Erb’s Palsy Prognosis

Fact Checked

The prognosis for Erb’s palsy is usually good. Most children born with an Erb’s palsy birth injury—weakness and paralysis in the arm—recover fully and experience little or no lasting effects. The cause of Erb’s palsy is nerve damage during childbirth, which is sometimes due to medical malpractice.

What Is the Prognosis for Erb’s Palsy?

The good news for parents of a baby born with this kind of injury is that it is most likely not permanent. The prognosis is generally positive, with most infants recovering fully in three to nine months. This is because, in most cases, the injury to the brachial plexus nerves is mild.

During birth, the brachial plexus nerves, which run from the spine, along the neck, and down the arm, get stretched.[1] This is more common in difficult deliveries, prolonged labors, and breech births or when an infant is unusually large at birth. The stretching can cause some damage, but the effects are usually minimal.

When the injuries are minor, the affected areas can heal naturally with time and physical therapy. It is only when a child has more severe damage, such as tearing of the nerves, that the prognosis is not as favorable.[2]

Treatment for Erb’s Palsy Improves Prognosis

Treatment for Erb’s palsy can help improve the prognosis for a child with the condition. Although most will recover fully from mild nerve damage, treatment with physical therapy gives every child with Erb’s palsy a chance at a better outcome.

• For those with mild impairment, physical therapy can speed the natural healing process and give a child better sensation and movement in the arm even sooner. Physical therapy usually involves simple and gentle exercises, movement of the arm, range of motion, stretching, stimulation, and massage.
• For an infant with more severe damage to the nerves, however, treatment may involve surgery. The decision for surgery usually comes after therapy and time fails to bring about adequate healing.
• Surgery may involve relieving pressure on damaged nerves or using donor nerves to graft or completely replace the injured nerves. The prognosis after surgery varies, but physical therapy and time to heal can significantly improve the outcome.

For many children with damage severe enough to require surgery, the prognosis is not entirely favorable as these children may face some degree of lifelong impairment in function.

What Are the Long-Term Effects of Erb’s Palsy?

In most cases of Erb’s palsy in infants, there is no lasting damage. You may never be able to tell that an adult had Erb’s palsy as a baby. Most infants end up with full use of the affected arm, no paralysis, and no permanent loss of sensation.

Some children with Erb’s palsy, on the other hand, will experience mild lasting effects:

• A shorter affected arm
• Minor impairments in range of motion
• Mild arm weakness

Children with more severe cases of Erb’s palsy may end up with lasting deformities, paralysis, weakness, and more significant limitations in the range of motion of one arm. Surgery may correct these issues, but for some, there will always be a lingering effect of the nerve damage sustained at birth.

These children may also live with complications from Erb’s palsy. These may include weakness and paralysis, chronic tightening of the muscles forming contractures, shoulder dislocation, loss of sensation in the arm, and scoliosis of the spine.

Living with Erb’s Palsy

Even for children living with the lasting effects of Erb’s palsy, life does not have to be a major struggle. Continued physical and occupational therapy, assistive devices, and even surgical options later in life can all promote better use of the arm and joints affected by Erb’s palsy.[3]

If you have a child with Erb’s palsy, you can help them learn to live with this mild disability by encouraging positive social interactions, activity, recreation, and getting involved. Promoting these positive factors will help your child develop self-esteem despite the disability.

Children living with Erb’s palsy need emotional support as well. A good support system in the form of family and friends is excellent for coping with any disability. It provides the child with a safe community to share and process feelings and fears. It is a place to turn when a child experiences challenges, such as teasing or bullying by other children. Having strong support can mean the difference between thriving and merely coping with a disability.

Also very important for living with this condition is being around other children going through a similar experience. If you have a child with Erb’s palsy, it’s a great idea to get them to connect with other children facing physical challenges.

You can find networks online or through your pediatrician that provide social groups for children with Erb’s palsy and other challenges. Seeing other children with visible disabilities is crucial to your child’s self-esteem and ability to cope with being different from other children.

A disability like Erb’s palsy does not have to limit a child’s life in any significant way. If you provide the proper support, appropriate treatments, enjoyable social activity, and interactions with other disabled children, your child can thrive and have as great a life as any other. Even if the prognosis for your child does not include complete recovery, living with this condition doesn’t have to impede a normal life.