constraint therapy

[admin]

Has anyone used constraint therapy with their bpi kids? If so how did it work and how did your child tolerate it? It is where they restrain the unaffected arm in hopes that the child will use the affected arm more and better.

[Shannon03]

There are some parents who have opted for this method of therapy. Scroll through some of the older posts and look for Botox vs Cast (I think). There a parent discusses casting the uninjured arm.
Hope that helps,
Shannon

[HAILEYS MOM]

We use a benik brace but put her unnafected arm inside so she will use her bpi arm more. It works really well and Hailey doesn't mind. We only do it about 3 hours a week at 30 minute to 1 hour intervals to not frustrate her to much. E-mail me if you want to talk more about it.

Kelly

[Cara]

We did this with Rosalynn when she was younger. We would tie a baby blanket arond her so she couldn't used unaffected arm. I think it helped her a lot to realize that her other arm was there and it could move some and do some things. We would do it for 30 min intervals daily.

[admin]

L posted about casting vs botox. We ended up with casting of his good arm to force the weaker one to be in use. It worked and he can now actually feed himself. It only stays on 3 weeks. Better than botox. HE is 15 months.

[Janelle]

I just posted a question like this about an hour ago without seeing the previous topic constraint therapy. My son is 10 mo. and we notice that he does not neglect his (right) affected arm while playing, yet does not use it to its full capacity either. When we hold down his (left) good arm, he does more with the right, so I think this technique would be worth a try. When you started initially, how old was your daughter, and did you do it for less than 30 minutes at a time? I know you said you use a benik brace. What is that exactly? Our therapist will know, but I don't. Thanks for the insight.

[admin]

We used this with Marianne when she was three. We would put her in a long sleve shirt and saftypin it to her pants. It was always done as a game and we would then play one of her favorite games till she tired of it. Once she tired of the game we would quit. She never got mad or upset because it was a game and was never over used!

Marianne did not see a PT till she was 2 1/2. Her doctor kept telling her parents that she was fine and her grandmother (me) was a busy body who didn't know what she was talking about.

[Kristie]

We use constraint therapy with our 3 yr old son. We have been doing it for a long time but we started actually casting the unaffected arm about 1 yr ago. We have found it to be a very benificial form of therapy for him. Please feel free to e-mail me regarding any questions I can help answer for you!
Blessings,
Kristie

[PaulineJosh]

We just hold the unaffected arm so he has to use his right to reach for things etc.
Be very careful that if you do restrain the unaffected arm, if your child falls during play etc, he or she may well NOT be able to protect their heads or faces from impact. Worth bearing this in mind