Brachial plexopathy is any injury to the brachial plexus-the nerve bundles located on each side of the neck that give rise to the individual nerves controlling the muscles of the shoulders, arms, and hands.
Brachial plexopathy occurs most often during birth, when an infant's neck and shoulders are stretched apart during passage through the birth canal.
There are four general types of injury, and an individual brachial plexopathy may include any or all of these injury types, on one or both (bilateral) sides of the body.
It is estimated that in North America between one and three of every 1,000 newborns are affected to some extent by brachial plexopathy.
However, some physicians are concerned that the late 1990s and early 2000s trend toward decreasing elective c-section deliveries will result in more cases of brachial plexopathy among newborns.