United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

We live in Oakville, Ontario. All the information I've seen is USA. We have so many questions.. and don't know where to start.

The doctors said that David's arm will get better in 2-3 months. There is no movement except for fingers. He has never moved his right arm. It's two days later and from what I've read we should splint the arm to keep it in a certain position?

Anyone know contact information for The toronto area in Ontario Canada that we can get someone to look at our son. From reading the information... we understand that we should move quickly and pro-actively.

Some questions we have are:

1) What do we do? (that's a bid one ..)
2) should we be moving his arm? (2 days old)
3) Does it hurt him to move the arm?
4) What doctor contact in Toronto GTA can we go to?
5) Should we be doing something now for David?

Please, anyone have any information, it would be greatly appreciated.

Randy and Shari

Hi, so sorry to hear about your son. My son is 2 months old with Erbs Palsy. He also only could move his fingers. I hope my experiences may help you a little, but you are absolutely right, time is of the essence- you have to work quickly and pro-actively.

1) What do we do? (that's a bid one ..)
First thing, see a Neurologist who specializes in Brachial Plexus Injuries.

2) should we be moving his arm? (2 days old)
My son started Physical Therapy when he was 1 day old. I do believe that doing the PT so early on was extremely beneficial. His doctors are thrilled with how well his joints and muscles are.

3) Does it hurt him to move the arm?
It seemed like my son's shoulder was extremely painful. He screamed bloody murder when we moved it. The neurologist said that was normal, and should subside in about 2 weeks (which it did). In the meantime, we did Range of Motion on the rest of the arm, and started the shoulder when he was pain-free.

4) What doctor contact in Toronto GTA can we go to?

5) Should we be doing something now for David?
It is hard when they are so young, and you feel so helpless. All I can say, is seek out as physical therapy you can. Start the therapy now (so crucial to keep the joints & muscles loose and limber, cause when then get stiff it's a whole lot worse),you can figure out the rest as you go.

I really hope the best for you. Good luck.
Megan

congratulations on the birth of your baby. This is a wonderful (and yet fearful) time for you and your family. I agree with the previous poster....just wanted to take a minute to answer your splinting question....depending on the movement of the fingers...ie...can baby grip and straighten the fingers or just grip? If it is just grip then a special splint is needed for the hand to keep the fingers straight as the nerves heal, so that the fingers do not permanatley curl up, if the fingers can flex (straighten out) then a wrist slpint may be needed to help keep the wrist nuetral (straight) so there is no curving down of the wrist. There are a lot of possibilities for splinting and only a Physical or Occupation pediatric therapist that is trained in OBPI (obstetric brachial plexus injury) should be splinting. The nerves heal at about 1mm a day (per our neurologist) which is why your doc says the bb should be ok in about 2 or 3 months. BUT!!! all injuries are different and the severity is different, although hand movement is a good sign. Definately find a specialist very soon, and get PT and OT now.
I live in Southern USA and have very high regards for Dr Nath in Texas (my opinion) The only doc I know personally in Canada is Dr. Pape. She is truley wonderful. She works with Dr Nath (somewhat) as non surgery alternatives. Dr. Nath has a wonderful website with a wealth of info www.drnathbrachialplexus.com and Dr. Pape's website is www.tascnetwork.net
Again, congrats on the birth of your little one. I hope I have helped you some,,,and I am glad you found UBPN as soon as you did. It took us almost 3 years to find this site. The people here have truly been a Godsend to me and my family.
Ask questions, lots of quesetions.....we will try to answer as best we can.
another good website is www.injurednewborn.com

You may also try looking at the Medical Directory on this web site under the "Resources" link; there are doctors listed under Canada.
Good luck to David and your family; keep us informed of his progress.

Peggy

Hi and welcome. I am saddend to hear your son was injured and I wish him a speedy recovery. Toronto Hospital for Sick Kids has a Brachial Plexus Clinic and Dr. Clarke is the specialist at that clinic. If your own Doctor will not refer you to Dr. Clarke then I recommend just showing up in the Emergency Ward. Good Luck to you and once again I wish you all the best .

Lenni

We just want to thank everyone here for your emails of support and information. We are some what more at ease now that we have people like you giving us information that we needed right from the start, and with that came a less "stressed" condition for us.

Thank-you all again!

One thing that we noticed last night was that he seem to have twiched his arm and "sort of moved it". Today he has done a little more (very little) but we are sure we didn't imagine it last night. So we believe that this is a good sign that perhaps he might heal on his own.

We can't say thank-you enough!

Randy and Shari

I recently found out that "miracles" have been performed on children with these kinds of injuries simply by getting a chiropractic adjustment. I'm currently planning on beginning chiropractic college in the summer and have read many articles about this topic. I only wish I had known this when my daughter had a Brachial Plexus injury 7 years ago. Her arm will probably never be normal now. Please let me know if you try this and it works.

Jen at jenetic4@hotmail.com