The human body is phenomenal when it comes to taking care of itself. When you have light bruises, scrapes, and cuts, your body will heal the affected site in no time. Still, there is much the human body cannot do on its own, especially in terms of musculoskeletal movement. Therefore, in those cases, you will require intervention from a licensed physiological therapist.
Physiological therapy combines different treatment options to work in unison and provide medical relief to the patient. Physiotherapy uses science-based knowledge of how muscles move to bring about healing.
Erb’s palsy is a prime example of poor muscular movement and control. Erb’s palsy is a brachial plexus palsy trauma, in which your child may have suffered an injury to their arm or shoulder, causing severe muscular weaknesses.
Since this is the most common form of birth injury, accounting for over half of America’s legal lawsuit cases, finding help is not hard.
Here’s how a licensed professional can look after your child’s condition:
1. Help In Identifying the Extent of The Damage
A physiotherapist will administer specific tests to understand the location of your child’s injury and the severity of the condition. Not all cases of Erb’s Palsy are similar. Some children sustain manageable case or brachial plexus trauma, which will heal independently without requiring targeted treatment.
However, if your child exhibits unusual weakness in the arm, a physiotherapist can help you identify the cause.
Among the common symptoms for Erb’s palsy are limp shoulders and difficulty extending the arm. Most likely cause of Erb’s palsy is medical negligence. Finding legal counsel for erb’s palsy lawsuit cases is not difficult since it is, unfortunately, one of the most common birth injuries caused by medical negligence.
With the right diagnosis from a physiotherapist, you will be able to gather evidence of negligence and win the compensation amount, so that you can pursue advanced treatment options for the health of your child.
2. Educate You on Proper At-Home Care
You will need to work on building your child’s muscular strength and development outside of the hospital or clinic. Physiotherapy is a constant process of stimulating, resting, and protecting the muscles. So, as the specialist works on your child’s atrophied muscles, you need to repeat those exercises at home as well. A physiotherapist will also set some ground rules for ensuring proper at-home care for your child.
You will learn about positions that minimize stress and maximize healing, such as techniques on putting the child down without exacerbating their Erb’s palsy. You will also learn ways to carry the baby without letting their arm dangle, which can cause them intense pain. A support system will keep the impacted area steady, safe from degradation, and progressively help the professional to focus on the nerves.
3. Introduces Flexibility
Erb’s palsy can make movement difficult for your child. If their arm continues to dangle, the muscles become stiff and tight, causing discomfort to the baby. Your child may cry frequently and be irritable most of the time. A physiotherapist will help you care for the baby in a way that soothes their muscles from the pain.
Through passive and active stretching techniques, the specialist will apply pressure on the baby’s arm, stimulating the muscles to stretch and ironing out the stiffness. The professionals will also incorporate arm extending exercises that will help the child get used to the range of motion.
4. Facilitate Muscle Tissue Development
When muscles don’t get used often, they start to deteriorate. Your child may need help in developing muscular strength. A physiotherapist can help your child master the basic motor skills. If you have a toddler, the physiotherapist will advise you to put slight pressure on their injured arm and encourage them to stand up using arm support only. With babies, the physiotherapist will make them crawl and let the baby gently add weight on the injured arm.
Physiotherapists will also encourage the baby to interact with toys or pick up objects, such as hold a ball or a wooden block, to encourage use of the arm muscles.
These activities will be easy to handle and will not discomfort your child. Continuously engaging the baby this way will help them build flexibility in their fingers, strength to extend the arm, and hold an object, even if it’s for a minute.
As your child gets older, the games also become more challenging and encourage development, such as seating your child in front of a computer and encouraging them to push keys on a keyboard.
5. Stimulates Muscle Movement
A specialist will also use other methods outside of exercise to stimulate muscle function and mobility. Exercises help keep muscles supple and flexible, but specific methods ensure that basic motor skills are also refined.
These can include using an electrical stimulus that will interact with the nerve signals, causing the muscle to contract and relax, therefore, encouraging movement. The external stimulation may help neurons make faster routes to travel toward the synapse.
The therapist may also use a constraint-Induced movement technique to temporarily immobilize the functioning arm and encourage usage of the impacted arm. Repeated tasks, such as stacking building blocks, painting pictures, and picking up snacks also produce a stimulus that helps the muscles get engaged. Continuous usage will help your child gain autonomy over their arm and the ability to use it with minimal support needed.
6. Minimizes Chances of an Injury
When your child is undergoing treatment for Erb’s Palsy, you should remember that they are still far from being stable. So, you will need to modify your house, your car, and the child’s lifestyle, so they don’t trip and hurt themselves.
The physiotherapist will recommend support beams, arm protectors, or even a splint to elevate the child’s impacted area.
This will make it easier for the baby to move around, and if they do fall, the injury won’t reverse progress. Protection also includes cushioning the blow, guidelines on hand jerking, and preventing the child from having a meltdown and damaging their arm further.
7. Help In Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle
Treatment doesn’t end with exercises and muscle movement; it also includes a comprehensive overview of the patient’s lifestyle. You will receive guidelines on an adequate diet for your baby to prevent obesity and promote muscle mass.
The instructions will also include at-home exercise techniques, monitoring inflammation, discomfort, redness, and even massage techniques to stimulate blood flow. Physiotherapy and recovery from a condition like Erb’s palsy is a long journey. Until all hands are on deck, it will not be possible for your child to heal.
Final Thoughts
Erb’s palsy is a birth injury that decapacitates your child’s arm and shoulder, causing intense muscle weakness and immobility. However, a good physiotherapist can help your child get better, regain strength and develop muscle mass and movement. You also get the opportunity to file for a lawsuit and get a fair amount of compensation for treatment. Physiotherapists will educate you about at-home care, exercise your child’s arm and provide guidelines for an appropriate lifestyle change. Your continued support will help your baby get better under supervised care until they achieve sufficient autonomy.
