Severed Median Nerve

[dog guy]

I managed to sever the median nerve in my dominant hand in a freak accident. It was cut in the wrist, without any serious damage to the nearby tendons. It was repaired surgically yesterday, with long term healing expected to be pretty good. I expect to be darn good at weak hand only pistol shooting by then since my trigger finger currently feels like a chunk of wood. I have motion in the trigger finger but it's rather stiff and somewhat limited, and no sensation at all (either to pressure or touch.) Inner aspect of the thumb has no touch sensation, nor does the adjacent aspect of the middle finger. I can move the thumb, but the big meaty muscle at the base of the thumb doesn't work for now. I'm looking for any intel from others who have had this injury, or from any of the docs. My surgeon seems pretty dialed in, but I'm looking for any additional info so I'm as well informed as possible as to what to expect during healing. Thanks in advance.

[Vic303]

Ouch! All I can suggest is to do your PT like it is your new religion. That, and from what I understand, it takes a number of months to maximize nerve healing. I have had some nerve damage (one surgical, one from an epidural, and one from a bike crash), and it took 6-8mo each time to fully recover.

[Rob96]

August of 2014 I was donating blood. The tech couldn't hit the vein and fished around. All of a sudden I felt a sharp pain, kind of like an electric shock. Yep, he got the median nerve. Two months of NSAIDS and a course of Prednisone and the pain disappeared. Continued with stretches and normal lifting routine. Still am numb for the whole inner half of the forearm and meaty part of thumb. Other than that full function.

[jmoore]

Unlike splicing electrical wires, a "surgical repair" of a major nerve won't work correctly initially, hence the motor and sensory problems you are having (which for the Median n. will mimic to some degree the problems of folks with carpal tunnel syndrome, btw). The nerve fiber (axon) distal (outward) to the transection will eventually die (Google "Wallerian degeneration"). The outer covering or sheath of the degenerated nerve will stay in place. Over time - the nerve fibers on the proximal (upstream:) side of the transection will attempt to regenerate and follow the path left behind by the nerve sheaths of the degenerated distal portion of the axon. This can take some time. Also - there is no guarantee that the correct proximal portion of the neuron will follow the correct sheath from the degenerated distal portion, i.e., things might get "re-wired". In the big picture, this isn't that big of a deal (though it sounds like it:) - because the brain does a great job of retraining, especially with good PT. How old are you, may I ask? Are you a smoker? Do you generally have good nutrition? Your doctor will talk with you about all of these, as they will possibly influence your healing, both of the tissue surrounding the incision, as well as the nerve itself.

BEST OF LUCK! (And - what WAS the freak accident?)

john

[dog guy]

55 years old, never smoked, generally good fitness. Nutrition is good. Dropped a ceramic cereal bowl which shattered on a counter top. Flying hunk of bowl managed to lacerate my wrist and got the nerve without doing much (if any) tendon damage. I think it was the JFK bullet of bowl fragments. I hope to hear from the doc today as to exactly what he found in there since I was zonked last time we met. Thank you all for the intel. It helps me build reasonable expectations.