United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

TCH said my 3yr old daughter will proably need the bicep lengthening surgery but my question is what is our time frame? Does it have better results when done right away or is it something we can wait on and do when she's older. She had the Mod Quad Jan 01 and I don't know if we can go through that again.
Thanks for any input

I was interested in your post because we were told a the time my son had Mod Quad surgery (april 01) that he would probably need the bicep lengthening procedure as well. I remember Dr. Nath idicating that we would do it some time in the following year (which is now!). So I have sent a tape to TCH for evaluation. I would also be interested in the reasons Dr. Nath gave you for needing the procedure. Thanks for any updates and I'll respond back to you when I get more info from TCH.
Regards,
Cathy

Our daughter, Natalie, had the bicep lengthening done in October, '01, at TCH--she was 3 years 9 months. There was never any rush by Dr. Nath; it was just the next course of action. For us there was no comparison between the mod quad and the bicep lengthening. The MQ was a major procedure with a two night stay and a big bulky splint. The BL was done as an outpatient (we went back to the hospital the next day for splinting) and the splint was small and lightweight. I know the thought of another surgery--any surgery--is overwhelming--we've done three in the past 13 months, but we have to remember that timing is key for our kids. In most cases, the earlier a particular condition or complication is corrected, the greater the return.

I did ask Dr. Nath about the biceps lengthening surgeries versus splints and why they were turning to surgeries and he said that they weren't getting long term results from the dynamic splints alone....

Leslie mckibben (PT) told me that a contracted elbow can be kinesiotaped but I can't imagine how that would be any better than a dynamic splint...but who knows, it may be possible.. I would ask a kinesiotaping expert - I have a link to their organization on my splint page
http://www.injurednewborn.com/maia/splints.html

-francine

at the time she had the mod quad done there was no talk about another surgery, when we went back for her 6 wk post op they still said nothing it wasn't untill I sent in a tape several months later that they mentioned it but they said to try thr dynasplint first. It took several months for our therapist to get the splint and now when she wears it at night she will wake up screaming every few hours. (Actually she doesnt really wake up) And she doesnt do it with the splint off. So she hasnt had any results with the splint and I've been putting off sending in a new tape because of this. Sorry this was kind of long