Thank you for joining me again this evening for our nightly podcasts. I perform these podcasts in the hopes that you will be able to education yourself on the topics discussed so you can make better informed medical decisions regarding your health in the future. I am doctor Harrison Campbell of Restoration Health a premier sugar land chiropractors office. Previously we discussed sleep and the effects is has on the body physically and mentally with a brief over view of the emotional impact due to the mental strain. Tonight, we will move to brachial plexus and discuss the importance of this structure and some potential injuries associated with it.
The brachial plexus is located in the upper shoulder sitting underneath the trapezius muscle. Most people will have never heard this term unless they have had an injury to this particular structure, but sugar land chiropractors can tell you that is structure is a confluence of nerves from the cervical spine. Furthermore, this confluence of nerves controls the muscles of the upper extremity and some of the surrounding shoulder musculature.
We have mention before that peripheral nerves come off the spinal cord and that the peripheral nerves which come off in the cervical spine go down the arms and to the hands, while the low back peripheral nerves go down the legs to the feet. These peripheral nerves then have impulse control for the different muscles in those extremities along with pain sensation, touch, temperature, and any other stimuli we can sense from those extremities. What has not been said up to now about the peripheral nerves from the cervical spine is they come off the spinal cord and create a plexus. Because of the location and what these nerves control, the arm sugar land chiropractors call this the brachial plexus meaning the plexus of the arm.
The nerves which conjoin together to create this plexus are the C five C six C seven C eight and T one nerves. These five nerve roots from the root portion of the brachial plexus. Just beyond the roots portion of the brachial plexus is the trunks portion. Now as sugar land chiropractors know there are three trunks for the brachial plexus, the superior middle and inferior trunks. The superior trunk is composed of C five and C six, the middle trunk is composed of C seven, and the inferior trunk is composed of C eight and T one. Moving down the brachial plexus we then hit the divisions. There are six over all division, there are three anterior and three posterior divisions. Beyond the divisions there are three cords, the lateral the posterior and the medial cords.
Following this section we come to the end of the brachial plexus known as the terminal branches which form the nerves which travel down the arm.
As sugar land chiropractors know there are the musculocutaneous nerve composed of part of the C five C six and C seven nerves. Then there is the axillary nerve which is composed of C five and C six nerves followed by the radial nerve composed of all the nerves. Following this radial nerve there is the median nerve composed of all the nerves as well followed by the last nerve the Ulnar. This ulnar nerve is composed of C seven C eight and T one.
Now of each of these portions of the brachial plexus the divisions is the only portion which does not have branches leading off. As sugar land chiropractors know there five nerves which come off at the roots. These nerves are as follows. There is the Dorsal scapular nerve and the phrenic nerve coming off the C five root. There is the long thoracic nerve coming from the C five C six and C seven roots. There is the branches off of C five C six C seven and C eight to the longus colli and scalene muscles. Finally there is the first intercostal nerve off of T one.
Moving down the line we come to the trunks again. For the trunks there is only two nerves branching off and sugar land chiropractors can tell you these come off the superior trunk. There is the subscapular nerve with innervation from C five and C six. Then there is the subclavius nerve with innervation from C five and C six as well. After the trunks comes the division which as stated previously have no nerves branching off.
This moves us to the three cords. Now recall that we had the lateral cord which is formed from the superior and middle branch. We have the posterior cord which is formed from the superior, middle, and inferior branch, and we have the medial cord which is formed from the inferior branch. We have the lateral pectoral nerve which comes off the lateral cord and has innervation of C five C six and C seven. We also have a medial pectoral nerve off the medial cord with innervation of C eight and T one. Additionally sugar land chiropractors know there is a bridge between these two nerves, but that is not the focus of todays discussion. Off the posterior cord we have three nerves, the upper subscapular nerve with innervation of C five and C six. We have the Thoracodorsal nerve with innervation of C six C seven and C eight and we have the lower subscapular nerve with innervation of C five and C six.
To end we have two additional nerves off the medial cord the medial brachial cutaneous nerve with innervation from T one and we have the medial antebrachial cutaneous nerve with innervation of C eight and T one.
Thank you for joining me again this evening for another great podcast. I hope you enjoyed the discussion on the brachial plexus. As always should you or someone you know require a sugar land chiropractors services or simply have more questions on what was discussed please call Restoration Health today. We would love to schedule you an appointment and get you on the path to better health today. Thank you once again for joining us. Have a good night.