What Causes Immobility In Hands?

Posted on Sat, 12 Jul 2014

Question: Hello, My father-in-law is 69 years old. Since 4 years his left hand is paralysed (not sure if i am using the right word). He did not get any paralytic stroke or any other complication. It just started with pain near shoulder area & slowly he started finding it difficult to raise his hand. Ther is sensation in the hand & he can move his fingers & hold things. But cannot raise it. It happend to him for the second time. In 1994 he faced same issue. He took some ayurvedic medicine & it was fine after couple of years. Now since past 4 years his hand is paralysed. He is a diabetiic since 5 years & also has high BP. Both are mostly under control. We took him to NIMS-HYD hospital & got all tests done including MRI but all were normal. One more health issue that he has is 'lung infection' since many years. He does not have TB. But has lung infection. Recently (Feb 2014) he was admitted in hospital for 2 weeks as he was not able to breathe. He was on BiPap & Oxygen machine. He still uses the oxygen machine but only 2-3 hours per day. Please let me know if you need any other info & help me understand this medical condition & also abou the treatment. Thanks!!

Answered by Dr. Sudhir Kumar (25 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
It could be brachial plexopathy.

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

Thank you for posting your query.

I have noted your father-in-law's symptoms. Thanks for providing a detailed description of his problems.

Based on the description, it seems to be a case of brachial plexopathy. Brachial plexus is a bundle of nerves located in the neck/axilla, which sends nerves to shoulder, arm, forearm and hands. These nerves may get affected in diabetes due to lack of blood flow or sometimes due to infection.

The diagnosis can be confirmed by nerve conduction studies.

Treatment is mainly through exercises and physiotherapy.

I hope my reply has helped you.

I would be pleased to answer, if you have any follow up queries or if you require any further information.

Best wishes,
Dr Sudhir Kumar MD (Internal Medicine), DM (Neurology) XXXXXXX Consultant Neurologist
Apollo Hospitals, XXXXXXX
For DIRECT QUERY to me: http://bit.ly/Dr-Sudhir-kumar
My blog: http://bestneurodoctor.blogspot.com/

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar