United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi,
Wow to all of you! I just found your forum and reading some posts, I am impressed with how well you all are dealing with things.

I was recently injured, I am not able to take pain meds-due to sensitive stomach. I am recovering from brain surgery 4 months ago and now this. A little disappointed to read this could be a chronic thing. Doc hasn't told me much, and now I can see why. Oh, boy.

Couple questions-
How do you type?

Has anybody healed completely-without deficit?

Any hints or suggestions to make life easier??

Thank you for your time,
NanMarie

Hi NanMarie,

I'm approaching 1 year post injury. I was a pretty good typist with 2 hands and I now just do it with one. Basically I'm good on the right side of the keyboard (my good hand) but have to hunt/peck a bit on the left. I also have to look down at my hand for accuracy. It's not the smoothest typing but it gets me by, and I'm a software consultant so I'm on my PC all day.

I have a bp avulsion, so I'm not betting on using my arm or hand in the same way again.

I've found mirror therapy to be somewhat helpful in addition to all the neurontin I'm on.

Look at the post for "athletic arm sling" for info on getting back into sports/exercise.

This forum has been the best source of information I can find. Good luck!

MW

Thank you for the tips. I appreciate it.

MW, what is mirror therapy?



take care

hey nan. sorry about your injury.

i got hurt almost 6 years ago, my left arm is completely paralyzed. i use a special key board layout called "right hand dvorak." it's supported by windows under language support. (there's also "left hand dvorak") you don't need to buy a keyboard. just buy the letter stickers that go over the keys on your regular keyboard. it's pretty easy to learn, only took me a couple of weeks to get used to it. it centers the key layout under your active hand.

just google right (or left) hand dvorak.

Hi Nan,

Mirror therapy is for phantom limb pain. If you search this forum for mirror therapy you'll find lots of info, but you can start here to get a sense: http://www.mirrorboxtherapy.com/v-s-ramachandran/

Basically by using a mirror or mirror box, you can use your good arm and hand to simulate (for your brain) that your flail limb is moving. Doing so can help BPI pain over time for some folks. I've been doing it for about 5 weeks with my OT and have had some improvement. I think Christopher posted a great video explanation by VS Ramachandran on somewhere in the forum as well. For a treatment that just involves a $6 mirror I bought a Target, it's pretty good.

MW