United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Matthew has his appointment at CHOP's bpi clinic today. His doc and ot were extremely pleased with his progress to date. Matthew is using his right arm to play and they measured about 30 degrees of bicep movement when gravity was taken away (that was the avulsed nerve). Since he is making good progress we only have to bring him every three months instead of every two. We were told not to change anything we were doing (along with acupuncture we've added in chiropractic and riekki energy therapy). One suggestion was to purchase an air splint to help with weight bearing - has anyone purchased on in the past if so where did you find it. I know of a couple of places on line to check which I'll probably get to later. )

go mathew
I am curious as to the doctors reaction regarding chiropractic and acupuncture?
I certainly dont believe it harms the child any more than...say cutting and doing surgery could have side effects, but was wondering if you got negative,positive or ambivalent reaction from the doc?
It would be nice to see the docs suggesting chiropractic and acupuncture as part of a well rounded treatment plan.

Doctor is postive of Matthew going, and he did explain why the medical community does not stand/endorse by alternative treatments. Basically docs go off of stats and black and white. IMO you can take a stat and show it to mean anything you want - there's a lot of grey in everything. He said none of it would hurt unless it was done improperly, same as surgery. He has not ever said anything negative of us taking Matthew. We didn't have much time to chat to the doc after today but I did speak to the ot and she is going to recommend alternative treatments to other patients (not just bpi) based on Matthew's evaluation today!! It was so awesome to see people get excited over his recovery to date, hope that it continues.
The one thing I like about the alternative treatments is that Matthew is treated as a whole, not just the arm.

Nice to hear things are going well.

It's so good to know your son is progressing. You must be pleased to know that he has biceps...which means that nerve wasn't avulsed. Let's hope it's only a stretched nerve and it'll heal on its own. What timeline is your doctor using to evaluate recovery? Does he have a "formula" he uses (for example, 100% biceps by 6 months, etc.). It's always good to know how the different bpi specialists evaluate an injury.

Thanks for updating us!

Matthew had primary surgery on October 4th. C5 was ruptured and C6 was avulsed. So we're seeing results of the nerve graft working )
Cindy

I have a pedi wrap (8") that you can have if you want. We used it only half dozen times and it looks perfectly new. (we always put it on over clothes)

8" is the smallest size. You measure from the armpit to the wrist. If it's the right size and you want it, just email me your address.

francine@injurednewborn.com

you can see a picture of pedi wrap on http://www.injurednewborn.com/maia/splints.html

I'll have to measure Matthew tomorrow and see. I think 8" may be too big or I"m in denial about how much he's grown. I think I remember seeing that on your site before I'll have to take another look. I'm also going to check with his ot tomorrow also and see if she has anything. We're trying to encourage him to try and crawl on his own and want to use the splint as a last resort.
Cindy

I didnt know there was a bpi clinic at CHOP! WOW!

We bought a Benik splint for my daughter when she was about 18 months old, for weight bearing purposed. It's a neoprine with a metal stay. Since my daughter has always been a mater at splint removal, we requested it be double velcrod (sandwhiched) and she was unable to take it off. The velco strips are wide, so we have been able to adjust the width, allowing her still to wear it when needed at 4 yrs. old. Here's the Benik info, if you are interested.

Benik Corp.
9465 Provost Rd. NW #204
Silverdale, WA 98383
800/442-8910

Insurance also paid for it.

Good Luck.
Julie Wolfgram