What is physiotherapy?

Physiotherapy helps restore movement and function when someone is affected by injury, illness or disability.

Physiotherapists help people affected by injury, illness or disability through movement and exercise, manual therapy, education and advice.

They maintain health for people of all ages, helping patients to manage pain and prevent disease.

The profession helps to encourage development and facilitate recovery, enabling people to stay in work while helping them to remain independent for as long as possible.

http://www.csp.org.uk/your-health/what-physiotherapy

What physiotherapists do

Physiotherapy is a science-based profession and takes a ‘whole person’ approach to health and wellbeing, which includes the patient’s general lifestyle.

At the core is the patient’s involvement in their own care, through education, awareness, empowerment and participation in their treatment.

You can benefit from physiotherapy at any time in your life. Physiotherapy helps with back pain or sudden injury, managing long-term medical condition such as asthma , and in preparing for childbirth or a sporting event .

Why physiotherapy?

Physiotherapy is a degree-based healthcare profession. Physios use their knowledge and skills to improve a range of conditions associated with different systems of the body, such as:

Neurological ( stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's )

Neuromusculoskeletal ( back pain , whiplash associated disorder, sports injuries, arthritis )

Cardiovascular (chronic heart disease , rehabilitation after heart attack)

Respiratory ( asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , cystic fibrosis).

Physiotherapists work in a variety of specialisms in health and
social care. Additionally, some physiotherapists are involved in education, research and service management.

The following are some disease conditions that are amenable (co-managed some times) to physiotherapy:

* Facial palsy
* Cerebral palsy
* Erb's palsy
* Injection palsy
* Spondylosis
* spondylolisthesis
* Cerebrovascular Accident (stroke)
* Spinal Cord Injury (SCI)
* Osteoarthritis
* Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS)

ERB'S PALSY

Introduction

Birth is never an easy process for the mother or the baby. Childbirth is a stressful process in which both are also at risk of injury.

There is a long list of possible injuries an infant may suffer from just before, during, and right after birth.

One condition that can affect a newborn is Erb’s Palsy. It has number of symptoms that range from the very mild to the severe.

What Is Erb’s Palsy?

Erb’s palsy or Erb-Duchenne palsy, is a paralysis that affects a baby’s shoulder, arm, and neck.

It is an obstetric birth injury that occurs due to a difficult labor, especially if during delivery, an infant’s neck is stretched too far to one side during delivery.

If the child’s brachial plexus nerves (group of nerves) in the shoulder are stretched or torn, the affected arm suffers adverse effects that range from a sensation of weakness to complete paralysis.

Risk Factors Involved with Erb’s Palsy

As we mentioned at the beginning, Erb’s Palsy usually occurs during a difficult birth.

Risks include:

* Small maternal size
* Large infant size
* Excessive weight gain by the mother
* Improper use of birthing tools
* The second stage of labor going on for more than an hour
* Infants coming out in the breech position

What are the Symptoms of Erb’s Palsy?

The main symptoms of Erb’s palsy include:

* Weakness in the affected arm
* Loss of feeling in the affected arm
* Partial or complete paralysis of the affected arm
* Arm Bent Toward Body
* pain
* waiter's/policeman tip posture
* loss of feeling (calls for caution in warm water application, to avoid burns).

Some infants may experience nothing more serious than a sudden onset of weakness, or tenderness in the arm that correspond to the side of the neck, where the nerve injury occurred.

Other babies may show more severe symptoms. They may be unable to move the arm as a result of partial or total paralysis due to nerve ruptures or avulsions.

Treating Erb’s Palsy

Just like the symptoms of Erb’s Palsy, will depend on the severity of the injury, so too will the manner in which it is treated.

The good news is that, the majority of cases will need little more than physiotherapy for the child to recover.

Although some few cases, may require the intervention of surgeon.

Long Term Effects of Erb’s Palsy

With proper treatment, many children will not even remember they ever had this injury.

In some cases, especially when treatment isn't applied, the affected arm may develop the following complications:

* shorten arm, when compared to the unaffected
* full or partial paralysis of the arm
* muscle atrophy (the wasting away of muscles)
* joint stiffness
* contracture

In September 2016, a brick fence of 8 feet collapsed on me trapping me to the ground. The accident which affected mostly my right sides with these other consequences:
1.got my public symphisis expanded by 5cm - fixed through open reduction infraction(ORIF)
2.left leg and arm weakened- still on physiotherapy, continuous improvement
3 my left wrist injured by those broken bottles placed on top of the fence . It cut almost half of my flexor tendons and median nerve leading to a second surgery on my wrist

AFTER THE TENDON REPAIR
I can't form fist ,though partially uses the hand. currently (6 months) the site of the surgery hilled up like a knot was tied under the callus.

What others things can I do to activate my left hand.

happybrother:
In September 2016, a brick fence of 8 feet collapsed on me trapping me to the ground. The accident which affected mostly my right sides with these other consequences:
1.got my public symphisis expanded by 5cm - fixed through open reduction infraction(ORIF)
2.left leg and arm weakened- still on physiotherapy, continuous improvement
3 my left wrist injured by those broken bottles placed on top of the fence . It cut almost half of my flexor tendons and median nerve leading to a second surgery on my wrist

AFTER THE TENDON REPAIR
I can't form fist ,though partially uses the hand. currently (6 months) the site of the surgery hilled up like a knot was tied under the callus.

What others things can I do to activate my left hand.

Since you're still on physiotherapy management, you can discuss your concerns with the PT in charge of your condition.

In case of getting a second opinion, that will only be possible after a physical assessment.

Generally, recovery from severe nerve injury, do appear to be irritatingly slow (in the opinion of the clients), but that's is the nature of nerve injury recovery.