United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Andrea,

Does Jack have full overhead since the surgery? I've heard that often overhead is lost, at least temporarily. This is the big fear for us,

Thanks!

Guest,

Jack never lost his overhead reach after the tt surgery.

Andrea

Hi,

My daughter had the TT surgery back in May 2005. She did not lose overhead either. Of course after the splint came off, she did "temporarily" lose the movement because she was splinted for so many weeks in the same position and her shoulder was sore. After OT etc.. her overhead came right back and is now where it was at before.

Jody - mom to Alyssa

Hi, my son Ryan 5yr RBPI had the TT in May and then the forearm osteotomy on Dec 1st. He has been out of his cast for 3 wks now. He went into this surgery with winged scapula, a dislocated humorous, internal rotation but had good suplination. The outcomes from the last two surgeries have been outstanding, we all know about the gains of external rotation, and the leveling of the shoulders. But he has gained much more, for some reason he has better finger dexterity, he can now play computer games better (keyboard issues). But most of all, he has gained in his over the head movement, for example, (when he reaches both arms strait up in the air, they are completely equal). The weird thing is, I actually believe having the forearm osteotomy after the TT has helped the straight of his shoulder because he had to use his arm with weight of the cast. We are very happy with all the surgeries to date, they have all served a purpose and without them his arm would be very limited. Well, I think I said enough. Wayne

Does anyone have pictures of the cast/splint for the forearm osteotomy? I'm curious about what it looks like.

My Daughter had humeral osteotomy after TT surgery. She is still casted for another week. She had very limited external rotation, supination was internal but she could get to neutral actively, and could not get arms behind her head. She held her arm in the BPI posturing position after all 5 of her surgeries. Questions?? Email me.

Sally,
I will e-mail you a picture of the cast.
Andrea

The cast was just like a broken arm cast from elbow to fingers with fingers and thumb open. My son did use a sling with his cast to protect his shoulder from the heaviness of the cast. He has done well and did not loose any function once the stiffness was worked out (couple weeks).

Glad so many got overhead back. It is my understanding that sometimes it leaves shortly but comes back. I believe that on nath's site he states that some internal rotation may be lost(he uses the pledge of allegiance sign as an example). I too, though was thinking that for my child that internal rotation may actually be improved to a degree. Did any of you consider alternatives such as an upper arm tendon transfer or a humeral osteotomy? Also, did anyone have a shoulder that was okay, but just an abundance of internal rotation. I am trying to figure if this procedure is only for thos with a deformed or dislocated shoulder combined with internal rotation.