United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

I have a 7-week old daughter with Erb's Palsy in her right arm. Her cervical spine x-rays showed a subluxation, which I understand to be misalignment between her C4 and C5 vertebraes. Based on what movement she has, her neurosurgeon believes that her injured nerves are in the C5 and C6 area.

My chiropractor believes that he can help relieve some of the pressure on her damaged nerves by adjusting her. He uses the "Activator" method, which involves using an instrument that allows him to adjust the exact area, instead of using his hands to do the manipulation.

I know that 'conventional' medicine often dismisses chiropractic care, but I want to do everything I can to help my child.

Does anyone have any thoughts or experiences with chiropractic care for children with BPIs? I'd appreciate any information and input.

Thank you,
Sarah

Sarah,
I don't know that much about chiropractic care yet, we're going to start bringing Matthew soon. We do bring him to acupuncture and have had wonderful and unexplainable results.
I know someone who has a child with bpi that goes to a chiropractor and will ask her to give you some info.
Cindy

Hi Sarah,

Congratulations on your new baby girl!

Have you been part of the board for very long? The reason I ask is because my husband, a chiropractor, used to post quite often as "Natty's Daddy". You can probably guess that we are huge advocates of chiropractic in the care of BPI's. Our daughter, ROBPI, is now four years old and has been treated with chiropractic for most of her life and acupuncture for about 6 months.

First things first--Did the adjustments cause Natalie's avulsion and rupture to regenerate? NO. She's had four surgeries--nerve grafting at 6 months, mod quad at 22 months, capsuledesis at 3 years and bicep lengthening at 3 1/2 years, and is scheduled for the pronator teres transfer and infraspinatus release on Monday, 2/11.

Here are a few of the issues we have dealt with directly with chiropractic. When Natty began to walk she had major balance issues. She led with her non-injured side and usually drug her right leg. Her daddy began adjusting her lower back and hips and within a few weeks we saw very definite improvement. She has had pain issues off and on since day 1 and adjustments give her relief. Her therapy is easier on her and us after adjustments and acupuncture. She also rests better at night after acupuncture.

The whole principle of chiropractic is to enable the body to heal itself. With proper alignment, blood supply and nerve conduction are allowed to flow uninterupted--serving the injured areas of the body with the properties necessary for healing. Whether it's recovering from the initial injury or rehabilitating after surgery, these properties are vital for timely complete healing.

Can chiropractic hurt a BPI? Yes--if it's done incorrectly, but that's the case with any type of treatment or therapy, isn't it? Dramatic rotational movements are an absolute NO NO. This is were it's vital to find a chiropractor who is willing to learn all he/she can about BPI and get to know your child as an individual. If you already have a family chiropractor with whom you have a good repoir, you're a step ahead of the game. Provide him with all the information you can about BPI's in general and then share everything you've learned about your child's particular injury.

I hope this offers some insight. There are other parents on this board whose children have had very positive experiences with chiropractic (Mary, are you there?) and I'm sure they'll share more with you. Best to you and your new daughter.

Thanks to Stacy and Cindy for their input. I accessed the message boards last night for the first time, so I'm just getting started. What a great resource! I suspect I'll be spending a lot of time here.

Emma had her first adjustment yesterday with my chiropractor. We're going to try 2 adjustments a week for a few weeks and see what we think. I have confidence in the chiropractor, but am afraid because Emma is so small. It's different when he adjusts me...

To his credit, he has helped us right from Emma's birth. In fact, her ped and neurosurgeon both felt that her cervical spine x-ray was normal even though it clearly showed a problem between C4 and C5. They both refused to order a second x-ray to see if the problem was caused by positioning or if there really was a misalignment in her neck. It was the chiropractor who finally ordered the test and reviewed the results with me. He has been a good friend to us and is genuinely interested in helping our daughter.

I'm hopeful that the treatments will help Emma. We're already doing ROM exercises every day and going to OT/PT twice a week. I'm also learning infant massage. I guess you could say that we're trying everything that we think might help. I know that we have such a narrow window before we have to face the option of surgery.

Thanks again

Hi SArah and welcome to the boards!

I'm a bodywork therapist (shiatsu, fascia release, cranio sacral therapy, etc.) so we did a lot of alternatives with Maia including chiropractic - acupuncture - energy work and more. And it all has its place as it works together with allopathic medicine (western medicine as we know it).

One of the chiropractors that saw Maia taught us how to help Maia's issues and torticollis with light therapy and music. It was very interesting work.

And the only thing that clears up Maia's ear issues is chiropractic. Maia was basically on route to ENT surgery and a chiropractors adjustment cleared up the problem with her ears in just about a split second and she's only needed that adjustment a few times since.

So I do agree that chiropractic (if you find a good one and trustworthy one like any other medical professional) can play a big role in helping our children. But I'm happy that Stacy wrote what she did - which is that fact that chiropractic is an adjunct but not the complete picture for a child who has a severe injury. Maia has had 3 surgeries to date and chiropractic has not been able to make a shift large enough to be able to avoid any of the surgeries...unfortunately.... wish it did.

I myself am back under a chiropractor's care now for a neck/arm issue that came about from all the stress of Maia's surgery and in just two days I can feel the difference! I'm doing E-stim too and can really feel the pain relief from that as well.

Homeopathy has also been able to help maia in some big ways....although that, too, has not been able to shift Maia out of this post surgical non-sleep tizzy she is currently in.... hopefully something will work soon.

anyway - have you seen the awareness section yet?
http://ubpn.org/awareness

it's packed with a lot of good stuff.

take care,
francine

Hi Francine - thanks for the response. It's helpful to find other people who are dealing with the same issues. I feel like I've spent the past 2 months running around like crazy. I've been learning and doing everything I can to help Emma, plus I also have an 18-month old son who keeps me busy. It's going to be interesting when I go back to work on Monday!

When we first came home from the hospital, I poked around on this site a bit, but didn't explore it in detail. I'm so glad to have found the message boards. What a great source of information and support!!

Take care,
Sarah

heyyyy, my fav subject- I TOTALLY recommend chiropractic for the BPI and I believe the sooner the better- My son started at about...4-5 months old- I WISH we had started sooner- he still gets adjusted, less often ofcourse, we also use the activator method-
I know others with BPinjured babies who believe it is responsible for the reduction of secondary symptoms andf effects and also for enhancing actual growth(nerve,muscular)`

ps
CONGRADULATIONS on your sweet new baby girl!!!!

I'm so glad to hear from someone else who has tried the Activator technique! My chiropractor tells me it's much more accurate. I'm really hoping it will help her. Emma had her 2nd adjustment today, and slept through it