United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi All, it's been a while since I have been active on this board, a few may remember us. I am Julie and my daughter is Emily, from CA. Emily is now 8 years old and doing great and is very active. I am wondering if any of the older kids are active in water sports, such as wakeboarding, kneeboarding or skiing? Emily is begging us to let her wakeboard and we are not sure about the pulling on her arm/shoulder. Her therapist is on the fence about it and so are we. We are going to see Dr. Shenaq in November to get his opinion. But, I am curious is other kids are doing it without causing any harm. This is a tough one for us, because we are on the water every weekend and my husband and I wakeboard. We have raised Emily to not hold back and let her arm slow her down. Now I feel we are having to hold her back and it's killing me.
Julie

I don't know anything about those sports but as an adult OBPI I did want to give you a different perspective. When I was younger I was told there were lots of sports I couldn't participate because of the potential danger to my arm. I resented it for a very long time. When I was in junior high I wanted to take gymnastics very very badly but my mother insisted that it was too dangerous. I was persistant though and finally wore her down to at least have her let me try a very beginners course. Granted there was a lot I couldn't do but I managed a lot more than everyone thought I would. ANd beleive it or not I had more ROM and strength in my bpi arm after 2 months of gymnastics than I ever had. Yes there were risks but there is in anything in life.

Again I don't know anything about wake boarding so I don't have the slightest clue as to what is involved but I just wanted to give you maybe a little bit of insight into what your daughter may be feeling.

my son is very young, but i grew up on the water on a lake. i think that water therapy is the best. i also do water sports and this includes water sking and hydro slyding. i am no dotor or theripist but i have surely had my education on bpi. i would say that i wouuld let my child do this but, i would make sure that the rope never wrapped around the injured arm and i would stress holding the handle with uninjured arm as well and using both hands when it was possible. i know when my hands get tired i would switch from left to right. also i think that there are hydro slides that the rope is already attached. also i would use a boom to sstart. i am sure that water sports would freek most doctors and therapists but they may not have much experience with it(water sports). hope trhis helped.

Julie,
I am 19 years old and just got to try water skiing for the first time this summer. I am sure my parents would have rather not had me try that but it is something that I have wanted to try since I was about 8 years old and my parents let my sister try but would not let me try.

There is so much pull that I dont think I will try again until I work up some muscle in both my arms as I actually did end up pulling something in my left (good) arm. That hurt for a couple days but I want you to know that to me it was so worth it!

Even if I never get to go again at least I know I tried. I hope to try again next summer after I have some time to work my arms. If this is something that Emily truly wants to try, I would let her just like you would any other child. If you would not let your other children try until they are ten then the same should go for Emily. ( I dont know if you have any other children or not but treat her the same as you would if you did have other kids)

She will know if after trying the water sports if they are fore her. And a positive of letting her try would be if she cant do it just yet it leads to goals with therapy and gives her motivation to do therapy!

Good Luck and have fun!
Amy 19 ROBPI from MN

Julie and Hope, check out Andrews posting. Maybe that harness would be something to check out. Dustin used to water ski and I might check into that so he could do it again.
Sue

I attended a disability conference for UBPN 2 years ago in Orlando. I met a group over there that modifies ski equipment and also teaches. Here is there website
http://ucanski2.com/test2.html They talked to me about a harness that could help us ski. I have been wanting to do this. Maybe one day I will!!

Thank you all for your responses. The info on the harness is great, I am going to look further into it. I'm not sure that one in particular is right for Emily, but possibly a variation. Also, I am going to contact the group in Fl. Emily is kneeboarding (hydroslide) and we do use the handle hook, for the initial take off. She has been a little sore after a full day, but nothing serious. Which is where I still struggle.. I think she's fine and can handle the pull on her arm/shoulder once she's up and riding, but wakeboarding is quite a jolt on the arm/shoulder on the get go. Of course, it's that jolt and causing a dislocation in the shoulder or tear in the muscle. We are going to see Dr. Shenaq in Nov. and we will see what he suggests. I was hoping to find some kids wakeboarding and having no problems with it. Thank you again for responses and giving me more to consider. Julie

Julie,
From an adult with OBPI I would say it depends on how injured she is to begin with. I used to water ski and kneeboard however, I did a lot of compensating while doing it. I posted earlier to Andrew after looking at the site for disabled water skiiers. It's amazing what they have come up with for people. I didn't use any special equipment and loved doing it. I actually think (for myself) trying it made me stronger not only physically but also emotionally too. I couldn't play regular school sports due to my arm and I like Tracy had a lot of regrets growing up. Everyone in my family was athletic and I was always the one who couldn't be athletic. Water sports are a great way to be athletic and I would let her try it out and see how she does. The worst part is the over compensating, it does catch up with you later on in life. However, my philosophy is ya only live once so try it while you can.
Best of luck to you.
*HUGS*
Rachel

> Hi All, it's been a while since I have been active on
> this board, a few may remember us. I am Julie and my
> daughter is Emily, from CA. Emily is now 8 years old
> and doing great and is very active. I am wondering
> if any of the older kids are active in water sports,
> such as wakeboarding, kneeboarding or skiing? Emily
> is begging us to let her wakeboard and we are not
> sure about the pulling on her arm/shoulder. Her
> therapist is on the fence about it and so are we. We
> are going to see Dr. Shenaq in November to get his
> opinion. But, I am curious is other kids are doing
> it without causing any harm. This is a tough one for
> us, because we are on the water every weekend and my
> husband and I wakeboard. We have raised Emily to not
> hold back and let her arm slow her down. Now I feel
> we are having to hold her back and it's killing me.
>
> Julie

I checked in to the message board because I had a Brachial Plexus injury last year and am still suffering from it. Here's the thing - it was caused by a wakeboarding accident. I fell and didn't let go of the rope fast enough, causing the nerves in my arm to stretch. I'm 26 and athletic, yet I had the injury. Just wanted to let you know.