Brachial Plexus Neuritis Treatment

The brachial plexus is a group of nerve roots that are located in the upper arm and shoulder. This network of neural tissue gives rise to the nerves that provide motor control and sensory information throughout all of the arm. When this neural network becomes inflamed, it causes a condition known as neuritis. Neuritis can be very difficult to treat and causes pain and ultimately muscle weakness because muscles with damaged nerves will atrophy.

Symptoms and Diagnosis

• Brachial plexus neuritis must be correctly diagnosed to be effectively treated. The main symptoms of brachial plexus neuritis is a burning pain in the shoulder or arm that is unaffected by moving the arm or the neck. The pain occurs for no obvious reason and will go subside after a few weeks along with the appearance of weakness of the arm. This condition may be suspected for any patient who has arm pain that extends throughout multiple areas of the arm, which suggests that more than one nerve has been damaged. Brachial plexus neuritis can usually be definitively diagnosed by measuring nerve conductance on the damaged tissue approximately three to four weeks after symptoms have begun.

Treatment

• According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, the first aspect of treating brachial plexus neuritis is pain management. As a result, analgesics (pain relievers) are often prescribed, including narcotic pain relievers (such as hydrocodone or oxycontin) for extreme pain. As brachial plexus neuritis progresses, muscle weakness will also occur, so physical therapy is an important part of the treatment to keep the muscles as strong as possible. In some cases, brachial plexus neuritis can cause severe weakening of the deltoid muscle, which is one of the largest shoulder muscles. If this happens, your physician may recommend putting the arm in a sling to help prevent dislocation of the shoulder. Finally, recovery from this condition will be gradual and will take time, so communication with your doctor is an important part of treatment.

Neuritis vs. Cervical Radiculopathy

• The proper treatment of brachial plexus neuritis hinges on proper diagnosis, especially in differentiating it from cervical radiculopathy because many of the treatments for cervical radiculopathy will have no effect on brachial plexus neuritis--and can even make it worse. Patients with cervical radiculopathy, for example, will often receive injections of steroids, which will not help brachial plexus neuritis. Cervical radiculopathy is also commonly treated with surgery---not only will surgery not help brachial plexus neuritis, but the unnecessary surgery can cause complications such as infection and additional nerve damage.

  Some of the ways in which cervical radiculopathy differs is that the pain in the arm can be aggravated by moving the neck and that the pain and muscle weakness will occur simultaneously.