page_title: Brachial plexus injury
section_title: Adults
hierarchical_section_title: Brachial plexus injury / Epidemiology / Adults
caption_attribution_description: English: Figure 2. Between 44% and 70% of Brachial plexus injury (BPI) are from traumatic event
context_page_description: A brachial plexus injury, also known as brachial plexus lesion, is an injury to the brachial plexus, the network of nerves that conducts signals from the spinal cord to the shoulder, arm and hand. These nerves originate in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth cervical, and first thoracic spinal nerves, and innervate the muscles and skin of the chest, shoulder, arm and hand.
  Brachial plexus injuries can occur as a result of shoulder trauma, tumours, or inflammation. The rare Parsonage–Turner syndrome causes brachial plexus inflammation without obvious injury, but with nevertheless disabling symptoms. But in general, brachial plexus injury can be classified as either traumatic or obstetric. Obstetric injuries may occur from mechanical injury involving shoulder dystocia during difficult childbirth. Traumatic injury may arise from several causes. "The brachial plexus may be injured by falls from a height on to the side of the head and shoulder, whereby the nerves of the plexus are violently stretched. The brachial plexus may also be injured by direct violence or gunshot wounds, by violent traction on the arm, or by efforts at reducing a dislocation of the shoulder joint".
context_section_description: The prevalence of brachial plexus injuries in North American adults in the 1900s was about 1.2%. BPI is most commonly found in young healthy adults, from ages 14 to 63 years old, with 50% of patients between 19 and 34 years old. 89% of BPI patients are male. The rate of brachial plexus injury has been increasing.
caption: BPI traumatic event
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