CONDITIONS TREATED

Trauma to the nerves in upper and lower limbs is often caused by road traffic accidents, industrial or sporting injuries. They may or may not be associated with bony injury in the form of fractures. The severity of injury can be classified as:

• Degenerative: the axon has been damaged with complete loss of function (tapping on the terminal part of the damaged nerve filament the patient perceives a sort of “electric” sensation running down within the distribution of the damaged nerve.
• Non degenerative: the nerve is still intact and therefore potentially able to work but it is non-functional. This may be due to a lack of local blood supply to a nerve or where the nerve has been compressed at a point of relative fixity in the course of sustaining an injury. In both situations the nerve loses the capacity to effectively transmit electrical signals to the muscles. This situation may persist for days, weeks and sometimes months. If a compression force is released from the nerve, the recovery will be full. Where compression persists, recovery may not occur or may be sub-optimal or cause residual neuropathic pain.