United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Just a curious thought. Are we right or left handed by nature or because of our bpi?
I started thinking about this when I read a post that said someone was right bpi and right handed. A lot of people ask me if I think I still would be left handed if I didn't have my bpi. I never know the answer.

What does everyone think?

Hi! Our story sounds just like Louise's - except opposite arms were injured. Brittney is right handed with left arm injury. Both of Britt's Grandpa's are/were left handed and as a baby she always first tried to do everything left sided - and then she'd switch to her right arm and hand. I didn't know that there are tests that you can do to see - I've always wondered if she was meant to be left handed. ALSO - maybe Britt always decided to try first with her left side because of all of the encouragement we gave her to use that arm. (another thought - wouldn't it completely throw off balance even more if your legs are walking like a left handed person and you are now right handed?? - Brittney trips so much) Good question Traci. Christy

Our daughter LOBPI seems to really want to be left handed. She still tries to do aloy w/ the left hand. You hear alot about the olden dayswhen teachers forced kids to be right handed and itcaused learning disabilities. I have offten wondered if it could be the same for OBPI's.

Yikes this has been so hard for Jameson....He is right handed w/right injury. He is almost 13 and still has a hard time writting lefty!!!
One test our therapist did when he was really small...9 mo..(you have to do it when they're pretty young and don't know what you're doing!)She used a tube like paper towel or toilet paper roll and played peek-a-boo for a few minutes...then you hand the roll to the baby and watch which eye they hold it up to...Jameson grabbed the roll with his left hand and put it right up to his right eye...Of course we did this before he had a lot of use of his arm....Now he still leads with his right arm alot. He always opens doors for me with his injured arm.
It can be really frustrating...Some of his teachers have been really understanding and some have had the attitude that he's old enough to not have it bother him....Grrr

i think this is a much bigger issue than people realise. you can't change your dominant hand, however much you may have to use the other one because of the bpi. the reason they stopped forcing lefties to be rightys at school was because it did cause problems with learning. i have a right bpi and i'm right handed, if i fall my brain puts my right arm out to stop me, i have to switch to the left in a millisecond. after 22 yrs of this i rarely fall now unless i mess with the circuitry by drinking or something, then it's splatttttt...you can test dominant side easily by asking your child to stand upright with eyes closed then asking them to let themselves start to fall....they should put the leg from the dominant side out first. nterstingly, a scandinavian country changed from driving on the left to driving on the right following research which they felt showed people generally drive better on the right b/c most people are right handed. maybe true, i know the UK has one of the worst road accident rates in Europe where most countries drive on the right, the stats are horrendous here in NZ too despite the tiny population, we drive on the left. Even after 22 years of using just my left hand i can't type for long or write more than a couple of pages without getting a headache and a sore hand, i was just not 'set up' to be a lefty. it's not a huge issue but i think it's something we should all be aware of. ok my hands aching i'll stop now :0) Tessie, i'm 43 and i have trouble with this, tell his teachers to do more research before getting snotty!!

I am left OBPI but I'm sure I would have been right handed in any case. The right side of my body has always been quite easily the dominant one.

I am very aware about "handedness" and learning diasbilities, however, because of my 22 year old son.
We could never get him to pick a dominant hand...even as he was turning 10 years old he would switch hands to write or eat with. He was labeled "learning disabled" at age four (to put it nicely)and spent many years in special edication classes. Every doctor and psychologist that examined him said that his inability to choose a dominant hand was a major contibuting factor to his learning problems.
What a shame for BPI children to have to deal with this additional problem in having their dominant arm injured!
On a happier note, my son's being ambidextrous has worked out very nicely for him as far as being a "teriffic" drummer is concerned! LOL!

Take Care,
Stephanie

I am right obpi. When I went to school they would not allow me to write left-handed. So began one of the greatest ordeals for a small child. Forced to write with an injured hand that cramped and hurt and what a horrible handwriting... I had to work so hard to learn to write !!!! I also stopped reading in first grade because of it.

I always thought I was really a lefty and forced to do things with my right hand because the world is right handed and they felt it was better for everyone to be the same... One eye doctor said that my dominate eye showed that I was a lefty... My Mom said it was because of the injury.
I have Horner's yet no one ever mentioned it to me during any exam I ever had... I did not realize I had Horner's until I met parents at one of the picnics and they were talking about droopy eyelid one smaller eye and crooked smile... Well I knew I had that... I took after my Father's family... (LOL.. at least that's how my mom explained it to me) and since those here in America died when I was very small I had no way of checking on that one.
When I found this message boards and began to read more about Horner’s the next time I had a neurological exam I asked him about it... he checked me out and said "Yes you had Horner's and it resolved... but the symmetry(sp) of your face is effected now... well his partner never noted it... Now I just checked with the eye doctor who has examined me for years. I asked him to check it out... he MISSED IT... duh... but said I have beauty marks behind my eye.. And it is a bit smaller he never thought of Horner's.... so much for competent medical care!

I use both hands because I was forced to write right handed and did develope a good handwriting --- I had small motor coordination in both hands now only the pincers work on both hands…. for example- I write and paint right handed - put on make-up left handed and contact lenses - sew with either hand depending which arm is very tired.... I can paint on pottery with either hand... each hand has assigned tasks because I was trained to use both. I iron right handed... cut right handed... and can cut left handed (no left handed scissors when I was young) I have many left handed people in my family. So now I am not sure what I was supposed to be...
Since my eye was affected how can they really tell?
I come from a family of really great spellers and math people. I cannot spell. Just can't and it has haunted me. I do believe it comes from being switched from left to right handed, but will I ever really know? One of the parents wrote about an exam that was given by a neurologist. They mentioned that the child had 20/20 vision but lost words in the middle portion of a sentence on a blackboard... I was taught by my mother to count the words in a sentence when copying from the blackboard because I left out words... Now I wonder what made her do that and why I had to re write my notebook before it was collected for marking ?

What gets me the most about this is where were the professionals all these years if I had not found the message boards I would never have known. When I began to age I started to notice one side of my face was not aging the same. I thought it was a mild stroke...I got scared... Now I know it's only Horner's. Now I understand the sunburn, no sweating on that side and why it is so much colder... I thought I was wierd... well that I am a bit...but now that I know it explains all those silly things to me.

Jenny - Do you still have that other eye test you posted once... ? it was simple... not falling.... LOL.. That test says I am left handed...

Kath

re wiash I could teach myself to write with the Erb's hand. It just doesn't have enough wrist mobility or stamina for writing. The arthritis isn't as bad,though. I wonder if that's why some of us are so uncoordinated. There are so many things related to Erb's that show up when we hit middle age-I think that we are not taken seiously as adults because we did so much to compensate throughout our lives-so others wouldn't notice our disability. Pat

Tessie

I say tell the teacher to tie a rope around her wrist attach it to her belt... then use her other hand for the day...no a week... and see what happens....

grrr... This is discrimination .... Jamison is disabled... and she has to respect his limitations and not make him feel inferior... IT IS AGAINST THE LAW FOR HER TO DO THAT!!!!

OK... sorry just a little vent for all those teachers who never understood... now don't start me on gym teachers... that is really a sore spot!!!

Kath