United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc. • How does your good arm feel compared to before injury?
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How does your good arm feel compared to before injury?

Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 9:12 pm
by rbwalton
I am curious how you all feel about your good arm, and hand. Does the good one still work OK, or do you find you also have occasional problems with it?

For me, I feel like my left arm (the good one) is not as good or as normal as it used to be. Doctors refuse to look at it, because everyone knows that BPN ONLY impacts one side. My left arm does not feel normal.

I probably need another doctor opinion, but most of the literature I have seen supports the "one side left OK" theory.

Re: How does your good arm feel compared to before injury?

Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:47 pm
by rbwalton
Update-
I had wondered about this because my own left hand seems to have tremors when certain specific things are done- most commonly, pulling up the covers at night while in bed. Now, I see a few mentions of this in web sites as being possible, although not very common in BPN. I was afraid it might mean that I had some other disease that may not be as easy to deal with.

Re: How does your good arm feel compared to before injury?

Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:56 pm
by eolson
I would ask to see a physical therapist. Were you seeing a BPI specialist doctor?

If you are overusing your uninjured arm (and I bet you are) then you could use some help analyzing what is going on, mechanically, and how to strengthen it or avoid further injury.

I've worked with 2 physical therapists in my adult life when issues started presenting, and they helped a lot.

From your posts I gather your injury is recent? Is your left arm now much stronger or about like it always was?

Re: How does your good arm feel compared to before injury?

Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:04 pm
by rbwalton
BPI specialist- No, I had to tell them what my injury was. They had no clue. Originally, this was workman's comp, and only on the right arm. That being the case, they could not, or would not even look at my left arm unless I filed a separate claim for the left. And, it is not bad enough to do that. Injury was first in 2000 for my hand,and then again in Oct 2006 for my shoulder. Like I said, I now see info here about possible tremors in BPN,so that may explain what is going on with the left side. Left arm is similar to before, but in general, I am weaker. I could still do 20 or so pushups after injury in 2006, but now, I can't do any. That dropped off quickly in the first couple of months of 2007.

> I would ask to see a physical therapist. Were you
> seeing a BPI specialist doctor?
>
> If you are overusing your uninjured arm (and I bet
> you are) then you could use some help analyzing what
> is going on, mechanically, and how to strengthen it
> or avoid further injury.
>
> I've worked with 2 physical therapists in my adult
> life when issues started presenting, and they helped
> a lot.
>
> From your posts I gather your injury is recent? Is
> your left arm now much stronger or about like it
> always was?