United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi,

Our daughter has bpi and is 17 days old. She has c-5, c-6 damage, but can move her hand and wrist. She was pulled from the womb rather forcefully and a nurse pushed on my wife's stomach. I hear there is a strong chance of recovery, but cannot find too many folks with a good recovery in cases where the baby was tugged on./ Does anyone have any of these positive recoveries to share.

Thanks steve

Steve Thanks for posting but unfortunatly my son was a similiar case like yours. Same thing happened to my son and he did move his hand but the best thing to do is wait the first year. They heal in that time or they'll need surgery. You should contact a Ped. Nurologist or Dr. Nath in Texas. My son could of been fine without surgery but not have full use of his arm but since we got him the surgery he is 100 times better

Steve,
It really depends on the type of injury and how injured she is. I am an adult with obpi and they told me had I had surgery when I was younger the chances of a full recovery may have been better. I'm sorry to hear of your daughters injury. It will be a long tough road for you and your family. Just know that you are not alone in this and take the necessary steps to help her out throughout this long process.
Best of luck to you and your family.

Steve,
My daughter Melanie was not pulled out forcefully, however she did suffer a bpi injury due to other reasons. She could move her wrist and fingers at birth and recovered 99.9% by nine weeks. We saw a pediatric neurologist who specializes in bpi when she was a week old. He instructed us to do range of motioin exercises at every diaper change. At about 4 weeks we saw her start shrugging her shoulder and it took off from there.

You can check out the medical resources page to find information on many great bpi specialists, possibly one is in your area.

Cindy

Although I believe the statistics for recovery (most papers indicate 90%) are very inaccurate, I do believe they are more in the 50% range. A leading BPI specialist has published a paper on the natural history of BPI and according to his research where 142 BPI births were tracked and recorded, 50% of those had recovered by 6 weeks and made a complete recovery.

It's really important for your baby to be followed by a BPI specialist. The timing of return of biceps is the single biggest factor in predicting recovery.

My daughter is a year old and her recovery is excellent. SHe has about 95% full function and you can't tell she has an injury. She had biceps return right at 3 months and hasn't had any surgeries. Keep a postiive attitude. In the early days, I was extremely depressed and worried. Now I know that surgeries exist to help children with more severe injuries and all of these kids lead normal lives and can do whatever they want to do.

I'm sorry to welcome you here, but it's great that you are finding support early on.

Michelle

Hi Steve

My daughter will be 3 this Sunday. Our situation sounds similar to what you described. She was injured on her left side and at birth she had finer, hand and wrist movement present. She had a return in biceps by 3 months old. By the time she was one year old she had wonderful recovery. When she was about 2 years old we decided on secondary surgery to help correct her problems with external roation, shoulder subluxation and to improve her ROM. The surgery was a huge success and today she is doing better than I ever imagined. People cannot tell that she has an injury. She can do most things that she wasnt to do.
My advice to you at this time is to keep faith that she will recover and that she will not need surgery. Make sure you find a BPI specialist if you haven't already. Keep up with ROMs many times a day. At this young age ROMing her arm is crucial for a good recovery. Where are you from? You can view the medical resource directory on this site if you need to find a specialist near you. We see Dr Waters in Boston. We have been going to him since Ella was 2 months old and we go back next week for a check up. She will have an MRI this Winter to see how she is doing Post Op 1 year. Good luck and email me anytime if you have any questions. Ldybug4134@aol.com
Krista

My son gained a lot of natural recovery but should have been followed by someone more knowledgeable to prevent secondary problems with joint formation due to muscles that had recovered function but the strengths were imbalanced causing deformed shoulder joint - so my advice is that even if your child gains alot of function continue over the years to have regular checkups with one of the top specialists to make sure deveopement of the bones and joints and muscles balances are good. If you miss certain opportune times your options to fix problems may become limited .Although my son had good function compared to many over time the shoulder deformed.There is lots of helpful things that can be done if recovery is not 100% but remember if there are weaknesses even though their is reinervation and function you may still need to keep a good eye on things .

Hello,
My son is now 6 years of age. He has LBP, ruptures of c-5, c-6, c7. When he was born he had fingers, hand, and wrist motion. He bent his arm for the first time around 5 months of age. He was in PT since birth. At 6 months of age he had good function but it was a struggle. At the time, we were shocked that he would need surgery, but at 9 months of age he had Primary. Today his function is very good. He can play base ball, swim, even catch a football. He has had other surgeries due to muscle imbalances. Surgery at such a young age is very difficult. Six years later, I am grateful we had it. A recent MRI and strength test showed that his bicept muscles are equal on both sides. Yes there is much hope for recovery and sometimes they may need alittle surgical assistance for better recovery. It is very important that you seek out a BPI specialist, do your research, and follow your gut. When he was born, we were told that he had "stretch" injury and would recover by three months. At three months and no movement we were told it could take a year. My gut was saying there was more to this. Between 3-6 months we found a BPI specialist. During primary they found out that he did have ruptures and not a stretch injury. Good luck to you and remember these kids are amazing.

My daughter followed the same recovery time frame others have told you. She first rolled over at 9 months and began crawling at 11 months and at 13 months shows signs of being ready to walk but her muscle tone is low so it may take awhile. I agree to see a bpi specialist as well as physical therapy. our daughter has been in pt since 3 weeks and started occupational therapy at 11 months. I attribute this to alot of her success.(as well as prayer) The first time you see your child reach their arms above their head is so priceless. It seems so hard sometimes to deal, but I remind myself "we have our beautiful baby and she has her full use of her brain" it could be so much worse. Hang in there- email if you need to talk.