United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Dr. Pape went into great detail about wheelbarrelling and why it's bad for our children. She spent quite a bit of time on it actually.

She said that if shoulders were meant to bear the weight of our entire bodies then our shoulder joints would have been constructed differently and they weren't. If you look at knee joints - there is a great deal of padding and cartilage and fluid etc. And the shoulder joint is completely different - very little cartilage in comparison, etc. "we're bipeds not quadrapeds"

Also a huge piece specific to our children is that our kid's bones are very thin and brittle and break very easily and the kids that don't have sensation might not even feel it or know that it's broken. She said that she's seen SO MANY broken humerus bones and clavicles.

She also said that the hand positioning that some of our kids have would just add more problems to the mix. And if there was poor shoulder positioning (subluxation or dislocation or contractures) - then weight bearing on a malpositioned shoulder would damage the joint - maybe irreparably (sp?).

And then she finished with "and when they fall - they bump their noses!"

There were a lot of big sighs in the audience and gasps. I don't think that anyone looked at it from this viewpoint before...

more tidbits to come as I remember them....

-francine

Francine,
That is very interesting because Dr. Nath told me that my daughter should do the wheelbarrel every day to strengthen her triceps.
Michele

hmmmm - we should have Dr. Pape have a little talk with Dr. Nath...

We were told by Dr. Kozin that doing the wheelbarrell also helps with the length of the arm (some how). He didn't recommend it for Kayla though because her shoulder dislocates very easy.

Angie

I also meant to say thanks Francine for the information for those of us who could not attend. Please continue to give us any information you can.

Angie

Errrrrrr............

All of this stuff just gets a little confusing to me. I REALLY hate that part of all this. Ironically, just today we just met with someone directly trained by Dr. Pape who specifically told us to do wheelbarrow with our child and that it was really good and very important to do. The therapist even did it right there as he was explaining how important it was for children with these injuries.

We too have been told by TCH therapist to do this exercise as well and have been doing it at home regularly. Our local therapist also do the wheelbarrow with her.

How do you ever know who is truly right??????? It stinks!

Guest,
I really believe it depends on the extent of the childs injury. If the child is prone to subluxation, I think the wheelbarrow is probably not a good idea. I remeber Dr Pape saying that when doing any weight bearing activity, make sure the hand is in the proper postion when the palm is face down. The pressure the shoulder is taking has to be at the correct alignment with the arm. ex... you dont want your child to have their hand twisted in a funny way and then apply pressure. I'm going to e-mail Dr Nath about this and maybe have him contact Dr Pape. We need some clarification.

Guest - I hear ya! and it does stink! they have no idea how they drive us nuts! We just want to do the right thing.

...from a physiological perspective, wheelbarrowing can be a great exercise but you must be aware of where your children's arms are. Always allow the weight to be on top of the joint. Injuries occur when the weight is on the joint in an unatural angle....i.e., when the child reaches out too far and the joint bears the weight poorly. I would suggest that if you plan to do this strenthening exercise, you make the child move the hands forward only 6" or less at a time. (while I am not a doctor...my own shoulder injury and knowledge of exercise physiology has allowed me to offer my advice, I hope it helps) Mac

Dr. Pape also said no push ups that day. My son does push ups at school during gym warm up and has done them here as well. I did email DR. Nath about clarification on this and Nicholas specifically. He does have good function and return. Any one have any input on push ups??? Stacey