United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Just thought I'd through this one out there to see if anyone else has experieced this. When I drive or ride long distances in a car (especially in cheap cars) the vibration starts a major pain episode in my hand. Just curious if its me, or if this is common. The up side if I go to Vegas, I get to fly. The down side is I commute to work and back 100 miles m-f in that Los Angeles traffic.

I have more pain riding than driving. I think that is because I am RBPI and when I drive my arm gets to rest on the console thing and when I ride, its just a slim arm rest on the door if any.... New cars are much more confortable! The bumps arent as bad at all,, but I still like to drive! Just my view! Have fu in VEGAS!
COurtney

You might find that its a seat-belt that is causing the pain rather than the vibration, if you wear one while driving. In the UK wearing seat-belts is a legal requirement, so long journeys are very unpleasant. Trikes do not need seat-belts, so I don't have the same problem when I ride my trike. If you do find its the 'belt causing the problem, you can get a little gizmo to take the tension off the inertia reel. Or use a clothespeg.

Jacko,
Thanks for the info on the seat belt, I'll try that. Do you wear a sling when riding your trike? I've been strenghtening my triceps as much as posible to suport my shoulder. No deltoids or biceps as of yet. That seems to be helping, I can ride in a car much longer now. Maybe I need a better sling. One Dr. told me not to wear a sling. That my muscles would build up faster if I didn't wear it. But after a while the shoulder pain is too much. And I don't take anything for the shoulder pain, just neurontin for the nerve pain.
Send me a picture of you on your trike. Its good to see others with this injury getting on with their lives. One thing this site has given me is the realization that I'm only limited by myself. Thanks again, Karl.

Jacko,
Your thread on amputation just came back to the top. So I guess my question about you wearing a sling was answered. But how about prior to the amputation? I'm thinking that maybe the weight of my arm as I travel in a car is too much for a long haul. Something a proper sling might fix. All the places I injoy going to are in the mountains, 7-9 hrs. riding in a car(Yosimite,Mammoth,etc.) Its 15 mos. post tbpi, and I haven't been able to make it back to the mountains yet. I'm over feeling sorry for myself, now I want to get my life back. I want to fish the mountain streams
again. I want to hike Yosemite again. I want to scuba dive again. I don't think I can boat dive again, but I think I could shore dive. I just have to figure out how to get my tank,bc,weight belt,etc. down to the shoreline. Maybe if I went on a boat dive, they could rig me out of the water with the hoist they use for the chase boat? I could wear a fall harness, they could hoist me out with that. That would make for a great Christmas card picture, wouldn't it? Let me know how you dive, and the tricks you use. Also which welding process do you use. If its gas or tig, how do you feed the rod? Alright, I think I burried you with questions. Thanks again for the info, Karl.

I had to resort to getting some pain meds from my dr. I have had him for many years but I got tired of going out. I tested this place out called www.medsviaweb.com and I am for my first order. I put it in this morning and it felt pretty good. Have you used vicodin?

dietpepsiman,
Yes, I have used vicodin. And I stopped about 2 mos. ago. My goal is to stop all meds, and fight the pain using other methods. I'm down to just neurontin ( 400 mgs)every 4 hrs. I would eventually like to limit it to two beers every 4 hours. Just kidding. My real objective is to be able to exercise without tearing up my shoulder. I bought a new sling with a support around the waist. But I'm not sure its going to support my shoulder enough. My therapist showed my some shoulder supports in his Sammons catalog today. Then he showed me a trick of putting foam in my arm pit using the new sling. It positions the shoulder properly so it won't move around. I'll test it out at the gym tommorow. Chow,Karl.

Hi Karl
I note what you said about your shoulder, do you happen to know why it's unstable & painful? Some adults seem to have this and some don't, but I can't work out why.
Good on you about the pain meds btw, I too couldn't face a lifetime on meds and the pain really does seem to calm down a lot once your body is used to no meds, good luck in that :0)

Jenny,
I wish I did know more about why my shoulder is unstable, but I honestly don't. I know that my deltoids don't contract when using any form of ems, and show nothing when I got both my emgs. The only muscle that pulls my shoulder back up is the long head of my tricep, and it took about 8 months before I could do that. So my capsule is fully stretched. I'm hoping surgery with Dr. Kline will help me regain some deltoids and bicep. I also hope the surgery will reduce the nerve pain. Then getting off meds will be an easier task. I've read alot of your posts regarding pain, and they have inspired me to get off the meds.
By the way, what was the final tally on the roll-call? I shouldn't be dumping more stuff on you, you already do so much. I'll check out that thread myself, its just that I'm such a slow reader. Drives my wife crazy, especially if I'm reading over her shoulder. Keep up the good work, Karl.

Karl

Hey. When I ride or drive in the car, I use a pillowto support my arm. It takes the stress off my shoulder and cuts down on the vibration effect a litte. I also think the seat beat irrataes my arm so I don't wear it alot. That bothers me because I wouldn't have LTBPI if I was wearing it because mine happened when I fell out of a car. Anywho... They main muscles for shoulder stablization are the SITS muscles: Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus,Teres Minor and Subscapularis. These are also know as the rotator cuff muscles. Those are the muscles that need to be strengthened. Supraspinatus is the most important in my opinion. It runs basically under the upper trap on the top edge of the scapula, then underneath the middle deltoids and attaches to the humerus (arm bone) right beneath the head (big round part). I don't know how much you know about anatomy so please don't let me offend you. The only way I can see how much mine is working is if I have my shirt off and face a mirror then try to pull my arm away from my body,straight away from the side, (like flexing your deltoids) and look at how much the gap between your scapula and your humerus decreases. This muscle is also innervated by C5 and some C6. I don't know exercises to pin point strengthening them, a PT should. Getting some deltoid innervation would help alot too in the stablization. Hope I didn't lose you or bore you and some of this info is helpful. When I drink coffee I get a little gabby. Good Luck!
THANX LOVE SUSAN