Will My Child Have This Forever?
You can’t give a definite Erb’s palsy prognosis because each case will differ from the last one. In most cases, however, your child will recover. Most children recover from this with little to no effects, but that depends on the severity of the condition. You can’t make a generalization that all children will recover from this condition. Some will have a severe case which will require surgical intervention if they can ever hope to recover from it fully. Doctors will only opt for surgery in the most serious of cases. Even with surgical intervention, it doesn’t always mean that the symptoms will subside. In some cases, they still don’t subside.
Does Erb’s Palsy Have Long-term Effects?
With treatment, Erb’s palsy prognosis looks great. In most cases, your child won’t even experience much for long-term effects. They will be completely free of these things. Often, the brachial plexus nerves will heal provided the damage wasn’t too great. You do have cases where the child might suffer some long-term effects. For example, they might have a lingering weakness in one of their arms. They might also struggle with circular movements with the elbow or shoulder joint. In some cases, they might have decreased motor function. Whether your child experiences long-term effects will depend on the seriousness of the condition.
Why You Want to Diagnose and Treat This Condition
Without diagnosis and treatment of your child, he could suffer the long-term ill effects that come from not getting a quick enough diagnosis. The impact will usually depend on the severity. As said, in some milder cases, this condition has even healed on its own. Nevertheless, a failure to treat a more severe case of it can lead to permanent and lasting paralysis in one of the arms of your child. Your child could suffer lifelong consequences as a result.
Recovery from this birth injury will range from several weeks to a lifetime of recovery, depending on the severity. Also, it will depend on the specific type of nerve injury that has taken place. While the prognosis usually looks favorable, this birth disorder still can be highly disastrous if left untreated.