United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

t6he trauma dr at the hospital I was treated at after my accident had a xray of my affected shoulder taken at the follow up exam about 3 weeks later but never showed it to me at the exam and I did not see it until later after getting copies of the xray. it shows my arm bone hanging down out of the socket. is there any type of device I can get (and where I can get it) that will help raise the arm up and support it in a place closer to where it would normally be? i can search around if i knew what they are called. thanks, Doug

I had arm joint subluxation like that cuz of the lack of innervation to the muscles from BPI-What helped me was exercise of the arm/shoulder given to me by OT after I progressed from just finger movement to arm movement. How are you progressing with this? Hard to tell what advice to offer from my experience as I am not sure where you are at since Aug -can you make your arm "crawl up the wall" Many well wishes to you!

I had severe subluxation of my right shoulder after my accident. It was terribly, painful, hypersensative, and hanging about 3 inches out of the socket and useless. I had surgery with Dr. Elhassan at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. He's developed a major surgery that combines muscle transfers and tendon transfers to not only pull your shoulder back into position, but also bring back some of it's functionality. Now my shoulder is still sensative, but not in terrible pain (I can carry say 15 lbs in a backpack and not be in pain), and is fairly functional. I can shrug, and swing my arm back and forth, and rotate it externally. It's pretty fantastic. I'm waiting to get my before and after videos so I can show them.
Another surgical option is a shoulder fusion where they fuse your shoulder to your collar bone. It's another very major surgery, but would also pull your shoulder into place, though you won't get the same functionality that I got with my surgery.
For some, the nerves to heal enough on there own to eventually pull the shoulder back into place.
I don't know about other braces, but I believe a member on this site (I think his name is Dan) makes an awesome athletic sling from what I've read. Good Luck and I hope this helps.

Ang

JannieG, thanks for giving me the term for the condition, it is always nice to know what i'm searching for.
as far as my progress, i'm getting some finger movement but the wrist and arm are completely limp, it's a strange
(and scary) experience. i can not yet do the arm crawl.

AngelaW, at this point i do not even think about any type of surgery. the savings i have are going to be pretty
much depleted by the costs to this point, i have no insurance and no job, i'm 59 and was sorta into an early
semi-retirement phase of my life when the accident happened. trees are beautiful, but when i hit one at about 20mph
on my dirt bike it was no different than a brick wall (i guess, never hit a brick wall ) How would i go about
contacting Dan?


Thanks to both of you for the replies.
Doug

Hi Doug-

Here is the discussion page about the sling.
http://ubpn.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1 ... ng#p334386

best of luck to you! Keep your head up.

No worries. No pressure about surgey, I just like to try and make sure that people know that there are a lot of options.
I scrambled to make sure I got all of mine in before my Cobra insurance ended or there's no way I could have afforded it all.
I have heard that trees are one of the worst things to hit because they are so solid and sturdy. They don't break off or get knocked over like say a telephone pole. I hit one of those crappy wire-strung dividers that MN uses in a lot of medians. Pretty much like a gettng run throuigh a giant cheese grater
I hope you find a sling that works for you and can get on with your life.

CristinaM wrote:Hi Doug-

Here is the discussion page about the sling.
http://ubpn.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1 ... ng#p334386

best of luck to you! Keep your head up.

if i would have just given a few moments thought... of course! SEARCH.
thanks so much for the thread link, Cristina

Doug, what you have is subluxation of the shoulder. Although surgery would be your best option it is important in the meantime that you give full support to that shoulder to keep it from further subluxation. There is a company called "Sammons Preston" that you can find on line by googling their name. They offer an array of slings that would be helpful to you. You need a sling that gives good shoulder support. One option is called the giv-mohr sling that also allows your arm to remain free while supporting the shoulder. My daughter wears this one on occasion. She switches slings up to keep the arm from contracting in one position. She also wears her shoulder sleeve at all times to give extra support to the subluxation, this sleeve can be found from this company as well. Without support the shoulder is at risk of getting worse and can become very painful. Good luck to you. I hope Sammons Preston helps. deborah

deborah,
thanks for the tip on the giv-mohr, i placed an order for one a short while ago. I also received the athletic sling that Dan designed as mentioned earlier in the thread last week and have been using it during my gym workouts, it is a great design and very well made. a bit of a chore for me to get on but it is getting easier each time i wrap myself up in it. i got a really nice collection of slings, seems i can not have enough of them. thanks again for the tip! and your insight and advice on the subluxation issue.