United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hello, my name is Brooke. I am 12 and I have Erb's Palsy. I don't know much about my arm. Can you people tell me something about my case?

Hi Brooke, nice to meet you.
I am Krista, mom to Mariella. Ella is 2 and has Erb's Palsy in her left arm.
You came to the right place for answers. There's a lot of info around here so you will learn a lot! =)
There is so much that I can say to you right now, but I really wouldn't know where to start. What kind of questions do you have? What are you looking to learn about your arm? Maybe if you give us more of an idea we can help you better.
I am sure you will get some great replies here.
Take care for now.
~Krista~

Well I am trying to find out what it basicaly is, if I will ever be able to recover and have full movement?

Thank You Krista!

Brooke

Hi Brooke. My name is Vanda and I have a son who is twelve with a brachial plexus injury or erb's palsy. Did you just recently get injured to cause the erb's palsy or have you always had this from birth?

Brooke, it seems everyone's erb's palsy is different. I have one son who completely recovered and one who still has a palsy but did get quite a bit of recovery, it is basically a nerve injury to the nerves of the shoulder, arm and hand and the recovery, pain and loss of function depends so much on how badly the nerves were injured and exactly which nerves were injured and what type of injury the nerves had, and then how the body heals up. There are very good doctors who specialize in helping people with erb's palsy and they can do different things to help depending on whether it is a new injury (Within the last couple years or less) or an old injury like my son who has had this injury foe 12 years. We just got to meet some of these doctors this year as the doctors in our city were not very helpful or very informed themselves we needed to go to other cities to get good help and information. By the sounds of your question maybe the doctors you have don't know very much and haven't been able to help you very much. Could you tell us more about your situation? there are some really good information sites and links with this site, maybe your mom or dad could look at some of those with you.

Hey Vanda and Brooke:
Maybe Brooke and Vanda's son could become "penpals"? That way they could talk about their issues.

And, Brooke, I think you should look at some of the sites with your parents. There is information available on this website (we aren't just a message board!), and on others.

Also, send an email to Nancy Birk, the president of ubpn...you should be on the mailing list for Outreach, it is the ubpn publication.

good luck,
claudia

Hi Brooke!
My name is Erica. I'm 23 and have an injury to my right arm from a birth injury.
I recently had surgery on my hand to improve function and it turned out better than the doctor had thought would happen. I can now open my hand 3/4's of the way and can grip things.
The reason I am telling you this is because you might want to consider surgery for your arm. I hate to be blunt but at your age, without surgery or other intervention you probably won't gain function back. I did gain some function back when I started physical trherapy when I was 19 on my arm. I know there are others that have had more drastic surgery than I have. They have had the Mod Quad. It is truly a miraculous surgery. It involves nerve transfers, muscle transfers and tendon transfers. Others can tell you more about it.
But then again you may decide you don't want surgery and like your arm the way it is. I was like that for many years. It is entirely up to you and your family. Depending on where you live you may want to choose a place to see a specialist. They can tell you the best about your options and answer your questions. Most people on here have chosen Texas Childerens Hospital and have seen either Dr. Nath or Shenaq. Others have gone with Shriners hospitals. I went with a surgeon from Calgary Alberta, Canada. He was Dr. R. Harrop.
That is about everything I can think of. If you have any more questions feel free to email me at; jelly300@yahoo.com
Erica:o)
p.s. you might want to check out http://www.injurednewborn.com

Hi Brooke,
My name is Rachel. I am 32 years old and have a brachial plexus injury to my left arm. I remember how tough it was when I was your age. I'm glad you found this website at such a young age. I just found it a year ago and am amazed at the wonderful and helpful people I have met on here. The doctor I went to Dr. Nath for my surgery told me the younger you have a surgery the better. However, everyones injury is different so maybe for starters you should talk to your parents about taking you in for a visit to the doctor and go from there. If you need any help with anything please don't hesitate to ask. Good Luck to you and let me know if I can help you out.

Thank you all so much for all the great help and information! I do have movement in my arm but not enough to lift if past my shoulder. I never had any surgery on it but tones of physitherapy! I really would like to have surgery on my arm but I am very scared. I don't know why I never got surgery when I was young and why my parents havn't done anything about it lately but I do keep very active and try to use it as much as I can. I love being able to talk with people who know what I am going through! Thank you so much!

Hi Brooke,
My daughter will be 12 next month and has a left arm injury and has not had any surgeries either - just like you. When my daughter was born the doctor's didn't give me much information at all. She did get lots of therapy for many years but we didn't meet other kids like her or know that surgeries were even available until a few years ago - so maybe if you talk to your parents about this site you can all read together and find out more about what is available today. Maybe your parents weren't given much information either just like me.
That is great that you keep so active.
Christy