Question

Sarah dove headfirst into a pool and hit her head on the bottom, fracturing one of her vertebrae which has compressed nerves in the area above and below the fractured vertebra. She is not able to move her right arm, but she can feel when you hold her hand. Determine if each of the following are TRUE or FALSE about Sarah’s injury based on the description of her symptoms. Select A = TRUE and B = FALSE

* She could have damaged her C4 nerve

*The ventral root of the spinal nerve is damaged

*The dorsal horn of the spinal cord is damaged

* She could have damaged her parietal lobe when she hit her head on the bottom, which would cause the arm paralysis

*The brachial plexus may be impaired

Answer 1

1) She could have damaged her C4 nerve - FALSE

C4 spinal nerve doesnt have any motor supply to the arm

c4 spinal nerve contribute to the phrenic nerve, motor nerve to anterior scalene, longus capiti,levator scapulae. it also provide sensory supply to supraclavicular nerve

2)The ventral root of the spinal nerve is damaged -TRUE

here the symptoms are loss of movement of right arm but she can feel when we hold the hand. it means that the sensory supply to the arm is intact, only the motor part is gone.

Ventral root of a spinal nerve carry the motor neuron to the muscle

ventral root of C5 spinal nerve supply the brachialis muscle in the arm, so if the ventral root is injured it will result in the weakness of arm

3) The dorsal horn of the spinal cord is damaged- False

The dorsal horn of the spinal cord recieve the sensory nerves of the spinal nerve.

so, injury to the dorsal horn of spinal cord result in loss of sensation . in this patient the sensation intact

4) She could have damaged her parietal lobe when she hit her head on the bottom, which would cause the arm paralysis - FALSE

the dominant parietal lobe controls the calculation, orientation ,verbal activity , . if it is injured it will lead to Acalculia, global aphasia, agnosia.

No involvement of motor system in parietal lobe

motor cortex is present in the frontal lobe

5) The brachial plexus may be impaired -False

brachial plexus carry both sensory and motor nerve of the spinal nerve. it injury will produce both sesnory and motor loss in the arm