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Plexus
Some nerves go straight to their point of destination but some first mix with other nerves to form complicated nerve networks that anatomists call a nerve plexus. You have a number of plexuses in your body: there's the cervical plexus along each side of your neck, the brachial plexus near your shoulders, the solar plexus near your stomach, the lumbar plexus in your lower back and many, many others. We will be discussing the brachial plexus.
Brachial Plexus
The brachial plexus is made up of nerves which come out of the middle and lower neck and upper back. After they interconnect to form the brachial plexus they branch off to supply different areas, especially the shoulders, arms, elbows, wrists, hands and fingers.
Brachial Plexus Injury
The most common from of brachial plexus damage is to the nerves that make up the brachial plexus as they exit the spinal column through the foramina plexus. In the foramina the nerves are surrounded by a ring of bone and meninges (though coverings) and if the ring becomes smaller the nerves may become compressed or "pinched." What causes the nerves to get "pinched?" Many things: long-standing spinal stress; old injuries such as falls from childhood; new injuries such as sports mishaps or car accidents (especially whiplash - a situation where the head and neck are suddenly "snapped" forward and backward); arthritis; being twisted, pulled or shaken; or even sleeping in an awkward position as well as many other stresses and strains of daily living.
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