Skin Temperature Asymmetry and Stimulated Skin Wrinkling: Reliability and Validity for Evaluating Obstetrical Brachial Plexus Injuries

Nerve injuries in adults are evaluated via sensation, manual muscle testing and nerve conduction studies. These evaluations are difficult, if not impossible, to perform in a wiggling infant or a young child who has not yet developed sufficient skill to follow instructions and provide verbal responses describing perception. This is further complicated in obstetrical brachial plexus injuries (OBPI), where there are no external cues (e.g. a laceration) to inform an anatomical hypothesis. Historically, evaluation of pediatric nerve injuries, including OBPI, rely on clinical observations of movement patterns, with the recent addition of limb length and circumference measures.

Source: Journal of Hand Therapy - September 30, 2019 Category: Rehabilitation Authors: T. Packham, A. Ahmad, M. Huxtable, N. Jacob, D. Schutten, D. Gjertsen, C. DeMatteo, J.C. MacDermid, J. Bain Source Type: research