United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi everyone, haven't posted for a while. Went back to Doctor last Tuesday for check up. Now 7 months since nerve transplant surgery. He was pleased with how things were going and on examination, noticed flickering in deltoid. He seemed pleased that things were starting to "fire up". I am able to move arm outwards now and when my elbow is touching something I can sense a pressure and am aware that it is in fact touching something, even though I don't have actual skin sensory feeling. He suggested to keep up with the hydrotherapy and suggested doing exercise with both arms. That is moving one arm and trying to move bpi arm exactly the same, eg shrugging shoulders, moving arm outwards and trying to bend elbow etc. My question is does anyone have any suggestions of good range of exercises that I could do. Physio suggested the mirror box..... would like any opinions or suggestions you might have regards Michael.

Hi Michael, I haven't been to the board for awhile. I had the nerve graft/transplant 20 months ago for my deltoid. Only saw real improvements in the last 4 or 5 months so you're doing well! My other arm muscles though are doing really well - stretch injuries and some scar tissue removed at same time as nerve transplant.They have been coming back for over a year now. I can curl 10 pounds. My subscapulkar nerve though was not repairable. So I am really depending on the deltoid to come back for abduction. I started a couple of months ago using a weighted ball and working on a decline bench. You could start with a playground ball or even a balloon. Hold the ball with both hands - if you don't have grip find a way to attach the ball to your hands - tape maybe. While on your back bring arms out in front and go through a wide range of motions - crossing over the body from hip to opposite shoulder, chest/bench press motion, doing small circles, larger circles, from overhead to abs... pretty much every combination you can think of. Holding the ball will force the "bad" arm to do more of the work than say holding a stick would. I've seen tremendous improvement since doing this. I discovered it by accident doing an exercise for my core that had me in a decline position. I started moving my arms and discovered my range of motion was greater in a decline position. The decline position rather lying flat makes a big difference - not sure exactly why, probably has to do with gravity assist. Working with my therapist we have come up with a variety of exercises. I have been able to gradually decrease the decline and increase the weight of the ball. Good luck. Any other questions about the exercises my email is lorrie.broderick@bigfoot.com