United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi everyone,

I'm just curious how your children do with running. Cassidy runs now and she holds her affected arm straight out in front of her,it doesn't bend like the other and she seems to have some balance issues. i was just wondering I guess if this gets better as the child gets older or some things that any of you may have tried to help your kids with this.
thanks so much,
Dawn mom to Cassidy 21 months ROBPI

My granddaughter who will be 6 years old in March also runs with her left arm (lobpi)held straight down or a bit in front. We can remind her to "pump" her arm the same way as her right arm does, and this works when she thinks of it. She actually is a very fast runner, one of the fastest if not the fastest in her kindergarten class, so obviously the arm held at a different angle isn't slowing her down any.

my name is john i have an internal rotation of 60 degrres of the left arm
when i run my lefta arm zig zags in front of me. when i bend my left elbow to touch my left cheek whit my palm the hand goes to the right cheek. i devevoloped a test to show wether a derotation osteotomy oof the humerus wil solve my problem. i have classic trumpeters sign and beleave tha this is a positive indication tha the shoulder muscle are functioning correctly.if the child can hold both arms out in front of her ask her to hold both arms level and turn the thumbs down as far as she can then bend the elbows if the affected forearm drops below th affected elbow from this postition instruct her to to hold it and turn the affected thumb up. if it is pointing toward the bottom of the un affected elbow get her to pictck the hand up lever to the other this is agood indication that it is not that she can externally rotate, but that she cannot internally rotate whit out the hand turning backwards from any position. a derotation osteotomy will correct this.

Hi Dawn:
Juliana is LOBPI and runs with her left arm extended in front of her. It doesn't seem to slow her down at all either. She is really pretty fast!

As for balance issues, yes, we had those. We had Juliana in PT at two to work on this (she stayed in PT until she was 6 years old). I found that horseback riding therapy helped A LOT for the balance issues. Swimming was helpful too, in that it strengthened her whole body.

Here are some of the things we did athome to help Juliana develop better balance:
-had her stand on pillows by a play table
-had her walk "laps" on our bed
-put a ball pit in the den and played games in there
-put objects underneath a throw rug and had her walk across the "ocean"

When we started, she couldn't take two steps on our bed without falling. She fell constantly, over nothing. We pushed the school district to keep her in PT because we told them she was a safety hazard!

I don't know how much OT and PT Cassidy is getting, but definately mention this to the PT.

oh, and does Cassidy like swings?? Juliana HATED them until she developed some better balance. Now, she loves them. I know it is freezing in Canada right now, but come spring, swings are good too.

good luck,
claudia