United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

hi
My daughter was born 11pds 12ounces, and from that they failed to perform a c-section which should of been done, their was no need for my daughter to end up with a Brachial Plexus injury,she was just to large to deliver, the result of her BPI was 4 avulsions and pretty much a 5th(T1)so c5,c6,c7,c8, were all avulted, she was very bad and yes her shoulder blade protrudes quite noticably, she has had surgery, it took 16hrs to try and correct the damage for which the hospital and its staff caused to her.As far as pain we know she does suffer from her injury, but she is only 1 1/2 yrs old so we will not know much more as far as feeling etc. goes till she is able to talk, we are from Canada and if their are any other families who have suffered, like us, that has a child with BPI caused from birth please feel free to e-mail me @ roxparker2931@yahoo.ca. Good luck to all who suffer from this type of injury.

Just a couple more questions.

Can anyone give their ideas/experiences with intercostal nerve transfers?

What about finger & wrist tendon transfer surgery? Can the fingers extend seperately?

Hi There,
My name is Jenn and my husband was has a C5-6-7, T1 & T2 BP root avulsion injury. He was involved in a car accident Jan 2000 and his left arm from the shoulder down is paralyzed . To date he has had 2 surgeries-the first being June 2000. He had a series of nerve grafts-nerves were taken from his calves-series of tracks that look like railrod tracks and his left ankle. As well they took nerves from his rib cage and tried to reattach to dominant muscle and trap(s). The result was some movement in his bicep and tingling sensation in his thumb and index finger(when touched). His second surgery was in Nov 2002. They did a muscle transfer(Grissilis??) from his inner thigh to his bicep and muscle extension from his traps to his upper arm. The transplant muscle was attached to his pec. The result was a little more movement in his bicep and the muscle is now a bit larger-as well it has provided a slight increase of movement in the tricep (very slight-almost twitching). When Dave flexes his abdominal muscle he is able to flex (slighlty) his bicep. He is scheduled for yet another surgery in August of this year, They are going to perfrom a Lat Extension which should provide him with some shoulder movement. It has been 4 almost 4 1/2 years since Daves injury. At present he does not have any use or feeling from the elbow down and wears a really neat looking sling that his doctor made for him-it wraps around his upper torso and when worn under his clothes you don't even know he is wearing it-the arm and hand are encased in a plastic cast and people often ask him how he "broke" his arm. Everyday technology is changing and new opportunites arise. We are confident that with each surgery Dave will improve-if only slightly. Some people have opted out of surgery and we fully respect their decision. As Dave was only 22 when his accident happened he has his whole life to challenge not only himself but the medical community as well. We stay very optomistic about what the future may bring.
In signing off I was just wondering what others are using in order to support their arm/shoulder?

Jen
I used a wilmer orthosis for shoulder support and to decrease the subluxation. It helped with the pain as well. These days, my shoulder is returning to it's original position thanks to nerve graft surgery at John's Hopkins. Still have lots of pain but also hope for the future as my nerves slowly but steadly regenerate. Almost to my two year anniversary of MC crash that avulsed c7 and damaged c5,6 that were repaired in Nov. 02.
Keep the faith as BPI is SLOW
Red

I have a probable c7 and possible c5c6 avulsion. According to Dr. Teil I'm a candidate for a ulnar/musculocutaneas transfer an a trap to supraspinatus transfer for bicep and shoulder recovery.
Had you heard of this and do you expect bicep recovery and how much? I've heard of the intercostal transfer. Who is your surgeon?

I,ve apparently got the same injury on a mc. Who did you surgery and what method did they use? Had you heard of ulnar to bicep and teap to supraspinatus transfers which have been proposed by Dr. Teil? Where can I get a Wilmer orthosi? Thanks and my prayer is for you.

Randy
try this for the wilmer

http://www.wbmt.tudelft.nl/mms/wilmer/wdo-1.htm

David, where can I get the Wilmer Orthosis?

Thanks,

Susana

Susana (and others) we have details of the Wilmer brace on the UK tbpi website, check this link http://tbpiukgroup.homestead.com/rekha_arm_splint.html about halfway down under the photos there's a link which has all the international distributors.
Hope this helps :0)

This is similar info to the post I was refering to, but still not the exact post, regarding a functional bracing system. Angela