sEMG Biofeedback for use in Treating Brachial Plexus Injuries
September 13th, 2007 by Tom Cobb
A group of parents of children born with Brachial Plexus Injuries has contacted me and told me a very interesting story. Apparently, Brachial Plexus Injuries, which can occur during the birth process, are not uncommon and a mother of a child born with a Brachial Pluexus Injury, Kate, just happened to be a biomedical engineer. She had heard of surface electromyography being used for neuromuscular re-education (getting muscles to work when the nerve/muscle connection has been injured) and started doing some investigation. She learned that when a muscle is not working properly (as is the case with the hands, arms and shoulders with Brachial Plexus Injuries) that a surface emg (surface electromyography) biofeedback unit is capable of measuring the nerve firing into a muscle and showing this nerve firing even before there is any movement in the muscle. She learned that indeed, this technique has been used for decades in cases of rehabilitation after surgeries where nerves are injured and after accidents and muscle transplants.
She thought that perhaps this technique would work with her injured child, so she purchased a MyoTrac Home EMG unit and tried it out. What she saw was very exciting, her child was able to make a connection between injured nerves and muscles for the first time and within a few minutes Kate was seeing her child’s injured muscles move for the first time.
Kate just happens to belong to a national self-help group for those with Brachial Plexus injuries and when they had a meeting she was able to try her Myotrac EMG on about 30 people, one of whom has lived with this injuries for decades. And, everyone she tried it on was able to show improved nerve/muscle connections. Needless to say, everyone was very excited.
Even though surface emg has been used in muscle rehab for decades, the application of surface emg to this patient population seems to be new and it shows great promise.
If you or anyone you know is interested in getting more information, the group has set up a message board for sharing. Click on this link and you can read more by the group members themselves: sEMG biofeedback for use in treating Brachial Plexus Injuries. Some areas are public and some are private but there is lots of great information.
