Damaged nerves can sometimes be repaired, especially if they are treated quickly after an injury. He explores the damaged nerve s and removes any injured tissues.
Once the nerve has been repaired, you can generally expect sensation to come back gradually over a period of a couple of months. Your nerves have an ability to heal and regenerate even once they have been damaged, assuming that they have been properly repaired. Call our Savannah office at or request an appointment online. If you have musculoskeletal pain, it may result from damaged cartilage around a joint in your body.
Learn more about the purpose of cartilage and its role in your health. Learn more about non-surgical options that can ease your discomfort. Sports medicine physicians are specially trained to care for athletes. Do you have chronic pain, numbness, or weakness in your arms, legs, or feet? Your nerves may be compromised from an accident or medical condition. Sensory nerves are more resilient than motor nerves and can recover sensation months or years after injury. Motor nerves have a time limit for healing.
If the motor endplate receives no nerve impulse for more than months, it dies away and there is no longer any way that the muscle can be activated by the nerve. The muscle then whithers away. Thus surgical repair of motor nerves needs to happen within months of the injury. Before sensation returns to the injured area, your limb is at risk of damage as it has no protective sensation.
Please be careful of your hands or feet, especially around hot or sharp objects. Similarly, before the motor nerves recover your hand or limb may not be able to move normally or may develop abnormal postures. Hand therapy or physiotherapy will allow movement to be maintained while the nerve cells regenerate.
As your nerve recovers, the area the nerve supplies may feel quite unpleasant and tingly. This may be accompanied by an electric shock sensation at the level of the growing nerve fibres; the location of this sensation should move as the nerve heals and grows. Over time, these feelings subside and the area should begin to feel more normal.
Unfortunately, nerves never recover completely after they have been cut. I use a microscope or magnifying glasses loupes to repair your cut nerve with sutures finer than a human hair. This type of nerve repair surgery has the best recovery rates. Whether or not I can perform direct nerve repair on your injured limb depends on the injury your nerve has suffered.
Sometimes I cannot directly repair your nerve ends, for example, if there is a piece of nerve missing or a delay in repair. With nerve grafting, I take a length of nerve from somewhere else in your body and place it as a graft. I perform this repair using a microscope, too.
You will have a scar from the surgery and often a numb patch in the area I took the nerve graft from. Possible donor nerves include sensory nerves of skin of the forearm and leg. Everyone recovers at a different pace — this is normal and to be expected. Before you get overwhelmed, talk to your support system, do activities that help you manage your emotions and stress levels, and focus on what is working and what you are grateful for each day. Rest assured: recovery is a lengthy process.
Always consult your medical provider and treatment team with any concerns you may have relating to your injury and recovery process. Talk to your treatment team about your goals for surgery and recovery. Listen to and stay aware of what results are expected at what time points. Schneider K. As part of the research team on the Hand and Upper Extremity Service , he conducts research on distal radius fracture fixation, patterns of degenerative and inflammatory arthritis of the wrist, salvage procedures for wrist reconstruction, and long-term motor outcomes following nerve and brachial plexus reconstruction.
Zoe A. Landers has actively participated in research with the CBPTNI multidisciplinary team to develop a deeper understanding of the psychosocial and psychological impact of brachial plexus injury. Findings from this research have been presented at major hand and upper extremity orthopedic conferences.
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