A burner, also called a stinger, is a common injury in contact sports,especially football. Burners in football participants are extremely common, with over 50% of all athletes reporting at least one burner throughout their career—and some with repeated episodes.
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Burner: What Is Happening?
A burner is thought to be due to stretch and/or compression of thebrachial plexus. The brachial plexus is a network of nerves that’s located just outside the spinal cord at the neck. These nerves branch out and travel across the shoulder and into the arm.
Any type of nerve disruption can cause pain, numbness, and/or weakness.
During a burner injury, an athlete’s neck may be stretched away from the affected shoulder, such as during a collision or fall to the ground. When the upper shoulder area strikes the ground forcefully, the head and neck can pull to one side, while the shoulder is pushed to the other.
The resulting stretch on the shoulder and neck may cause an injury to the brachial plexus.
Burner Symptoms
Typically, the painful symptoms resolve within a few minutes or hours.
Often athletes who sustain a burner have weakness of the affected arm. Weakness may take several hours to develop and it may take days, weeks—or even longer—for weakness to resolve.
Burner injuries have been classified on a scale as grades 1, 2, and 3. A grade 1 injury is typically back to normal within a few weeks, whereas symptoms of a grade 3 injury can last for a year or longer.
Treatment of a Burner
There is little that can be done to treat a burner, although some therapeutic activity including light stretching and strengthening may be helpful. In order to return to sports, athletes having sustained a burner should have achieved the following criteria:
Efforts at preventing burners are geared toward strengthening the neck and shoulder muscles.
In addition, some football players will use special pads or collars (“cowboy collars”) to minimize excessive stretch of the brachial plexus to prevent recurrent stinger injuries.
Warning Signs
Athletes who have symptoms that are not typical of a burner or who have unresolved symptoms should have an evaluation to determine if there is another cause of their symptoms. Several conditions that affect the neck and spinal cord can mimic symptoms of a burner, and these need to be considered in athletes with severe or persistent symptoms.
Further testing can evaluate for other possible causes of numbness and weakness, such as a herniated disc or spinal nerve injury. Tests may include x-rays, MRIs, or nerve conduction studies.
5 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Naden CM.Brachial plexopathy.Curr Sports Med Rep. 2017;16(3):121-121. doi:10.1249/JSR.0000000000000351Tharin BD, Kini JA, York GE, Ritter JL.Brachial plexopathy: a review of traumatic and nontraumatic causes.American Journal of Roentgenology. 2014;202(1):W67-W75. doi:10.2214/AJR.12.9554American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.Burners and stingers.Bowles DR, Canseco JA, Alexander TD, Schroeder GD, Hecht AC, Vaccaro AR.The prevalence and management of stingers in college and professional collision athletes.Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med. 2020;13(6):651-662. doi:10.1007/s12178-020-09665-5Belviso I, Palermi S, Sacco AM, et al.Brachial plexus injuries in sport medicine: clinical evaluation, diagnostic approaches, treatment options, and rehabilitative interventions.Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology. 2020;5(2):22. doi:10.3390/jfmk5020022Additional ReadingAval SM, Durand P, and Shankwiler JA. “Neurovascular Injuries to the Athlete’s Shoulder: Part I” J Am Acad Orthop Surg April 2007; 15:249-256.
5 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Naden CM.Brachial plexopathy.Curr Sports Med Rep. 2017;16(3):121-121. doi:10.1249/JSR.0000000000000351Tharin BD, Kini JA, York GE, Ritter JL.Brachial plexopathy: a review of traumatic and nontraumatic causes.American Journal of Roentgenology. 2014;202(1):W67-W75. doi:10.2214/AJR.12.9554American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.Burners and stingers.Bowles DR, Canseco JA, Alexander TD, Schroeder GD, Hecht AC, Vaccaro AR.The prevalence and management of stingers in college and professional collision athletes.Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med. 2020;13(6):651-662. doi:10.1007/s12178-020-09665-5Belviso I, Palermi S, Sacco AM, et al.Brachial plexus injuries in sport medicine: clinical evaluation, diagnostic approaches, treatment options, and rehabilitative interventions.Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology. 2020;5(2):22. doi:10.3390/jfmk5020022Additional ReadingAval SM, Durand P, and Shankwiler JA. “Neurovascular Injuries to the Athlete’s Shoulder: Part I” J Am Acad Orthop Surg April 2007; 15:249-256.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Naden CM.Brachial plexopathy.Curr Sports Med Rep. 2017;16(3):121-121. doi:10.1249/JSR.0000000000000351Tharin BD, Kini JA, York GE, Ritter JL.Brachial plexopathy: a review of traumatic and nontraumatic causes.American Journal of Roentgenology. 2014;202(1):W67-W75. doi:10.2214/AJR.12.9554American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.Burners and stingers.Bowles DR, Canseco JA, Alexander TD, Schroeder GD, Hecht AC, Vaccaro AR.The prevalence and management of stingers in college and professional collision athletes.Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med. 2020;13(6):651-662. doi:10.1007/s12178-020-09665-5Belviso I, Palermi S, Sacco AM, et al.Brachial plexus injuries in sport medicine: clinical evaluation, diagnostic approaches, treatment options, and rehabilitative interventions.Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology. 2020;5(2):22. doi:10.3390/jfmk5020022
Naden CM.Brachial plexopathy.Curr Sports Med Rep. 2017;16(3):121-121. doi:10.1249/JSR.0000000000000351
Tharin BD, Kini JA, York GE, Ritter JL.Brachial plexopathy: a review of traumatic and nontraumatic causes.American Journal of Roentgenology. 2014;202(1):W67-W75. doi:10.2214/AJR.12.9554
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.Burners and stingers.
Bowles DR, Canseco JA, Alexander TD, Schroeder GD, Hecht AC, Vaccaro AR.The prevalence and management of stingers in college and professional collision athletes.Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med. 2020;13(6):651-662. doi:10.1007/s12178-020-09665-5
Belviso I, Palermi S, Sacco AM, et al.Brachial plexus injuries in sport medicine: clinical evaluation, diagnostic approaches, treatment options, and rehabilitative interventions.Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology. 2020;5(2):22. doi:10.3390/jfmk5020022
Aval SM, Durand P, and Shankwiler JA. “Neurovascular Injuries to the Athlete’s Shoulder: Part I” J Am Acad Orthop Surg April 2007; 15:249-256.
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