The Handi-Capped Hero

Gregory Iron, the Handi-Capped Hero

One of the cool things for a medical student is to see things that you learn about in the classroom applied in real life.  Indeed, we almost hunger for such moments as reminders that there is a whole world outside the lecture hall where this information matters.  Usually, we see these cases in our clinical site visits while we are still in the first two years.  

I ran into an interesting case at a wrestling event in Lakewood a few months back.  In one of the matches, a wrestler named Gregory Iron came out.  I suppose it assumed most of the audience knew about Iron and his trademark gimmick but since it was my first time at an Absolute Intense Wrestling event I didn't know much about him.  I noticed there was a handi-capped sign on his trunks and wondered what that had to do with anything.  Then I noticed his right arm.  The forearm muscles seemed a little wasted when compared to the left arm.  Also his wrist seemed fixed in a flexed position.  I leaned over to my friend who had brought me to the show and asked him if there was something wrong with his hand.  He wasn't sure.  At first, my inexperience made me think of brachial plexus problems I had seen in my anatomy course.  It was very plausible that the injuries that cause such problems could be sustained in a wrestling match.

But Iron's arm was also flexed and seemed fixed that way.  That wasn't consistent with a brachial plexus problem and, as I would learn later, not consistent with peripheral nerve problems in general.  The increased muscle tone (hypertonia) in his right arm suggested an upper motor neuron deficit.  Upon doing some research on Iron, I found that he had cerebral palsy that affected his right arm (meaning the lesion was affecting his left primary cortex in the areas that are responsible for arm movement).

Iron, himself, is an impressive guy, especially for how athletic he is even with his problems in his right hand and arm.  Indeed, the wasting in his right arm is subtle and the movement in the ring is constant so that you might not have noticed the deficits.  I have always had an eye for noticing details but I am pleased that my education seems to be continuing to increase my ability to interpret the meaning behind the details accurately.  This is my bread and butter and what I love about the clinical problem solving in medicine.