Tie up the good arm: usefull or bad

[admin]

We did a passive "restraint". For us that meant that we had the unaffected arm hold a stuffed animal during therapy so that he could watch the other arm do all the fun stuff. He became a partner during therapy. It worked well.

[Jake'smom]

I haven't had to deal with this yet, but...Null I think you're being unfair here. Sometimes as parents we have to put our children through things that they don't like for their own good. I just became a parent but I believe that part of being a good parent is being able to make the right choice for your child even if it upsets them or let's face it-you. I'm not saying that you should definitely restrain your child's arm, John, but if you and the therepist decide that that is what is best-don't feel guilty about it. Your making a decision that could possibly help your child in the future. She will thank you for that later even if she doesn't understand it right now! Good luck making this tough decision.

[Jake'smom]

John,
Listen to Amy! She is going through this herself..what better person to listen to. She says it would have been a good thing. I also think that referring to it as encouragement therepy is awesome!! She won't even remember it probably and the opportunity to help her far outweighs the negative(temporary) effects. I'm seriously considering this now for my son when it's appropriate.

[Ashley's mom]

When my daughter started using her arms, she always favored the uninjured one. We would hold or restrain her uninjured arm which forced her to use the injured one. We did this for many months, though I don't remember if the therapist told us to do it. She is now 19 years old and alot of things that happened then are a blur. One thing I definitely remember is she never put up a fuss about it. She was too busy playing or eating!

I am fairly new to this site and am grateful for the support and information available. However, I don't know enough about this injury to give advice. One thing I do know is, she doesn't remember us restraining her and she made huge leaps using her injured arm during that time.

[admin]

Never did this, never will.
There are a million other ways to do proper therapy with the injured arm. I would okay this for a temporary situation such as therapy once weekly or something for no more than an hour. Sorry that most of you will disagree with me, but these are my feelings on this and I think it is cruel. Our children have enough adjustment to deal with, never mind not being able to use something that they have that works properly. JMHO.
~Krista~

[Jake'smom]

I think casting the arm sounds like an extreme thing. I was thinking just during therepy. Not 24/7. How frustrating that would be for a child or an adult!

[Kath]

Krista

I am with you on this one. If someone tries to hold my hands down I turn into an animal... It is the most frustrating experience.
I had babies when they would tie our hands down to the bed... ugh... I told them not to tie mine down because I would not be able to handle it.
The second baby they did it and I broke the straps with both arms... I was like a crazy lady.

I feel obpi kids have enough frustration on their own just trying to use their hands, arm. Why add insult by trying to frustrate them more.

I think a good test to see if you want to tie your child's hand down would be to restrict yourself.

l. Get kinesio tape and tape your arm in the same position as your child's.

2. Tie your arm to a belt so that you only have the same range of motion as your child.

3. Do this for two or three days before you tie up your child's unaffected arm.

I'm willing to bet that very few if any would make it a day taped up like this and living with the restrictions the children face.
The frustration will drive them crazy.

- jumping off my soap box-
This is just my own personal opinion about the way I would feel if someone did this to me.
This topic always stirs up very strong emotions for me even though I know the intentions are good...
I just can't imagine being in that position.

I think this type of therapy might help with an older child.
One who fully understands why your doing this to them and agrees to go along with it.

Kath adult/ROBPI

[katep]

Krista,

Yes, there are a lot of other ways to do therapy with the injured arm, but none of them induce the kind of focused concentration on using it than removing the 'crutch' of relying on the uninjured arm. I think having a more useful injured arm far outweighs any temporary frustration of not being "able to use something... that works properly".

We've involuntarily used restraint therapy for days at a time (through hospitalization IV being in the uninjured right arm/hand) and beyond the initial annoyance at the thing stuck in his right arm/hand, Joshua never expressed distress, and only a little frustration, with having to do everything with his left hand. And he his dexterity and use of his left arm increased *dramatically* each time.

When Ella had IVs in the hospital, did you put them in her injured arm or uninjured arm?

Kate

[admin]

Krista,

Glory, glory. I think that I have found a UBPN soul-mate. Very much respect your unequivocal statement regarding restraints. For a moment there I thought that I was going insane. So many people that respond in support of restraints for such a tender and young child. What frightened me most is that parents will elect some artificial means of "control" over arm use rather than that plain old, simple parent-child contact

[hope16_05]

I just want to clarify a little, When I said that I think the restraint therapy is a good idea I do not mean 24/7. Like I mentioned before I am only doing this therapy for about 30 minutes at a time at least once a week and sometimes more. I have not been doing this for long but it is helping a lot! My arm is getting so much stronger and for a change my left arm is getting a break.

I also remember having a surgery on my left wrist for a cyst that needed to be removed and had a brace that made my hand not as functional so I had to do a lot more with my right hand then too.

I think that this type of therapy will be way more effective before the child learns all the compensation and tricks. I bet in the long run they will be better off and maybe even have less pain. Maybe I am wrong but I know from my experience it is really hard to start using both hands when I know know how to do every thing with just one, and if I keep up this way--only using my left hand, then I see major overuse issues heading my way.\

Good luck with whatever you decide!
Amy 19 ROBPI from MN