United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

DD is almost 7 and has a LOBPI. She's complained for a long time about pain in her elbow, especially while stretching. Her BPI specialist blows it off as unrelated. Her orthopedist ran x-rays for it but didn't see anything. Her OT is convinced its real but isn't sure what the reason would be. Anyone else have their child experience a similar thing? Any thoughts on what it could be related to?

Hi,

I am 23, have had BP since birth. Thankfully my bp arm never hurt through most of my life until I recently started working out with heavy weights. I think by lifting, it put much more “wear and tear” on my bp arm so now I can relate to the elbows issue’s. My bp arm’s elbow now pops and cracks, it feels so gross sometimes, and can hurt by just moving it the wrong way or swinging it around, mostly when I’m horsing around with my dog. I think things like this are just occurrences we have to live with.

My two cents - Im sure if X-rays are taken, the specialist doesn’t have a specific anatomy configuration of what that arms skeletal/muscular structure should adhere to VS its currently state, so to them, as long as the bones are pointing the right way, they’re going to say everything looks fine. They are, from my experiences, just looking for extreme abnormalities. However in our case, say the bone or muscle, of the bp arm, is slightly off by ¼ inch from where it should be, this can ultimately cause us lots of pain but may not been seen or acknowledged by the human eye from an x-ray.

My suggestion, if you would like to further pursue, take an x-rays of the non-bp arm and compare to the bp arm, this is the only way to cross reference between the two to determine what is exactly off and may be causing the pain.

GL!
Dizz

I'm 26 with LOBPI, I also didn't experience too much pain as a kid.

I have been seeing a physical therapist and on my first visit i mentioned some occasional pain in certain areas, mainly my elbow.

Then over the course of a month I realized I lean on my elbow a lot when sitting at a desk in front of my computer. I never would have noticed or realized before then; now I use a cushion under my elbow if I must lean or try not to lean at all.

Something to think about, might be a similar situation.

I would see if you can get an MRI as an Xray may not show muscle or tendon damage. I wish you luck
Pat

Jennifer! That's gotta be it! Thank you so much for taking the time to post. My daughter is always leaning on her arm while writing or reading or eating at the table and I wouldnt be surprised if it were related. The pain isnt constant and doesnt stop her activity but this makes a lot of sense. I think I'll suggest that next time we're in. Thanks again.

glad I could help.

a plush nemo makes a great cushion and is very transportable and the fish shape is a perfect size for the arm. I use it at my desk, on the couch and I especially like taking it along for flights, the arm rests are never comfortable for my arm, but nemo saves the day, hahaha.

Hi, I have a 4 yr old son with an OBPI injury to his left arm and has had a nerve transfer and a tendon transfer to his wrist. My question is other than pain to the elbow have any of you had pain to the hand? He complains every once in a while but the pain is excruciating where i have taken him to the emergency room and have had an mri done. Nothing odd
was found but the pain last up to 3 days and nobody can tell me why this happens. Any ideas