United Brachial Plexus Network

My Jessica is 6 years old and LOBPI. Her older brother plays the violin and she wants to play as well. Her injury is "mostly" recovered and she can pretty much fully supinate, but it is uncomfortable for her to keep her elbow down and to get her hand around the neck of the violin to the strings is uncomfortable. She "can" do it, but she is compensating. When I asked her if that was comfortable, she said she'd rather hold the violin with her right arm. She really never does anything with her elbow down. She is right handed so she needs to hold it with her left.

I was just curious if there were any OBPI violin players or anyone who has tried and was not comfortable. The investment in the violin and the lessons are quite expensive so if it won't work well for her, I'd rather re-direct her interests to another instrument!

TIA

From my experience with my daughter... Maia can only play instruments where she is working WITH gravity rather than against gravity. Also, you have to consider the positioning of the hand. The movements that most often get "tight" with age and growth are external rotation and supination (with many children but not all) -- so I would go with an instrument, once again, that doesn't go against the grain but goes with the natural tendency of where the arm is moving into.

Maia plays multiple instruments and doesn't have a lot of use of her arm but she has a medium pincer grasp and she has wrist flexion and she has about 40 degrees of forward shoulder flexion so with that amount of function she's able to play cello (backwards), piano, keyboards, drums and glockenspiel.

Violin is out of range because she cannot keep her arm up and she has no supination, not even to neutral. Clarinet was out of range because she is internally rotated and doesn't have enough finger strength to press the buttons and hold them down.
Piano is ok but she creates her own left hand chords because it's 2 fingers she is working with.. but she can't play for a long time because of the posturing. Drums are the best for her because it's the least straining on the shoulder because Lefty just doesn't do too much, righty does all the hard work.

you can see her drumming at www.youtube.com/franlitz I suggest you go to the right side and look at the video called Tax Man (the Beatles Song) -- in the middle of that song, the guitarist moves away and you'll be able to see clearly exactly what lefty does (and doesn't do).

I suggest you take your daughter to a music store - call in advance and set up an appointment -- so that you can go there and try different instruments out and see what might be the best for your daughter. The violin might not be the best choice, but cello might be fine because you could always velcro a bow to the hand and use the body to move the bow backwards and forwards.

Of course, each child is differnet and I have no idea what your child's functions and abilities are like -- I can only talk to you based on my experience with my own child. But you guys will figure it out....

-francine
francine@litzfamily.com

I played for a year. We had it strung backwards so I could use my right arm to hold the neck and the left hand did the bowing. I am LOBPI. I did the same for the guitar.
I had a friend who played the violin the same way and she went far with it. They just put her at the end for concerts so she did not get hit/hit others with her arm.

Hi! My Lexi plays the cello. She has a severe OBPI in her right arm - cannot lift her arm at the shoulder at all. I play violin and she desperately wanted to, so we compromised with the cello. To be sure, there are major modifications with the way she holds the instrument, her bowing technique, even the way she sits. But the girl plays that darn cello. And she plays it well!! We are amazed. Of course, we probably shouldn't be, since these kids seem to be able to accomplish just about anything they put their minds to.

Try it. Try anything. And take advice from Francine - she is a wealth of knowledge and always willing to offer helpful advice. She sure has helped us out.

Amy Clark