Several months ago, Greg inman came to me after having a posterior cervical fusion from C2 to T2 due to a fall that also uncovered a lot of spinal stenosis in his cervical spine. The problem was not necessarily the fusion itself, but rather a complication from the surgery. His right radial arm nerve was stretched at the nerve root when the obstructions in his spinal column were cleared out and the spinal cord moved back. As a result, he lost most functions in his right arm, especially those functions controlled by the c5-c6 juncture.
The challenge was to stimulate regrowth of the spinal nerve root and peripheral nerves and also stimulate re-growth of muscle tissue that had atrophied in the bicep, triceps, and deltoid muscles.
Further complicating the impact of the event is that he also had several tears in the rotator cuff of his left shoulder. This could not be fixed in a timely manner because the loss of most functions in his right arm meant that if the left was totally unavailable because of rotator cuff surgery, he would have no usable arms. Greg is right handed as well, so even though his left arm was damaged and difficult to move, the left had to take over for the normal things he would do with his right arm – buttoning clothes, brushing teeth, eating, etc.. Prior to his fall, Greg was active in welding and woodworking, riding his motorcycle, and all that was taken away after the fall.
After several months of work with me, and numerous physical therapists, Greg has had a steady improvement in function of his right arm, as well as increased range of motion in his left. Through steady work with me, he has increased blood flow to his arms and back, stimulated nerve re-growth in those areas as well. He is a able now to do a curl with his right arm and also has up to 120 degrees of motion with his shoulder. He is hopeful that he can regain full range of motion and at least come close to previous muscle strength.
He is not able to ride his motorcycle, yet, but is back to welding and performing regular household repairs, buttoning his shirts with his right arm, and brushing his teeth with his right arm again as well. Even picking up a fork with his right arm, mostly.
Greg I.
