United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,3 ... 38,00.html

Hi, i saw an article on sky news and had to check it out. It's not BPI specific but a French former chiro has been using laser treatment on paraplegics, apparently with good success. The report showed how he does it, a laser is used to stimulate the spinal cord on acupressure points both above AND below the area the cord was injured. Docs are being cautious saying they don't know if he's doing harm, well wheelchair bound people who were told there was no hope have been helped to walk again there - if i were them i would figure nothing to lose go for it. Just wondered if this type of laser/acupressure treatment could be suitable in some cases of BPI??

very interesting article Dave. I don't see why it would be any different for treating a bpi. I mean, we are talking about the spine here, which seems to have a physiology all it's own. And of all the injuries one could incur, spinals are the worst. I've read everywhere that once a root is avulsed,anywhere from the spine, it is finished. Why? Does anyone "truly" know why, or is it just educated speculation. There is something at the nerve/spine junction that obviously can't be replaced after it's been injured......so......what is it ?? And could it be that this laser technology is stimulating the mysterious ingredient ? One more thing I've been thinking about lately, and this article brought it to light again. I wonder how many times spinal injured patients have been operated on "immediately" after their injury. We say "time is of the essence", so why not attempt to re-fuse the nerve root as soon as possible. We already know what happens if we wait too long. With today's technology we can pretty much know fairly sure where the exact nerve avulsion is located, so why not get in there and attempt to fix it immediatly? I would say go for it. Like you said, what's to lose?

I know I strayed a little from the subject Dave, but the article sparked some thoughts. And I'm sure many other things play into the grand scheme. This laser technology may hold some promise. Worth following !

George

it's interesting what you are saying george, 22 yrs ago when i was discussing my options with the specialist, he said that whilst nerve grafts were the only option then (and now) for avulsions,it was a very cumbersome way of dealing with such a complex thing as a nerve, and that the future would probably be very different with far less invasive methods being used. There are several people working on other methods of nerve injury repair, Carlstedt in the UK has successfully reimplanted avulsed nerves in rats, so an avulsion shouldn't mean the end of that nerve, but apparently this procedure has to be carried out within hours of the injury to work, not usually an option for most of us involved in accidents where other, more life threatening injuries are also involved, and a bpi specialist is not usually on the scene at the time of the injury. There are also many documented cases where nerves have spontaneously regenerated themselves in injuries thought to be untreatable, even the case of a baby born with half a brain which spontaneously grew the other half within a year completely against medical expectations-the docs had advised the parents to turn off the life support. I've learned since researching this injury to automatically question any statement made by the medics as being a fact, the truth is they just don't know enough yet about the nervous system so they shouldn't be talking in definites. The body certainly has the ability for self healing, the key seems to be knowing how to trigger the process. All power to these pioneers challenging the accepted methods for the good of us all-the future may look a lot different for new injured bpi. The human body is a miraculous and powerful thing, not the frail easily damaged object we sometimes see it as. Cheers Dave for the article :0)

Dave,
Do you know how to contact this doctor? I would like to know more about this procedure.
I am curious about torn nerves away from the spinal cord. I am not even sure I am saying this right. Hopefully somebody understands what I am saying.
Mindy

No im not sure how to contact this doc, tho i had wondered about it, maybe emailing sky news asking for a contact addy or # would be the best idea? Still wondering if this laser treatment, seeing as it's non-invasive, could be used in the actual BPI arm to do the same as it is doing in the spine? my intrinsic hand muscles are shot, i'd volunteer for the guy to try get any life back in there if he was willing, what's to lose?

Dave, Mindy,

Is the guys email addy any good? His name is albert bohbot at
a.bohbot.infoni@infonie.fr

I found it on a paralysis forum

http://www.circleoffriends.com/forums/p ... /0223.html

Let us know if you mail him,

Steve P

hey stevie, i found a lot of info by searching 'paralysis' and even 'amputation' rather than 'brachial plexus injury'....i realised that a flail arm would have a similar effect on the body long term as not having an arm at all would, a lot of the info re long term probs can be found there. yours is a good link. if yr search engine can be adjusted to search 'uk and european only' sites that's a big help, too, you avoid all the hospital 'adverts' that way, speaking for myself, i don't wanna see cheesy pics of surgeons and pretty hospital rooms, i want solid FACTS-and there's a lot less emphasis on obpi over tbpi, the sites tend to be more broadly about 'bpi injuries'-thats a good tip liz gave me, i never realised you could refine the searches like this. hey i just thought,am i 'monoplegic'? must tell the kids, they will think that's very cool :0)

Cheers Stevie I just mailed the guy, let you know what response he sends, thanks for the link and addy!

Sorry to jump in on this but if you do get a reply I would be interested in it. I`ve had my injury for 7 years now since I was knocked of my bike and am still hopfull to get it fixed in any way

Scarcollecter@hotmail.com

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