The brachial palsy is defined as a muscle weakness or paralysis of different severity degrees, which develops in the arm, forearm and hand on the respective side during dystocia, due to the stretching in the nerve structures starting from neck level of the spinal cord of the infant and extending to the hand through the axillary fossa.
The incidence varies between 1 and 4 per 1000 newborns. Factors that increase the occurrence possibility are multiple pregnancies, large size of the infant, prolonged dystocia, and an infantwith his/her legs being in the birth canal, i.e. breech birth.
This may spontaneously regress until the age of 2 in the majority of the infants. This possibility is predicted by examining the baby.
In any case, however, the infant should receive treatment to maintain the joint movements and to have an upper extremity that may be used more actively. The arm may be enabled to be used more actively by operations in the infants and children whose condition is not regressed or not predicted to be regressed, spontaneously.