United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Many Doctors like to wait 3 months after the injury and if they don't see improvement they do surgery. I think that exploratory surgery is the only way to be 100% sure sometimes. Sometimes they just have to remove scar tissue.

Hi,
Please tell me more about your injury and excersise regime...desperate to find some help for my fiance' who ahs a similar TBP injury - no use of arm, but full hand function...Can you help

Lee gget your fiance to a BPI specialist ASAP! I have hand and not much else but am seeing Dr. Nath about a muscle transfer...... look on the medical resource directory here from the home page.... godd luck! any quesitons feel free to email me!!

COurt xx

Gianni is probably going to have a muscle transfer in the fall. He will be seeing Dr. Wolfe from the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan. He said he would take the muscle from the lower arm and transplant it to the upper arm to give Gianni elbow flexion. He said that Gianni would be in a cast for 6 weeks, so we feel it is better to do after the hot weather is over.

Best regards,
Maureen aka Gianni's mom

Hi Lee,
I have been doing therapy in swimming pools two to three times per week, (I would go every day if I could). My PT has me doing exercises with the foam 'water barbells'. They are: start with the arm extended infront of you and pull down to your side. I do 30 of these. Then, extend your arm out to the side and pull down x 30. Next, with the upper arm against your body, the bouyancy will raise the barbell causing your elbow to bend. Do 30 pull downs keeping your upper arm against your body. They have a device that looks like two ping pong paddles together. It adjusts to let different amounts of water through for different resistance. We do push-pull exercises from different positions. Then I use the webbed gloves and do bicep curls and "butterfly stroke exercises. I kid my therapist that she will make the normal muscles look stronger which will make my Nemo arm look even goofier. Hope these help. Dr. Nath thinks my condition is actually Parsonage-Turner Syndrome due to the 5 day delay in onset of the pain. The literature says that 75% make a complete recovery in 2 years, so I am claiming that as a positive. They say it is an auto-immune response to a trauma, viral, bacteria, etc. No one knows for sure. It can be contracted through flu vaccines or TB test. Wouldn't that hack you off to come out of a flu shot with this joyous condition. Hope this helps. Mark