The Lesion Game: a special communication

The Lesion Game is a personal computer program that allows the user to view and study muscle innervations and nerve lesions of the brachial plexus. The core of the program is a table that consists of 44 brachial plexus lesions, 50 muscles, and 2 sensations (for brachium and forearm) of the upper extremity, which are innervated by the brachial plexus. After the program randomly selects a lesion, the user attempts to find the lesion in as few guesses (manual muscle tests) as possible. As muscles are selected (muscle tested), the computer searches the table to find the appropriate "strength" of weak or normal, based on the location of the randomly selected lesion. After displaying the strength of the muscle selected, a graphic representation of the strength is shown on a diagram of the brachial plexus. The graphic aspect of the program helps the user to visualize areas of the brachial plexus that may still contain the lesion. While playing the Lesion Game, the user can view a detailed picture of the brachial plexus, view all the possible lesions of the Lesion Game, or view charts of upper extremity innervations. An additional program mode allows beginning users to view and study muscle innervations without having to solve lesions. The program is extremely simple to use because it is entirely mouse-driven.