United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

HI everyone. My daughter broke her neck in a car accident. She is currently in a halo device to fix the neck fracture and let her fusion (c1c2) heal. Her left arm mainly shoulder and bicep area has nerve injury. We are unsure the extent of the injury right now, as she has the halo on for at least a few more weeks and they can't test her properly with it.

Any advice as to what to do next? Where to go? Who to see? We are at loss right now, and worried about our little girl. She has no spinal chord damage, and we would really be reluctant to have her go through surgery if it won't produce any noticable results. KWIM? She is in therapy right now and will continue to do so for as long as that takes at Easter SEals.

Any advice you may have for us would be greatly appreciated.

For my Ella,

Jennifer

I would make an appt with a BPI specialist. One that sees traumatic injuries. If you click the resources link at the top of the page you will find listings. However, it is my OPINION that you can't do much better than the Mayo in MN. Also by reading posts here I have seen many that like the drs at Shriners in Pilladelphia. I am sure you will get other opinions. Ultimately the choice is yours and what "fits" best with your family. There are several good drs out there, the main thing being it MUST be a BPI specialist. This is extrememly important as neuro, orthopedic and physiatrists may have some knowledge of TBPI but a BPI specialist will have the most and best knowledge of injury and plans for treatment.

We also took Dustin to see Paula Galavez at Milwaukee, she is a therapist who works a lot with BPI (they also have BPI drs there but we had already opted to go to Mayo for the dr). The reason being that Dustin's therapists hadn't seen many BPI's and we wanted to be sure we were doing all we could. We felt she may be able to give some direction to his therapists.

If they are unable to do an EMG now, you still have time. Her injury is fairly new. But, I would at least get an appt set. Then when the Halo comes off you won't have the wait time to get in. The waiting should have been done while waiting to get the halo off.

Therapy is the best thing you can be doing now and I see that you are. Not sure what they doing in there but ROM and light exercize or movement where possible is good.


You may have read some of the posts where people have started using the Biofeedback machines. This may be a possibility to help with telling you if signals are getting through to muscles. It is an amazing thing to watch.

I know you and your husband have said shoulder and bicep, but I am wondering if she has any movement there that could be encouraged in play or therapy.
Best of Luck, we have all been there feeling totally lost. We are here for you.
Sue