United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Just found this forum - great to hear from folks in the same boat. I was hit by a "rogue" wave (I think I may be the first with this cause in the tally) while on vacation in Mexico 6 weeks ago. Still in a neck brace with right arm BPI.

Can anyone tell me about their experience with swelling in fingers and thumb? Is that from the nerve damage or lack of use?

I have seen this "Roll call" many times. What is the purpose behind it?

The purpose is to intoduce yourself. They keep a tally of BPI causes from the posts here. Also a count of what part of the world they are in.

Doc,
Dustin had swelling in the hand early on too. They said it was from lack of use. They say that when u use the hand it works like a pump to return the blood flow toward the heart. When the hand isn't moving the pump isn't pumping and the blood is slow moving thus causing swelling. Raising it when possible should help if ur unable to move your hand.
Sue

bumping up....Newbies, this is a list of all the tbpi who have replied to this thread and I've counted their nationality and the cause of the injury in each case. It's waaaaaay past time for another number crunch, I'll do it soon.....
.....If you are not yet included in the figures, please add yourself, where in the orld you are and the cause of injury. The last count up is a few pages back. It makes for interesting reading.
Jen NZ

Janelle L. Zuk. North Hampton, NH, 01/02/07 Auto accident caused by hitting black ice, spun car, hit a tree and rolled over. I was on my way to work after 2 1/2 weeks vacation. What a way to start a New Year!

Janelle

I'm Sue. My daughter, Melanie was coming home from work on a motorcycle driven by a coworker when they hit a pole. This happened November 13, 2005. She has rtbpi.

Hi Poly,
Where in NH are you located? Who are the doctors you are using and from where?

Janelle

Here’s a very overdue number crunch. The longer the list has got, the harder it is to check my accuracy, but I think it’s safe to say there are a lot of tbpi out there. Don’t know what the figures are in the States, but in the UK tbpi is by far the commonest form of bpi, and motorcycle accidents are the commonest cause of tbpi. Needless to say to those affected-9 times out of ten it’s the other driver’s fault. Don’t start me

A couple of new causes and countries too-rogue wave, radiation, hit by train. What an inventive lot we are when I comes to injuring ourselves. The new countries are India and Mexico. As more people in the developing world get access to the internet I think we’ll get a lot more from those counties, I had read that tbpi numbers in many Asian countries where lots of people use motorcycles and bicycles are completely horrendous.


Total tbpi now in this thread 255
Of those who specified there were 163 males, 79 females. This trend has remained the same since I started crunching these numbers, males are much more likely to be affected by tbpi than females due to the violent nature of the injury.

Causes where specified break down as follows:

Motorcycle 101
Car/truck accident 30
Physician caused 26
Pedestrian hit by vehicle 10
Quad bike/ATV 9
Bicycle 7
Fall 8
Snowmobile 6
Hit by falling object/s (wall,sign,xray equipment,door) 4
Tree falling 4
Airbag 3
Virus 3
Powerboat 2
Gunshot 2
Horseriding 2
Overuse 2
Skiing/Ski lift 2
Rugby League 1
Snowboarding 1
Tumur 1
Throwing softball 1
Knocked over by dog 1
Posthole digger 1
Climbing 1
Waterski 1
Jetski 1
Playground accident 1
Football 1
Watching movie 1
Combine 1
Train 1
Work injury 1
Radiation 1
Rogue wave 1

Countries of poster where specified:

USA 160
England 25
Scotland 7
Ireland 1
Isle of Man 1
Canada 7
Australia 8
New Zealand 3
South Africa 3
Jordan 1
Italy 2
Portugal 1
Singapore 1
Israel 1
Togo 1
India 1
Mexico 1

Wow that’s a lot of people. Welcome to all those who posted since last crunch, hello to those who still lurk here, and if you aren’t included here add yourself!
Take care all
Jen NZ

...these figures don't include the last 2 postings, I'll get em in next time, sorry guys!

My son Drake, who is six, has a RTBPI due to the West nile virus. I really thought he was the only one that this happened to from a virus but i see that there are at least three others! Still not many but better than the only one! I would love to hear from the other viral induced BPI.

Teresa