I had a 30 y/o male patient present with a brachial plexus injury of
the
left upper extremity which occurred when he was a child. The patient
has
significant atrophy from the elbow proximal including the shoulder.
His
arm subluxes from the glenohumeral joint and tends to dislocate
anteriorly. He has active but weak elbow flexors and functions of
wrist
and hand are within normal limits considering his situation with a 50
lb grip strength.
He wants to address the dislocating shoulder but would like to deal
with the cosmesis better. He has never tried any orthosis previously
and
typically wears a long sleeve shirt to cover the arm. I am considering
a
hemi-sling type of orthosis custom fabricated but am interested if
anyone has
dealt with this type of case before and what was done for a successful
fitting. I will post your ideas and comments unless you request
otherwise. Thankyou in advance.
Martin Stevens, CPO
