United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hello,
I'm so glad I've found this message board. I've been reading it over the last couple of weeks as I learn more about BPI and Erb's Palsy.

My daughter is 7 weeks and has a BPI. (She's our third child and a happy surprise.) I'm wondering if someone could describe how the healing process happened with their child? We see some improvement with her arm, but it's so scary to wait and see if it will happen.

We have a neurologist and have had her in physical therapy since she was a week old.

Thanks so much!
Shelly

I posted a video on YouTube where you can see the healing process of my daughter: http://youtube.com/watch?v=wxztZELUoGo

You got to remember that every injury and healing process is different.

Try to get the best medical assistance. Preferable a BPI specialist.

John

Has the doctors done a ENG to see what nerves are affected? That will play a large factor in the recovery process of lack of. My son was 7wks old when we noticed no improvement and a ENG was done to find out he had C5 and C6 and C7 torn apart. He also had Horners Syndrome. At that time we knew we had to find someone that specialized in this injury.

Not all specialists use EMG for diagnosis in BPI. It is not 100% reliable and can give both false-positive (incorrectly optimistic) as well as false-negative (not detecting damage) results. Our son saw two top specialists in the field (and a number of lesser ones) during the period where we were deciding if he needed primary surgery, and none one of them used EMG to determine if he needed surgery. They all considered functional return to be the most important criterion for deciding on primary surgery.

Intraoperative testing done during primary surgery (where they stimulate the exposed nerves directly, at the roots where they emerge from the spinal cord and before and after any neuromas) as well as histology and other tests on the dissected nerves themselves are the only way to definitely determine what the damage is from a BPI.

Kate

Thank you so much for the video. It helped so much to see! I can't wait for my husband to come home to see it! Shelly

Our neurologist did suggest an EMG at the 1 month appointment, but I wasn't sure if it was necessary at this point. I haven't found a BPI specialist in any of my searches in Connecticut, but I have considered switching neurologists because he doesn't seem to know a lot about BPI.

Shelly:
We have a medical resource page on this website, please go visit it. You will find doctors there by state, with their contact information and a questionaire they filled out.

As you are in CT, Dr. Waters in Boston isn't too far, Drs. Abbot and Price are in NYC and Dr. Kozin is in Philly. All of them have experience with BPI. I would call or email a few of them, and just get the ball rolling.

Good luck,
claudia

Thanks! I made an appointment with Dr. Waters.

My son only moved his hand and fingers right after he was born. Within about a week, he had started moving his shoulder a little bit. His arm would almost "jump" up and down but he didn't lift it up very far. He first bent his elbow at around 6-8 weeks I think. He's 16 months now and he's had pretty good recovery. He still has trouble completely straightening his arm, it's sightly bent and he tends to hold is up at the shoulder quite a bit. These are the things we are working on in PT. Are you going to PT?

I am in CT also, I will email you.