her left shoulder in a fall on a gentle slope. Her shoulder was reduced in the local Accident and Emergency department without anaesthesia. The whole of her left upper extremity was anaesthetic before and after the shoulder reduction. The following day, she complained of motor paralysis, numbness and pain in her left upper extremity. She could not move the shoulder, elbow or hand. Very slight but painful sensation remained only in each finger tip. On manual muscle testing, the trapezius ARTICLE IN PRESSly separated. dislocating humeral head.Fig 1 Probable mechanism of injury in case 1. The head and shoulder are forcib Fig 2 Probable mechanism of injury in case 2. The hand hit the snow with the shoulder internally rotated, hyperextended and hyperabducted causing shoulder dislocation, as a consequence of which the infraclavicular brachial plexus was stretched by the 661infraspinatus, biceps and brachioradialis muscles had regained level 5 strength on manual muscle testing.injury which occurred during snowboarding, a sport not previously identified with brachial plexus injury