United Brachial Plexus Network

I am a mother of a younger child with a elbow contracture, and I am aware that these injuries and their progression all differ, but I am wondering if some of you could share your experiences with elbow/bicep contractures. I am wondering if throughout your childhood and adolescence if it continued to get worse, or did it pretty much stay the same after a certain age? And if so, what age? Did you do any therapy or splinting for it when you were a child?

Also, wondering if you feel that your elbow contracture interferred on a functional level and do you think it actually made specific tasks more difficult or not really?

Thank you.

My 11 year old son Gavin, has quite a straight arm and
so has no real problems with his elbow contracting, however within our Erb's Palsy Group here in the UK we have a number of children who do suffer with elbow contractures. There doesn't seem to be any way of predicting those children who will devlop contractures and those who won't.
One thing which we have found to be beneficial in cases of elbow contracture are splints.
Many children have splints made by Occupational therapists or Physiotherapists. These are worn at night by the child and removed during the day. The outcome is usually very good, with the contracture reducing significantly.
It is quite a non-invasive method or treating a child,compared with surgery, and I think many families in our group consider it to be very beneficial.
I can't comment on the functional difficulties faced by someone with such a contracture, as my own child doesn't have one and I haven't experienced one first hand, but I am sure some of our older friends would be happy to post on the effects they have experienced due to a contracture
I hope you are successful in your quest for information.
Karen

I have some splints here on the splint page
http://www.injurednewborn.com/maia/splints.html

They are using dynamic splints on biceps contractures ... these splints put a small amount of pressure into the joint to stretch the tendon. It helps with some and doesn't help with others... I am guessing that it all depends on the nature of the imbalance itself. Also - they also recommend air splints sometimes... this is a splint that you blow up and it stretches the arm, you use it for weight bearing activities.

A contracture can occur from a muscle imbalance... one side contracting too much because the side that opposes it is weaker (even in the least bit it seems). So if you stretch the one side - but you don't do anything to strengthen the opposing side - then you still have the imbalance. This is why you are hearing so much about e-stim these days, too.

Also - sometimes a biceps contracture can be a secondary issue to a dislocation. The contracture may actually relax once the bone is put back in (and sewed in).

Also - the arm may be bent up without a biceps contracture - the case of the Erb's Engram - just a posture which may or may not have a contracture associated with it.

So as you see - there are many reasons and fixes... best to ask your bpi specialist. Every child and every person is so different.

-francine

My daughter, Stephanie, has elbow contracture. Her PT said that it caused from the joint freezing up, because of not being used. The doctor's at Children's stated that it would continue to contract until she had lost all use of her arm, if something wasn't done. Her something is Jamie, her PT. she has had 4 PT sessions and we can already see a change. She is using it more and it is somewhat straighter.

Stephanie does a lot of stretching exercises and her PT does a lot of massaging and pinching on her. He told me he had to mobilize it in order for her to be able to use it.

I still would really like to hear from a few of you adults out there. Can anyone share their experience???

Hi, I'm 49,right BPI with elbow contraction. PT when I was 8 or 9 straighteed the elbow alot,but as I grew oldr the elbow contracted more and more--I presume becaude it didin't get stretched. I couldn't do it myself,and insurance wouldn't keep paying for an "old "injury.
We adults---and I haven't heard of anyone that does'ntsuffer from overuse--i.e. arthritis, carpal tunnel, neck and back problems---Anyway we have all had full lives-careers-family etc. most of us wouldn't trade te years we spent running like crazy people at our jobs and raising our children -for the extra 5-10 years we might have had if we would have babied our arms, As for me, I'm glad I did as much as I could for as long as I could. At this point, I have a meeting woth the Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation to see if I can work again by using assistive devices--such as a lightweight laptop-voice activated software- adaptations for my car--that kind of thing. My mind still works--at least most of the time. I've been on Social Security for a year and a half-I'm bored and need more income. If it doesn't work--well-- at least I tried.
One of my points is-don't baby your child when he gets older. My mom would never let me do anything. She was afraid I'd drop the iron,break a dish etc. When I was 16, I went to work at a nursing home as a bedmaker. The owner told me to quit babying myself and helped me to become a nurse aide. I later went to nursing school and worked for 15 years. The last few , I traveled all over the country and taught staff in hospitals and nursing homes to use a specific computer program.I had to go on the disability because I couldn't keep up with the handwriting and carying heavy equipment through airports--lugging heavy suitcases out of the trunk etc. I don't regret a minute of it.
Sorry to be so disjointed. Pat