United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi there! I am writing this message on behalf of my son who suffers with BPI. He is 20 years old, and has recently been concerned with the appearence of his injured arm. He feels it is becomming smaller than his unaffected arm. He has had the mod quad surgery when he was 15 years old at TCH, but the results were really not what we were expecting. Does anyone else have the same problem and if so, have you done anything that has helped. We are appreciative of any information you can give us. Thanks Anna S.

Hi, I am now 30. I kept very physically active... swimming, working out at the gym, competitve figure skating and ballet. All this kept my muscles strong and minimized the "wasting" away appearance. It is a little smaller than my "good" arm, but not really noticeable. (not in that aspect in any case).
Does he like to play sports? Maybe do free weights or work out in the gym?
Good luck!
Marieke (LOBPI)

I am 19 and right now I find it very difficult to work out in the gym because all of the macines require the use of both arms and hands, I am not quite there yet, so I end up mainly working my left arm in a couple of the machines.

Up until this year I have played softball and I think that has really helped to keep my arms similar in size. And I hope to be able to find a summer team to play on when I return home from college. I also hope to spend a lot of free time swimming, that helps too even though I do not swim properly.

I hope that your sons image of his arm does not affect him, as many people do not even notice.
Maybe if it really does keep bugging him he could use e-stim. That has helped me not only in use but because of the gained use I am gaining muscle mass(so far only in my lower arm). Or is he in PT/OT that is really helping me this year too. I have an hour a week of ROM and strengthening, and I am starting to see the differences in my strength/endurance.

I hope any of that helps.
Good luck to solving your sons appearance issues,
Amy 19 ROBPI from MN

As others have said keeping active is important to maintaining stength and muscle tone. However, the affected arm will be smaller. I know mine is shorter and has reduced muscle mass compared ot the unaffected arm.

John P.
ROBPI

I agree, keeping active and even lifting free weights has been great for my arm. I really notice a difference if I go without for a couple months. One of my favorite exercises was to lay on my back and hold a weight with both hands over my head. Gravity works well, and I felt I got much better movement this way. Another idea is to do water aerobics. I know guys aren't as much into that sort of thing, but you can get great movements in the water that you normally wouldn't be able to do.

I never had surgery, and I hope I'll be able to manage a while without any. So I try to keep active, no matter what.
Just some thoughts.

-Traci