United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi Jennifer! We noticed fluidity of movement in Elizabeth after 6 weeks or so. We've been doing it for 2.5 years now (5000+ hrs.). It's hard to know what to attribute her still increasing function to because we do NMES also (2.5 yrs.) and we're really pushing the swimming. I look at the TES as a way to keep her biceps (target muscle) healthy while we build strength with other therapies. She can do crawl stroke now!

we saw fluidity of motion after 6 weeks

we see NO lymphedema when she uses TES and much lymphedema when she doesn't use TES - that alone makes it a huge thing for Maia

we saw much difference in bulk in the latest CT scan however... it was just evident

We are serious TES fans here!

From someone just coming into this board, please tell me what TES and NMES are?
Thank you, Tiffany

Hi Tiffany....

I have the whole thing explained on here http://www.injurednewborn.com/maia/estim.html

But in a nutshell... they are two types of electrical stimulation that might benefit some children

TES is done at nighttime - all night - and it helps grow new muscle
NMES is done for short period during the day and it helps strengthen muscle

TES is done on younger kids... 18 months and up (some younger as well I understand) and NMES is done on kids 2+ years

And coming up soon will be a new machine called EMG/FES which will end up replacing NMES (or at least this is what Dr. Pape thinks)

be happy to answer any specific questions.... hope this helps,
-francine