In this issue, we would like to tell you about a revolutionary new device we have found very helpful to our patients with neck, shoulder and arm pain and nerve injuries such as brachial plexus/thoracic outlet and cervical disc and nerve root problems. I actually developed this device after sustaining an injury to my shoulder. I found all the slings and immobilizers I tried either hurt my neck, made me feel claustrophobic or were too limiting. I heard the same complaints about slings and immobilizers on the market from my patients, so I developed a device suited for medical use to treat arm and shoulder pain and nerve injury. As a result, I created the Ergo Shoulder System and Abduction Pillow pictured below.

Upper extremity nerve pain often begins at the neck and or thoracic outlet area between the neck and shoulder. Arm motion away from the body (abduction), overhead reaching and hanging down of the arm often exacerbate or increase this nerve pain or the symptoms of numbness or tingling. It is also very common for persons with injury to splint or protect their injured arm, holding it closely into their body in what we term protected posture. This can also lead to an adhesive capsulitis or frozen shoulder. If this is not addressed it can result in limited motion and progression of the nerve injury. These problems are often confused with carpal tunnel and rotator cuff injury respectively.

When the nerves are involved at more than one level in the arm, this is sometimes called double crush syndrome or multi-level nerve injury, or repetitive strain injury. Many times these problems develop as the result of repeated micro-traumas, which are additive or cumulative, hence the term cumulative trauma disorder. By using a support device that allows comfort for activities requiring arm swing or motion, like walking, shopping and the like, patients are able to remain active without fear of furthering their injuries or pain. Also by using the convenient pillow piece the arm can rest in a position that gets it used to resting in abduction (away from the body a little). This avoids stiffness and allows the nerves also to maintain their length and helps to progress healing of nerve and shoulder injury.

We have found patients to be very happy with the increased ability to live life more fully and obtain relief from their discomfort. We also see in many cases the stiffness or frozen shoulders improve substantially via activation of the deltoid muscle making it easier and more comfortable to initiate abduction. Simply keeping the arm in a comfortable abducted position for a few hours a day alleviates the stress and strain on the nerves about the neck and thoracic outlet and allows a slow and gentle lengthening of the nerve muscle and tendon structures, allowing progressive healing with no aggressive treatment or discomfort. Combined with lifestyle modification, nerve sliding exercises as described in The Carpal Tunnel Helpbook and gentle pain free therapy, patients often resolve or markedly improve their injuries.