United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

My grandson has LOBPI and has had nerve transfer surgery and is schduled for tendon transfer surgery. He has OT 3 times a week. I've heard of E-Stim being used on this type of injury and was wondering if anyone's ever heard of this or if their child has had this used on their injury. I believe it requires some electrodes be placed on the arm to stimulate the muscles. Matthew has a dr's appt. on Thursday and my daughter wants to discuss this with the doctor. Any input or if you know of a web site where I can get more information on this will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I used NMES for years, especially right after tendon transfer surgery. The stimulation contracts the muscle for the child and/or helps the child do so when the muscles are too weak to do it by themselves.

I own a combo machine that does both TENS and NMES. TENS is for pain relief whereas NMES is for muscle rehab.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-neuromu ... lation.htm

I know that there are a lot of people on here who have used NMES on BPI's. When my daughter was 18 months old, her therapist began using it on her during therapy sessions. I do feel that is was beneficial for her in gaining some muscle mass, strength and some movement. We also used TES (threshold electrical stimulation) on her at night time for about a year. You can purchase the equipment needed through your insurance with the help of a therapist or doc. Just be sure your therapist shows you exactly how to use it (electrode placement, range of motion, transmitter controls, etc.) She is almost 8 now and we have not needed to use NMES for several years, however, I am glad that we have the equipment b/c I predict we will need to use it on down the road.

Thank you Karen for your quick response. I will pass this information on to my daughter.

Thank you Marieke. The info you sent me will be very helpful, especially the web link you forwarded. My daughter doesn't have a computer but she will come over to check all this information out so she can be better informed when she takes Matthew to his appointment. Thanks again.

Here's the link for Pia Stampe (PT) 's company

http://www.advancedmusclestimulators.com/

Pia is an incredible physical therapist who has specialized in working with kids with brachial plexus injuries. She is the sole distributor for the TES machines and also sells and support the sEMG stim (myotrak infiniti) units. She also does intensive therapy weeks with families. Her contact info is on the website.

One more thing is that she is doing a series of workshops for therapists - she will include info about electrical stim at the workshop. You can print off the brochure for your therapist to look at ....
http://www.franswebs.com/workshop2010.pdf

-francine

I just got my E-Stim in the mail last night! I didn't know what I was getting into and I just read the posts from this topic. I got a TENS in the mail, but I'm actually interested in the NMES after reading Marieke's post. Should I just contact my doctor again? I don't really have pain that that seems to be what the TENS is for?