United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

sorry hope i havent reposted this but it didn't come up.

my son was born with erbs palsy and had a nerve graft at 1yr. he now has very good movement and can almost put his arm straight up in the air.

what we would like to know is will this change as he gets older and will he be likely to suffer pain. He is now 4yrs.

i am in Australia

Jackie
I live in the UK and have a 12 year old with Erb's too.
He has had a nerve graft, a subscapularis release ( helped him get his arm above head) and a latissimus dorsi tranfser and another Sun Scap release 3 years ago.
He has never had any pain from his injury and copes well with most things.
As he has gotten older, his ability to lift his arm above his head has diminshed a little, but from a very bad start, he has still got excellent recovery thanks to surgery.
Its hard to say what will happen with your son , as all children and all their injuries are different.
But theres no reason to assume your son won't continue to remain pain free.
Karen

karen thank-you for your reply it is very hard to get any answers as to what happens next, we get told to just take it as it comes but it is so hard to try and not think about the future.

Jackie

There are no long range studies for the doctors to read none have been undertaken.

My best advice would be to keep doing ROM and checking on the use of your sons arm and how much he is compensating to use his arm.

No one can tell the future, when I was born they told my Mom I would never move at all. I have restricted motion and a weak hand but I have accomplished so much. I was told I could do anything I really wanted to do I just had to do it my way.

I am the mother of 3 and the grandmother of 4.

We are in need of a good long range study because so much has been accomplish in this field and it is hard to know how surgery will change the future for obpi children.

I have never had surgery because it was too risky when I was young.
Kath

thankyou all so much it is so heartening to see that he will be able to continue on with not too many worries the idea of taking him out of P.E for his self esteem is a very good idea and one that will be kept in mind.

kathleen thankyou for your reply i must admit we haven't done any rom exercises since he had his operation, the physio never gave us anymore to do and when i mentioned it i was told that there was no longer any need. He does use his arm when he needs to but just lets in hang at his side otherwise, but since he is on the move soooooo much most people do not even notice it unless it is pointed out.

my son is 19. Yesterday I helped him dye his hair from fluorescent green, to elvis-black, since he will be starting to do some serious job-hunting. On his no-bp arm he has 2 fairly large tattoos.(!) I keep telling him not to ignore the other arm. He had an ear pierced several years ago, at the suggestion of a girl he was seeing. Now, post girl, we don't see the earring any more. For a lot of years he has been anti-sport due to bad experiences. Then again he recently bought his own pool cue, to play with a friend. Last week he did his driver's test successfully. He put it off since he was 16 as he was afraid he'd fail. Driving, he needs that arm, and uses it. Does that help (!?)

Jackie
My son is only 7 1/2 but it each year I see him becoming less of an injured person and more of a person who happens to have an injury. It is great to see him have friends, chase girls, play sports and just be like any other kid. There are frustrating times but the achievements are also greater for our kids. How many children shout with joy when they can move their index finger? The win in basketball is even more exciting when you've only shoot with one hand. Enjoy seeing your child grow and develop and we'll all be crossing our fingers that they won't have any pain down the road.

it is so great to read many inspirational messages, so many times i hear about surgery after surgery, and pain that i was becoming so worried. thankyou all