Median Nerve Injury

The human hand receives three main nerves from the spinal cord ; namely median nerve, ulnar nerve and radial nerve. Median nerve is the most important nerve which provides sensation to important parts of the hand. It also supplies the muscles of the forearm and fingers and helps in moving the wrist ,thumb and fingers ( eg : grasping or holding an object ).

Median nerve may be injured by direct impact over the nerve, compressions over the nerve or by cut injuries. This is a common nerve injured in accidental forearm cut injuries and suicidal injuries.

Median nerve provides sensation to your thumb, index finger, middle finger and half of the ring finger. You may notice that your fingers are numb following the injury. You may also notice that your thumb is weak. .

Management of such injuries depends on the mechanism of injury sustained. Acute cut injuries of the median nerve are often repaired . Nerve reconstruction with nerve grafts may be needed in old injuries . Chronic injuries may need distal nerve transfers or tendon transfers to correct the disability.