United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

WE ARE ON THE FENCE WITH MOD QUAD ANYONE WANT TO SHARE GOOD/BAD THEY WENT THROUGH? ANYONE LOSE MOTION LIKE PULLING UP? WHAT AGE IS BEST FOR THIS SURGERY? I REALLY WOULD LOVE IMPUT.

My son can not get his arm behind his back due to mod quad. This was confirmed by 3 surgeons including the one who performed the surgery.

My son had mod quad at 14 1/2 months and wow what a diffference. He gained so much, but lost nothing. He is seven now and is a gymnastic genius. He can do everything that everyone else can. he had no over the head at all before mod quad ! Gayle

My son had the mod quad 5 years ago when he was 3. He gained lots of movement, the only thing he lost was being able to put his arm behind his back. He can do it, but not as easy as it was before the surgery. I am not sure what age is best, but when we had the surgery there were 3 other children having it done. A two year old and 2 four year olds. I have to say the two year old bounced back so quick after the surgery--like the same day she was out of bed, etc. My son took a little longer and the two 4 year olds took the longest to just feel comfortable--I think as you get older it just takes longer to bounce back. I think they do the surgery at a much younger age now. Believe me I think making any decision for any surgery is hard--good luck to you. Email me with any questions you might have.

My son was 2 when he had mod quad. He is now 6. We do not regret the surgery. He gained a lot of overhead and it even helped with his supination. (That's not always the case). He isn't able to put his hand behind his back, but it couldn't really do it before the surgery either. He has very few limitations now, and most people do not know that there is a problem at all. He had very little problems with the surgery itself. He was one who was running down the halls the day after surgery.

Good luck with your decision. I remember how hard that decision was. I hope you get a lot of feedback because that is what helped us to decide what was best for our son.

Connie

We have the same problem not being able to reach in back (couldn't before mod quad either). Just wondering if this is a SHOULDER issue, and not something associated with mod quad!

Lack of behind-the-back IS a shoulder issue. And Mod Quad rearranges the muscles in the shoulder. When nearly all the muscles that can move the arm down and to the back are either released or relocated, of course it is going to have an impact!

Sometimes it may still improve function to release or rearrange muscles. As some have experienced, you may not be giving up anything because the child would never have been able to do certain things anyway. But I want to caution new parents: a careful analysis of function vs deficits needs to be made for each individual child to determine the potential trade-offs for their child. This is not a "one-size-fits-all" surgery.

Kate

we decided not to have mod-quad when our daughter was close to 1 yrs old (about 3 yrs ago) as we were worried about losing function too. We were told she would lose the behind back function and she had that so we didnt want to risk any movement. She was also improving so we decided to wait until she stopped improving. she is still surgery free

My son had Mod Quad at 13 1/2 months (he is almost 5 now) and I have never regretted it. Re: putting his hand behind him, he couldn't reach behind his back pre-MQ and has a few problems with it post-MQ. That said, it greatly improved his range and I am glad that we did it when we did.

My daughter had the mod quad when she was 13. Her surgery was on the right - the only function she lost was the ability to do the pledge of allegiance. (Touch her right hand to left chest. She can get withing about 4 inches.She says this bothers her when she needs to scratch her left shoulder or roll up a sleeve on that side. She can perfom that function passively, using her left arm to give the right arm the push it needs, but not without help.
She can still reach behind her back. She does lose overhead as she gets older and has been advised to have the surgery redone.

Sue