Hand curling

[browning93]

Michaela is one week post Mod Quad. We were told to keep her palm up, but her arm turns sideways and her hand curls in the splint. There is alot of space in the lower arm portion. I put her usual wrist splint on yesterday and then her arm in the SOL splint and that kept it palm up and her hand didn't curl, but I'm afraid it's too much and there might be pressure points. Anybody have any suggestions? We saw the pediatrician today to check out the incision and so far , no infection, Thank God!Put her on 5 more days of Ceftin though for fluid in her ear. Thanks for the prayers! LeeAnne

[francine]

I'm going to make the assumption that the arm fit correctly in the splint when you left TCH... so going on that assumption it sounds perhaps like you are not correctly fitting the splint in the armpit?

try this... when you are putting the splint on, fit the armpit tightly first... then put the neck straps on...then the arm. Armpit first always worked for us.

Let me know if that helps?

I have pictures of this on Maia's sol splint page... http://www.injurednewborn.com/maia/solsplint.html

-francine

(disclaimer: of course - this is the way 'we' did it - doesn't mean that it's the right way for everyone or that this will work for you)

[browning93]

We're fitting the armpit first to make sure there aren't any gaps. I'm putting her palm up with the thumb in the little opening cut in the foam but the rest of her arm turns after that. We're putting her in it right but she's turning the arm herself after it's on. Her wrist always drooped anyway so when she turns it the fingers are curling. I hope this explains it better. While I'm glad she can move it on her own, nows the time I don't want her to.

[blakesmom]

we've been having trouble with Blakes caps splint since we were at TCH and I know exactly where you are coming from. Blake is 90degrees and palm up and he also keeps turning his hand. Cheryl at TCH heated the splint at the wrist area and made that part a little smaller(less room to move), it is a little bit better, but we are trying to get in to his local OT to see if we can make any other modifications. Now it seems like the wrist part is small enough, but the hand area is too small. Maybe you can have your splint modified at the wrist area?

[claudia]

we had the same problem with Juliana's splint during her mq time. She was tremendously internally rotated before the mq and continued to "internally rotate" while in the splint. No matter how much we tried, she ended up turning her hand. Especially as the weeks wore on and her arm got thinner and thinner. Amazingly enough, a few months after mq, her arm started to turn out and now hangs at a fairly normal position. She is still internally rotated, but not to the extent she was.
hope it helps-claudia

[browning93]

Thanks for the suggestions! We have an appt. Tuesday witha local OT to raise the splint anyway so maybe while she's heating it for the shoulder she can do something for the wrist to make it more form fitting.We've already seen new movement in her lower arm and fingers, a benefit I didn't expect from the Quad.Believe me when I saw that muscle in her forearm flex we were tickled pink! LeeAnne

[admin]

Hi there,

When Taylor had the MQ surgery they actually fitted her wrist splint into the SOL splint to help keep her palm up. So I would check to see if the wrist splint you have is hitting any points and if not I would ask TCH if this is ok. It really helped Taylor a lot.

[TNT1999]

Nicole's arm was very internally rotated before the Mod Quad (sounds like the same problem?) and her arm always turned in the splint too. When she had the Capsulodesis surgery, her arm turned again, not as much, but it still turned. I talked to the OT at TCH about it and she said that they usually recommend to just let the arm turn like it naturally wants to and not to force it. I hadn't tried using another splint inside that one. It sounds like it could be a good idea if the splint is adjusted to accomodate the other one inside it. Of course, I would run that by the OT and surgeon at TCH before modifying anything. JMO.
-Tina