United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi everyone,
I am 19 years old and i have had a brachial plexus injury in my right arm since childbirth. I recently came across this NFL athlete named Adrian Clayborn and he happened to have the same disability as I. His recent success in the NFL has inspired me to take up weightlifting in order to gain better strength in my right arm. However, I am having difficulties. Although i can carry the dumbell, I am unable to do proper bicep curls due to a muscle imbalance between the biceps and triceps. This is very discouraging for me and I really want to improve my muscular physique and strength in the right arm. Has anyone come across this problem before? If so how did you overcome it? Would really appreciate the feedback.

Thanks,
Ben

the best and safest thing to do at this point is to see an occupational or physical therapist to evaluate how much your hand/arm is capable of handling. every injury is different. some people can develop more strength than others.

Will do thanks.

Hi Ben
Jmar , is 100 % right, posting and helping in person is the issue. When you see the Doc than more of us can help more Keep us posted
Tom

Over the past year I have been going to the gym and working out at home with the help of the Insanity programs. I find at the gym that the machines are probably the best way to work out for the simple fact that both arms are doing the work to lift the same weight. Using free weights require stabilizing muscles that might not be strong enough or present at all. Also, push ups will help to build that muscle a bit. Start off on your knees and don't worry if you can't do any at all to begin with....you will slowly build muscle and eventually be able to bust out 10-15 of them. Of course, these are all things that have worked for me and you situation might be different than mine. Hope this helped.....Good luck!

-Joe

I thought about this and regaining use
Its more than going to the gym and lifting weights and the limitation of doing so.
Its more about strengthen what you can to assist your good arm.
So if you stay in a lower range of weight or even just use Isometrics to improve usage you can its far better than further damaging by pushing to far.
When I think back , Gaining and strengthen grasp and some forearm strength is all I could do. I could only raise my arm a few inches and its all I ever got in 61 years.
I focus on my good arm and it turned out to have the strength of two arms in one over time. The strength came more from adapting to doing activities I could overtime by overcoming the limitation . Just going to the gym just focus on what I could not improve
I found by strengthen my limitation and increase my strength in my good arm I end up to drive a semi , load trucks up to 40,000 lb. at UPS and driving and unloading semis on deliveries. I should say I am a glutton for pain doing this for years with birth ebs
To me it was more to gain what I could to help my arms work together than just weight training and the disappointment of inability to increase range It was more about what the happiness I could find by things I could learn to do with assist my good arm doing things by adapting gaining strength in my limitation was a side affect of having fun
Just a thought
Tom