Axillary nerve injury evaluation by Paul Marquis PT

In this video I will show you a gentleman with what appears to be an axillary nerve injury and possibly a Long Thoracic Nerve injury also. He has significant GH arthritis and painful Active and Passive ROM. Appears to have good integrity of his rotator cuff.

[sarahsmith]

This was so sad, I hope this man found some relief in treatment.

[nicholas]

Hello Dr. I have a story to share about my experience with this. When I was 16-years-old I was on crutches and did not know how to use the properly. I ended up getting what was probably this same nerve damage from goofing around on my crutches and letting them dig and spin pretty hard into my axillary region. About a week or two after I got off the crutches, I developed EXTREME pain in my right deltoid. It was so severe that I had to sleep in the bathtub many nights: something about it being submerged in water made the pain go away. But as soon as I got out of the water the pain returned. it was an 11/10 on the pain scale, worst pain I have ever felt by far. The doctor took some x-rays and put me in a sling for a few weeks and had me apply icy hot for the pain (no real diagnosis provided). When I took the sling off, I had lost all mobility associated with my deltoid. And my deltoid muscle was disappearing just like this patient. As time progressed, I had lost 100% of the deltoid muscle and my ROM was far, far worse than this patient's (if you can even imagine). I could raise my arm in any direction even 1 degree. When my friend would hold my arm out for me, he would let go and my arm would flop to my side like a dead weight. It was so sad and scary, because this went on for months. I will add that I have no idea what my parents were thinking at the time or why I was never taken to see a specialist. All that I knew was when I returned to the doctor he then diagnosed me with "frozen shoulder." After about 6 months of living with this completely dead arm, I decided to do some "wrist curls" with some weights (that is the only exercise I had enough strength to do with the injured arm wit any type of weights, I could bicep flex with no weight only.) After about a week of wrist curls, I realized I could ever-so-slightly being to do a bicep curl with light weight (very minimal ROM bicep flexion with weights). As I kept doing those small bicep flexion movements, I was eventually able to do a full bicep flexion "curl" with weights. As I kept doing the bicep curls, I began to ever-so-slightly be able to abduct and flex my deltoid out in front of me, again very, very minimal ROM. As I kept doing bicep curls, I continued to gradually, slowly regain ROM in my deltoid abduction and flexion. The longer I did the curls over time, the more I regained ROM in my deltoid, and eventually my arm was no longer "dead." I know this is such a long post, but I hope you find it interesting Dr. I certainly do. To this day, I am still weaker in deltoid abduction and deltoid flexion exercises in the injured arm (even though it is my dominant arm). The ROM came back, but there is some chronic damage in there somewhere. If you bothered reading all of this, I would really love to hear some of your thoughts about what happened to me. Do you think that I got lucky and may have otherwise lost ROM forever? Physiologically did I just damage some nerves? And how/why did the ROM come back?

[RezaKarimi-xzxt]

How useful these videos are ! Thank you sir

[William]

Quintessential physical therapist. Best of the best.

[slugman]

Good video I have similar issues presented. I had full strength pre shoulder replacement last December. Haven't been able to lift arm past shoulder since. Orthopedic doc said deltoid was atrophied in July. EMG/NCV scheduled for Monday finally.

[nastydog]

I have the same loss of function but without pain . No idea as of now what it could be . Had exray, Mri, and now waiting for EMG

[hajirhameed]

Thank you doctor for this informative video
But if you show by camera the comparison between two shoulder will be better thank you again it's very useful

[angeladunbar]

Really good info. I wonder if there’s a video explaining exactly where pain is for each vertebrae? He was so close to really showing. It helps to know which ones are acting up…thank you

[alex_jermaine]

Do you know if there is a surgery to repair the axillary nerve and get the deltoid muscle back?

[WendiMarcy]

Hi Dr. I had Rotator Cuff surgery two weeks ago and now have what the surgeon believes to be axillary nerve palsy. I am unable to lift my arm to the front or side. But I DO have full sensation and feeling in the arm, no tingling or numbness. Is it possible to have axillary palsy resulting only in mobility issues and no sensation issues? Thanks.

[Asimpleman]

Can i rebuild muscle after after nerve damage has been fixed

[midong]

Same issue with my shoulder doc..how can I do?? My deltoid is also losing..

[chickocheek]

This is almost the same whats going to me for few months now and its getting worsen each day... I'm seeing physiotheraphy and ostho therapist with massage for quite sometimes and yet it helps me only only temporarily for a day or two.

[MidhannAhuja]

oh my god, i have the same issue and struggle everyday.
can this be fixed? I've consulted several doctors.

[aligharachorloo]

Hello Doctor. Last month, I fell off the motorbike and got a Humours fracture. Now nearly 6 weeks after the accident, I still cannot raise my injured arm without the help of my healthy arm and the region is super painful, even though the follow up X ray imaging shows significant improvement in healing the fractured bone. Could it be a sign of a serious nerve injury or damage? Thanks very much.

[yusufqcqnz]

Thanks doctor I had the ECG test and left shoulder was 0.9 (injured shoudler torn labrum and shoulder impingement throughout my 20s.). Doctor didn't say I needed surgery. He said to start therapy. The PT doctor of Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine said i shouldn't do overhead. He even said don't play basketball. This sucks. I'm upset and wish this could go away. Any tips.

[GForce]

What type of doctor would be able to test for this or similar injuries? I was injured in 2021 and was told by an orthopedic doctor after the quickest exam that "nothing was wrong" and a PT told me I just strained my muscles. After weeks and weeks of physical therapy, it got worse but the therapist didn't want to investigate further. In your videos I see you perform tests that were never performed on me. I feel I received substandard care and I'm so incredibly weak now that I can't perform everyday tasks like reaching behind my head or pushing/pulling a door. I don't know what type of medical professional to seek out who is thorough and knowledgeable.

[RobHolt-lg]

Mnd maybe ? I hope not but looks like it with the deltoid atrophy

[ernestspartan]

I have a younger brother who has erds palsy (blachial plexus)at his birth. He is now 16yrs and living with that condition in a West African country like Ghana, life is really difficult for him and us his family.😢😢 I wish there was any hopeful cure to this problem.somebody please help us

[Pingpongodziirra]

Hi, just want too share my story as I am confused currently and hitting a very stale state of recovery at the age of 25, went to work one morning and did some windmills with my arms, without really knowing there was a fracture in my right shoulder, once the shoulder tore it also aggravated the fracture. I went to hospital in Melbourne, Australia.. when I went to the emergency room I was put too sleep as they popped my shoulder back in, when I woke up I was out in a MRI machine and told that it popped back out sometime while I was under anaesthetic. I then waited in the hospital with my shoulder dislocated and obviously in a great deal of pain. I then felt my nerves give out from the top of my shoulder all the way down to my fingers. Step toward 3 days I went into surgery and woke up with no use of my hands and arm completely stiff.
It has now been 12 weeks and under physiotherapy I have hit a stale point where I have limited movement in my shoulder (can’t get it above my head), my arm is numb from my deltoid to my tricep all way down into the ulcer nerve in my hand, very very weak even after 12 weeks.. I’m wondering if anyone here has had major nerve damage through shoulder surgery and any advice as I’m getting worried by the lack of answers I’m receiving from the hospitals and physios