United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi all! It's me again with a question. My daughter, 11, left arm birth injury, had torticollis when she was a baby. Her head turned mostly to her side, especially when she slept. It seemed to go away pretty fast. Anyway - lately I've noticed her sleeping with her chin on her injured shoulder more often than usual, and when I got some pictures back I noticed that she seemed to have a hard time turning her head to look at the camera in a pic I took on her left side. Now I've been watching her closer and she does tend to turn her body instead of her head to look at me on her injured side. Do any of you find it hard sometimes to turn your head towards your injured side? Then again I sometimes have a hard time turning my head - depending on if one of the dogs was laying on me all night or how I slept....... I just don't know if with Brittney it is injury related or not and I'm curious. I'd sure appreciate any input.
Thank you,
Christy

Christy

Restricted motion. The right side of my neck is very tight it is hard to look over the left shoulder. I am right obpi. In fact it is hard to get full range either way. I think compensation is the reason. I do turn my body.

I can't get my ears even close to either shoulder when doing head rolls. the bpi side of my neck is too short and the left side is tight from compensation... My PT said I need to work on keeping my neck looser...
I use to walk with my head tilted but I had to play model and walk with book on my head to help with posture. Posture is a major issue for bpi injured. I use to think my Mom was always on my case because she had such good posture... duh another thing I did not realize was about me.
It is important to stress the need to sit up straight and shoulders back as much as possible to prevent some very bad habits from forming... the schools I attended demanded that we sit up straight and feet on the floor... old fashion but helped reinforce my Mom's demands for good posture.

Keep an eye on her posture... that is important for us because we can't help but develope poor habits for extra comfort... Sitting at computer slumped over it etc is very bad... That is why I love my split natural keyboard because I can type comfortable even with my elbow sticking out...
Hope this helps
Kath

Thanks Kath,
She does seem to have restricted motion. I guess she has not been as active in her neck area lately - lots of school projects and things going on that have her sitting still and doing her work. She is getting aggravated with me always asking her to 'watch her posture' she either slumps or sticks her stomach way out to compensate. Actually I really bothered her yesterday (not intentionally) - while she was talking to me I couldn't help but start moving her head around in all directions!:) I was trying to loosen it up for her! (That didn't go over too well...) I think all of you older OBPI's would have a great time comparing 'parent stories' - we try - but I know - me for sure - can sometimes drive my daughter crazy with the "watch your posture and moving her head around and stuff. Next week she starts swim team practice and that should help - and I've been looking in to Feldenkrais and there are some places right here that offer it! They do yoga at one of the places along with Feldenkrais method - I'm not sure what the difference is but I'm still researching. Anyway - thanks for your input!
Christy