United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi All,
I have a question for the adults who may have had a less severe OBPI (no surgery) as a child. I am the parent of a young child (6 years old) that had a LOBPI. After 5+ years of therapy, the injury is now considered mild to moderate, never had surgery and made a very good but not 100% recovery. There is some shoulder drooping, slight shorthening of the arm and akward when running. I have also recently noticed that when he gets really tired, his arm will show a pronounced bend (tip) that is not usually present.
My question: From your unique perspective, what problems (physically) could he experience as he grows into adulthood?
Your help and insight are greatly appreciated.

Judging from my own experience and from others on this site, I think his biggest future physical problem will be pain. I sincerely wish I had not stopped PT when I was six but had continued throughout childhood and adolecence. I had no pain until about 23 years. I was not educated about my injury and thus I had NO IDEA the strain I was putting on the muscles in my shoulder that were picking up the slack for the weaker ones. Today I am studying to be an OT which studies the upper extremity ad nauseum and now I know where I went wrong and why I have shoulder pain but alas its too late.

I know adults on this site sometimes think its important to try to be as normal as possible, but I wish I hadn't. My right arm is weaker than the left and I think I used it more than its capable of and because it didn't hurt at first I had no clue I was overusing it. I'm not saying your son should not use his arm because it is important to use it but to be aware of his limits if he can.
Becky

I'm 32 and have several secondary issues due to my LOBPI. I have CTS in both hands, ulnar nerve damage in my R arm, arthritis in my hips and lower back and pain from over use in my R arm. I quit PT when I was 8 because it was painful and my mother couldn't stand putting me through it any more. I wish now that I would have continued with PT through out my life, even if it was on my own. I also wish I wouldn't have tried to be "so normal". I didn't baby my arm at all so it never strengthened and I had to compensate with my good arm and now my "good" arm is almost as bad as my OBPI arm.

Hi,
I am 31 and have not had many issues with my LOBPI. I used it as noramlly as I could all the time. At 14 I had surgery to get external rotation and that is when they discovered I had mild arthritis starting. I had PT for 5 years following surgery and would get some pain after that or if I did too much (like when I did yoga and stretched way too much). But honestly I have been mostly pain free. My arm gets tired if I carry too much and feels strained, but that doesn't last long. I think what helped was that I was very active, and the working muscles got strong and those that were affected got as strong as possible. (I biked, swam, figure skated, ballet and played in the park, climbing on the monkey bars and such). I wish though that I had done more PT as a child. I stopped romal PT at age 3!
I have a moderate injury that only affects my shoulder. I cannot left my arm higher than 90 degress in front of me or to the side (actively). This is just to give you an idea of where I am coming from.
Marieke

Bumping up for Glen.