tricep nerve transplat to deltoid

[marian]

i was wondering if anybody out here has had a nerve transplant with taking one branch of the triceps nerve and transfering it to the deltoid mussle. that is also past the 6 month post op mark, thats where i am would like to compare it to somebody elso.

[shaunnb]

hi Marian,
Hope you are well,
I had my first primary surgery on august 07, using the seral nerve from my left leg which was then grafted into 5 5cm sections on my c5 and c6.
I then had distall nerve bypass surgery on the 27th september 07'
using fasicles of the median and ulnar nerve to reinervate my bicep-and bicep brachiallis and my deltoid.
I believe the median nerve responsible for the tricep? and yes transferring one of those branches to the deltoid.
I admit im pretty miffed with my surgeons and O.T's opinions at the moment. as my few last appointments have had varying reports. firstly that my outer deltoid was firing, then it was the front and rear part of the delt, and then finally the movement i have was a result of the superspinatus muscle at the back of my shoulder. But i fail to see how i have as much movement as i have simply through the involvement of this muscle. i admit that the muscle is seriously atrophied, so i am trying with all my might to build it up on my own. How are you traveling?improvements?

god bless

shaun


Message was edited by: shaunnb


Message was edited by: shaunnb

[racerboy]

Marian-
I know this is an old post, but was curious how you made out with the tricep-deltoid nerve transfer? I had this done about 7 weeks ago, and was curious about the recovery.

f.

[bensmom]

Hi racerboy- Marian has posted more recent updates on his progress since this one- if you click on his username you should be able to search his posts and find them. He's made really wonderful progress- I've paid special attention to his posts since my husband had a similar surgery several months after he did. I can share with you my husband's experiences- he was injured in 8/07 in a dirtbike accident. He had part of the tricep nerve branched to his deltoid in 3/08. This was his only surgical intervention- thankfully his hand and forearm have returned almost to normal strength and his bicep is quite weak but getting stronger all the time. Anyway, we returned to Mayo in 9/08 and had totally prepared ourselves to be told that the surgery had not worked. He *thought* he had felt a twitch a couple of times, but really we could see no changes that we felt certain of. Instead, we were thrilled to learn that the surgery had been a success and that 6 months was still very early to be able to detect improvements. The nerve conduction showed that he had innervation with very immature nerves into his deltoid, which was actually a good thing because it meant that they were "young" and still growing. At this point, he still cannot raise his arm against gravity but can raise it almost unassisted when laying on his back with a little support. He can also raise it a bit standing it up, if its braced across his body if that makes sense. His PT is very encouraged by the improvements he sees and also said this week that the muscles have pulled the shoulder way back into socket so it's not rotating forward nearly so much. He does try to keep up with the PT exercises, but what truly has helped I think is being sure to incorporate those muscles into daily chores and projects. The PT was amazed at how much progress he made during the month he was doing body work on a car and scrubbing bondo using his injured arm. This month he's started chopping wood and can really feel it in those muscles. Anyway, they asked us to go back to Mayo in September to do more tests and see if other interventions are needed. Hope that helps.
Amanda

[RobertRacer]

My tricep to delt didnt work so well. Reading up, most of them dont. Other muscles help me lift it about shoulder high out front. You learn to deal. No matter what, it'll never be truly strong, their goal is to just give you use of it.

My foream to bicep worked fairly well though. I can lift a olympic curl bar with 10 pound weights ( with both of course). Thats probably 40 lbs, 20 per arm.