Excercises 2 help

[admin]

Hi again. Jst here to ask if anyone know excersises I could do to help my arm? When i get frustrated (usually tryin to open a tin of food with the tin opener- lol) and i go to my room and get my wieghts out and try and lift it, i find it impossible. I sometimes do this with a tin of beans as it is much lighter but it hurts. My upper arm gets very tight as if the muscles are tightening and there is "spikey" pains. This sounds so silly...but i find it hard get comfy goin to sleep. I prefer sleeping on my right side (my right arm is my erb arm) so it gets in the way or gets squashed and its very sore in the morning and if i lie on my left side my arm flops over and it is very uncomfortable. I think it problem is because my arm is "bent" at the elbow and it doesnt straighten much at all. Maybe you all have this problem or some of you have it mastered...but if anyone can help with the excersises or the sleeping thing, post me a message and i would be really gratefull.
thanx
Michelle

[Erica DeAnn]

Hi Michelle! I am the EXACT same way when it comes to sleeping. (I'm right OBPI)...if ya lay on the left, your right arm is all awkward, hanging down! I usually lay on my right arm too, (mine is almost bent at a 90 degree angle)...I just make sure it's flat and I put a pillow over it. As for exercise, it's bad, but I really don't!

I have found that my good arm and shoulder ache a lot (and I'm only 25)...so I started going to a chiropractor for electro therapy...it really helps.

I hope you can get some comfortable ZZZZZZZZZ's tonight!!

Erica DeAnn

[Kathleen]

I wonder if this is just a right obpi thing!... NOT.. or is there a video cam in my room??

I sleep on the obpi right side and my arm goes to sleep if I move to the left side it is to short and hangs uncomfortable... finding the right spot to sleep in is a major problem...
I am in PT again! and he told me to sleep on my back almost flat with a thin wedge under the right side it props the arm and shoulder - that is good for a while...
I just went to a hand specialist who reminded me to sit straight and not curl my shoulder in and twist my spine... I thought for a minute I was talking to my Mother!!!.... bad habits creep back when we are not paying attention... I realized that while talking to him I was sitting curled... spine twisted to non bpi side and that is probably why he noticed...

sitting we should have pillow supporting the bpi arm because it is heavy and we hunch our shoulders holding it up!!!! when sitting at computer we should have a pillow under bpi side supporting the elbow up...

Overuse seems to be a big problem after years of compensation... When I first started to put a pillow under my arm when sitting or on the computer I felt silly... to me I was pampering myself... but it works and your arm gets less stress and less tired..

Michelle
Your upper arm gets very tight as if the muscles are tightening and there is a "spikey" pain. I have always gotten spikey pains but I called them spasms and a parent of a four year old baby on the General Board described them as if someone was sticking sharp sticks in his arm. so I guess many of us get them... I had three this past week... one I just reached up to open the sun roof on the car... yikes... and one I twisted the wrong way... Somehow I forgot I could not reach up with that arm... I thought of it as an exercise.... dumb but true...

Now I have a question for both of you... Do you hold things in your bpi hand and not remember they are there???? Like holding a tissue or candy or keys until you look down and realize they are in your hand??
Kath

[admin]

Hey thanx for the advice for sleepin and the pillow idea...it really does help. Im at the feelin silly stage ill get over it tho. I never thought of sittin down with a pillow tho.

Kath, I do forget about things that i hav im my erbs arm(well hand) like im runnin around daft looking for a bobble for my hair and i cant find it anywhere and i knew i had it a minute ago and then i realise it is in my hand...its so silly. I sometimes do it with money aswell if my gran gives me a "penny for an ice-cream" and it is jst a single coin i do 4got its there. I think that is because when im not usin my arm/hand it goes into a fist without me makin it do so. Which allows me to hold things without tryin to. Does everyone get this then?

Michelle

[Erica DeAnn]

You guys are "lucky"....I can't hold anything in my BPI hand. I can't move my fingers at all. My hand looks like a baby's hand. I also have no feeling from my shoulder down. In fact, last year, I accidently shut my BPI side's fingers in my TRUNK!! Can you imagine if it had been the hand I could feel??? Ouch!!!!!

Erica DeAnn

[Kathleen]

Ouch! Erica... gotta watch it when you slam the trunk...

I have feeling on some parts of my arm and hand and not on other spots...
I kept my fist closed when I was a child but my family kept constantly reminding me to open my hand... I would forget and close it...

I think it has something to do with a brain disconnect - I forget I have an arm...

My body boundary seems to be missing on the right side. I bump walls and people with my elbow... I use to startle very easy - because if someone walk next to me on my right side I am not aware they are there... my vision is OK...

A few years ago someone asked the question about holding things in our hands... and loosing them and many of the other obpi said they did the same thing...

My hand is a little bit smaller but not enough for it to be noticable... only when they are measured next to each other.. but it does save money on the wax in my therapy bath... I dip my hands then play with the warm wax when I take it off - it is good finger exercise... the other day I realized that one wax piece was smaller then the other ... and started to laugh because I forgot one hand was smaller until I saw the wax balls together... I told my husband we were saving money that way!!!...

Do either of you do some sort of ROM exercises... even if your arm will not move you do passive movement with you unaffected arm... I did not for many years and my arm began to loose range of motion and I got scared - Now I try to stretch in the shower... muscles work better when warm... and sometimes while sitting and watching tv I just keep the bpi arm moving --- using my unaffected arm to move it...
Kath