United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

my son's shoulders are not level his bpi side drops, i was wondering if this is normal?

he is unable to wear overalls because the strap does not stay on but keeps dropping down, he also has some problems wearing a jacket undone.

can anyone help?

It is very normal.
The muscle mass in the shoulder is simply not there and the gleno-humeral joint for most of us is not the usual ball and socket. All this adds up to a sloping shoulder.

It is really hard on us gals and our bra straps.

Nancy

yes..all to normal for BPIs.

Are you woking on balance issues, also, with therapy?

My daughter does wear overalls; we just tighten the bpi side more. As for jeackets/coats, everytime she gets off the bus (and still has her coat partially on) it's halfway down her arm on her bpi side. She's not all that fond of being clad, anyway. She says she's hot all of the time. As soon as we get home (if there is no one else, other than our family around, the clothes come off).

I agree with the others. It is very common and my child has it as well. However, it has gotten better since his surgery. Hopefully, in time you will notice some improvement. Perhaps bracing, taping, TES, surgery or therapy may be able to help some, however, I think this is often an ongoing issue, like so many others.

Hi - My son's bpi shoulder is elevated and forward. He's 13 months and hasn't had any surgeries yet. Is the drooping of the shoulder something that develops later?

My shoulder droops... I put a shoulder pad in the right shoulder sometimes ... it is part of bpi.

When I was young my mother tied a loop in the back before she put the straps on my shoulders so they would not fall off ... you can use a clip across the back to keep the straps together. On the adult obpi board there is a post about bra strap and how to keep it on our shoulders.

Kath

wow, thank-you all for the information, it is good in a way to see that this is normal, although i think that the doctors and physio here have been seriously lacking. I am from Aust and cameron had surgery at 1yr (nerve graft) since that time not much else has been done and we have been told that all is going well.

We also (my husband and I) were just talking and realised that cameron has not had physio for nearly 2years! We have seen the surgeon twice in this time and each time he is very happy with cameron's progress and just says that we are to see him again in another years time.

We thought what was happening was perfectly normal, obviously not!!!!!!!!!

my sons affected shoulder is higher. He wore overalls today and I noticed they were tighter on the injured side. I took out some rescent pictures and noticed this too. It has improved with much therapy. We push down on that side and it has become better.