United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

I need help with something? With the compensating that my 3 1/2 year old is doing, she is starting to show signs that it is affecting the curve of her spine or is this just my imagination? Does any one know how this affects the spine long term and is there something that I should be doing NOW? I have not been told by any doctor the affects on the spine. Please, if you have any thing on this matter, I would love to hear about it.

That is the reason PT/OT is very important for children. We compensate and thus cause more problems.

We played balance games when I was a child... I walked with book on the head and arms out to the side. This helps with posture. I have good pretty good posture because it was very important to my Mother and she stressed how I sat and walked etc... of course I thought she was a constant nag. But it worked for me.

Kath

Hi Cristy, my name is also Christy. My daughter, left side injury, started to really arch her back at about age four. She'd stick her stomach way forward. She had been doing this to compensate so that she could use her arm easier. She had an MRI to check her spine and they found that she had a slight scoliosis which was thought to probably be due to weak trunk muscles due to her birth injury. Our therapist recommended doing tons of stomach muscle exercises at home daily - sit ups, windshield wipers, crunches and that really helped her. Her posture really improved once we started the stomach exercises and her scoliosis went from a 13 deg to a 6 deg in months. Anyway - scoliosis (curvature of the spine) is one of the problems kids with BPI's can have due to their compensation and weak truck muscles. Your pediatrician can give you a referral if they feel it is needed to have your child's spine x-rayed. In our case - we just have to keep an eye on it now and have her x-rayed yearly. Your PT can help with muscle strengthening exercises and teach her how to use her muscles correctly. I hope this helps.

Hi,
I am 51 and right opbi. I have been seeing a rheumatologist for the past several months for viral and osteoarthritis. After a lower lumbar MRI, the doctor told me, among the herniated disc and pinched nerves was a scoliosis of the spine. When I told him that I was sure that this was the result of my injury and the years of using one side of my body to compensate, he told me NO. He said 15% of all people have a slight scoliosis. I still think mine is a result of the obpi, and I'm sticking to it. He doesn't even want to consider my back and spine troubles as being in any way related to the obpi, but I am almost certain that they are. It just makes sense. This is a top notch Philadelphia rheumatologist we're talking about, takes ages to see him. And he has helped me tremendously with my pain and arthritis...but he is oblivious to the obpi...probably because no one ever talked about it in his medical school classes, so he doesn't know what to say (?).
Anyway, Christy's suggestion about the PT saounds very reasonable....start young and nip this problems in the bud so that your child will not have all of these "crippling" spine problems that so many of us adult obpi seem to end up with!

Take Care,
-Stephanie