Degree of Nerve Damage

• Degree of nerve damage:

  • 3 degrees of nerve damage:
  • neuropraxia - least severe
  • axonotmesis - more severe
  • neurotmesis - most severe
• Degree of nerve damage:

  • neuropraxia - least severe:
  • myelin sheath is usually the only thing thats damaged - due to compression or micro-trauma
  • the axon is intact
  • usually endoneurium, epineurium and perineurium are intact
  • recovery is focused around the myelin healing itself - prognosis is around 2 to 6 weeks
  • to be considered as neuropraxia, there should have been a shorter amount of time under compression - the longer the time under compression, the higher the degree may be
• Degree of nerve damage:

  • axonotmesis - more severe:
  • the axon is damaged as well as the myelin sheath - due to compression or micro-trauma
  • usually endoneurium, epineurium and perineurium are intact
  • regeneration of nerve is possible, but prognosis is weeks, months, even years
  • there would have been a longer amount of time under compression than neuropraxia - the longer the time under compression, the higher the degree may be
• Degree of nerve damage:

  • neurotmesis - most severe:
  • complete disruption of the axon, myelin sheath and surrounding connective tissue (more the endoneurium, but can also commonly be the epineurium and perineurium during high force trauma) - due to compression or micro-trauma
  • nerve is unlikely to heal by itself, requires surgery