United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

My child (7months old) uses her injured arm but when you give a toy she immediately hands it over to her unaffected arm.

Does anybody have experience to temporally tie up or use a glove in order to stimulate the injured arm?

Personally I don't like this idea, but if it will help my child it may be something to consider.

John Rafter

I always made the other arm immobilized. My son is now seven but when he was born I joked with my husband about the cookie cost being cut in half because I wouldn't have to give him a cookie in each hand, but then I realized it was great to do that....sooooo he got a cookie in each hand...the cookie cost skyrocketed because I had to give him a new cookie everytime he dropped one. LOL. I used to tie up my son's arm....but noe for long periods of time. I did it only as needed, like after his surgeries when he didn't want to use it at all. It is an individual decision....you just have to make. Gayle

I have noticed huge increases in dexterity and use of our son's left arm during the two times he's been in the hospital with an IV/splint taking away his uninjured hand. I definitely should be splinting his uninjured hand on occasion to prompt him to use his injured side more.

Kate

We've done this a little bit informally with our son, (He's now 6). But he has pretty good function of his arm. I have a friend who goes to the same therapist as we do and they casted her little girls unaffected arm (She was about 5 at the time). They cut the cast so it could be removed and then put back on, but they left the cast on most of the time for about 2 weeks and noticed a lot of improvement over that time.

Good luck with your little one.

Connie

sorry i hate the idea! and i dont think it is a good idea at all

John,

My child as an infant with only 20% function in her arm and early recovering stages as a toddler did exactly the same thing: Passing to the non-injured arm. But in my experience, my child made subtle suggestion, at about 18 months, that that process was not very convenient. And then became very determined with great frustration to use that non-compliant arm.

And her determination was very productive... because after many months myself and her doctors learned with more certainty as to her most enduring physical limitations, we focused on those then and continued-learned to find the best path for her PT/OT therapies, and prehaps surgical options.

In my opinion restraints at this tender age are not good because they interfere primarily with the child's natural instinct toward the parent. With your BPI injured child, language and presentation -- NOT ELIMINATION -- of possibilities is key. In my house the kind and soft-spoken mantra was "Let's use both hands" for several years, and in that encouragement I placed my child as young as three months in challenging situations -- swimming -- with extensive verbal and physically comforting support. The first thing that a child learns is the parents' voice: its tone and its encouragement. A restraint would be so very unfamiliar to the child.

Sincerely,

Mother to a child that was affected by BPI at birth
Anonymous until we know each other better

We also just started the restrictive therapy with Zoe. I wasn't too thrilled about it at first either, but when her therapist explained the success rate, we decided to try it. We just wrap her unaffected arm to her body with an ace bandage (she looks similar to when she did after surgery) and we do different activities with her such as bubbles, activity table, let her play in buckets of uncooked beans or rice, or just regular play. She doesn't mind it at all...if it doesn't bother her, it doesn't bother me. I think anything that will help her in the long run is definately worth a try. We only began this about 3 weeks ago, and we can already see a difference of how much more she is using her affected arm...it works great!!!

We used constraint therapy with my son. It is also known as restraint therapy. But I like to call it Encouragement therapy.

When he was a baby we would hold one arm down gently and have him let his affected arm have a turn. As he got older we would put his arm inside his shirt so he couldn't use it. After a while he figured out how to get his arm out.

Eventually a therapist concinved us to try casting. He has just turned two when we first did it. We casted his unaffected are 24/7 for three weeks. The cast was extend the entire length of his arm (should to over the finger tips). We did this several times over the next two years. It was a good thing for us.

Blessings,
Kristie

I meant to add that the casting is like when people use eye patches on kids. They patch the "stronger" eye to force the weaker eye to work harder so it can get stronger.

And we like to call it Encouragement Therapy because that is what it was about... encouraging our son to use his affected arm. We, of course, have always verbally encouraged him but felt it was in his best intrest to use this type of therapy as well.

I am also very glad to see the positive responses to this idea. When we first did it we were "flamed" by others telling us that we were cruel to do such a thing to our child. It was (and in someways still is) a painful moment.

Blessings Again,
Kristie

I would have to think this is a good thing although it sounds bad. It build the muscles at a young age which is much better that starting at 19 which is what I am trying to do. Every Wednesday I have therapy at my college and for half on my hour I am olny allowed to use my right arm. So far I have made brownies and played chinese checkers. And my arm is getting better every week. I just wish I was learning this at a much younger age. It is much easier to use the affected arm before you learn to do every thing with the unaffected arm.

It can't hurt your child, I would say give it a shot, you will know if it works

Good luck!
Amy 19 ROBPI from MN