Brachial Girl
- May 12, 2016
- 2 min
Forget your shoelaces!
Having a Brachial plexus Injury can really limit the clothes and shoes you wear. That might not sound like a big issue, but to us it is. It can affect our jobs, health and fitness, self confidence and our social lives with friends and family. We can learn, with lots of practice, to wear some things that at first seem impossible, but it takes time, and adds to our frustration. So many of us choose to stay home rather than deal with not being able to wear something that is requ
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Brachial Girl
- May 5, 2016
- 2 min
Adaptive Workouts and Weights
Just because we can only use one arm doesn't mean we can't workout, strengthen and be fit. There are in fact many organisations around the world who can help develop workouts and weight lifting programs for for people with brachial plexus injuries. It's an important part of our recovery for our BPI arms, but also the strengthen our working arm. Overuse of our good arm can become a serious problem, so a regular strengthening program is a great idea. Done in moderation of cours
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Brachial Girl
- May 4, 2016
- 4 min
What Does Brachial Plexus Injury Pain Feel Like?
The nerve pain that I experience from my brachial plexus injury, is very unpleasant. Brachial plexus injury pain is very different for everyone. Many of you will know exactly what I'm talking about. Some of you might have it worse than I do. Many of you reading this may get a better understanding of the pain your loved one or patient deals with all the time. People with birth brachial plexus injuries may not feel as much, if any, pain like this. Please Mummies, don't panic ab
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Brachial Girl
- May 4, 2016
- 2 min
Neuroplasticity - changing your brain
I confess that I don't know very much about neuroplasticity, but I do know a lot about nerve pain. If neuroplasticity does infact work, and can help people with brachial plexus injuries (and other chronic pain and conditions) to lessen our lifelong pain, then I happily share this article with you all, and hope that in turn, you will share it with others. Here's the article and below that is a great infographic - "This Nifty Infographic Is a Great Introduction to Neuroplastici
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Brachial Girl
- May 3, 2016
- 1 min
A big thank you for your donation Marleen!
On behalf of Brachial Plexus Australia, I would like to thank Marleen Boom for her generous donation, which helped cover the costs of our legal public notice advising our intention to incorporate the association. Without Marleen, I'd still be only thinking about the future of this organisation! <3 Thank you Marleen! <3 If you would like to donate to help with the costs of registering the association and registering with ASIC, please click here - DONATE Feel free to share the
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Brachial Girl
- May 3, 2016
- 6 min
10 Ways to Sleep with a Brachial Plexus Injury
After my accident, like everybody with brachial plexus injuries, I was forced to sleep on my back. I HATED it so much. I never slept at night. I would sleep 2 hours here and 2 hours there, in bed, on the couch ... anywhere and from pure exhaustion. I was so exhausted and angry I started trying everything. I spent hours every day experimenting, trying to manoevre my arm around, using pillows, in the sling, out of the sling, with the wrist brace, without the wrist brace, and ev
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Brachial Girl
- May 3, 2016
- 1 min
Making a Difference
"Each day when I awake I know I have one more day to make a difference in someone's life" ~ James Mann Something that makes a HUGE difference in my mental attitude when I wake up everyday, is knowing that today, I might find some information, meet someone, know something, know the right contact or just be there for someone, and truly make a positive difference in a persons life. Sure, there is a personal sense of satisfaction, but knowing that in some way, no matter how small
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Brachial Girl
- May 2, 2016
- 2 min
I'm in the newspaper again!
The Perth Southern Gazette has just published a follow up article about me and my dreams for Brachial Plexus Australia! ............... THE past year has been a tough journey for Victoria Park resident Rebecca Cochran but it’s also awoken a fiery desire for her to continue to help others in similar situations. A motorcycle accident in March 2015 left Ms Cochran with a brachial plexus injury.Initially, it rendered her right arm near useless but a year on Ms Cochran has had the
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Brachial Girl
- May 1, 2016
- 2 min
OMG I'm a Uni Student!
So I've enrolled in a Diploma of Counselling through the Australian College of Applied Psychology and a Diploma of Life Coaching through Estrada College which are both online courses through 2 top Australian colleges. They both start in May. I'll have to do a lot of work placement, and submit videos of me doing sessions with "clients" for assessment. Guess my husband will be getting some free sessions hahaha. I'm so excited about it! I can't wait to get stuck into it! 2 at on
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Brachial Girl
- Apr 30, 2016
- 13 min
A Day In the Life of Brachial Girl 2015
I came across this story I wrote last year, and thought I would share it. I wrote it at the end of May 2015. I never got around to sharing it, so I thought in honour of my blog's 1st birthday, I'll post it as a bit of a throw back. So much of it is still the same as a typical day now, except I don't have a job, so I pretty much spend every day with my PJs on, un-brushed hair, no makeup or smudged makeup from whenever I last painted my face. Geez that makes me sound horribly d
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Brachial Girl
- Apr 29, 2016
- 1 min
Happy Birthday Blog !!!
So today marks my blog's 1st birthday! 1 year ago today, I decided to share my story, search for people like me, and give Australia a presence in the brachial plexus community, What a journey the last 12 months has been! I want to thank you all for all the love and support you have shown, the strength you've given me and the community you have welcomed me into. We all need to be there for each other. Brachial plexus injuries are horrible things to live through, whether you we
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Brachial Girl
- Apr 21, 2016
- 1 min
What is Occupational Therapy
What everyone should know about occupational therapy, including what it actually is! I love going to my OT sessions. I get so much out of it and learn how to use every day tasks to exercise and improve my arm. "The goal of occupational therapy is to improve the quality of life of people with physical and mental challenges. And to make that even more awesome, occupational therapists accomplish this by creating individualized treatments based on what activities and occupations
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Brachial Girl
- Apr 13, 2016
- 1 min
Deltoid and Supraspinatus
So small miracle today … besides the HUGE improvement in my deltoids … my supraspinatus has decided it wants to work now. It’s intermittent but Jaslyn, my OT, managed to get it on film! The snow angel movement looks a bit bizarre, amd before filming I managed to do it with a much more normal look to it, but ….. here we are! #brachialplexus #brachialplexusinjury #brachialplexusinjuryaustralia #erbspalsy #nerveinjury #nerves #muscles #birthinjury #nervetransfer #disability #bra
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Brachial Girl
- Apr 13, 2016
- 1 min
Trauma Survivors
Trauma survivors often have symptoms instead of memories. Those with traumatic brachial plexus injuries are no exception. Depression
Irratibility
Loss of interest
Disassociation
Numbing
Decreased concentration
Insomnia
Emotional overwhelm
Hopelessness
Loss of a sense of the future
Shame and worthlessness
Little or no memories
Nightmares
Flashback
Hypervigilance
Mistrust
Anxiety
Panic attacks
Chronic pain
Headaches
Substance abuse
Eating disorders
Feeling
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Brachial Girl
- Mar 31, 2016
- 1 min
Flat as a tack
Hey everyone. So at the moment I’m feeling really flat. I’m trying really hard to find a job but no luck. I apply for a heap everyday but the job market here in Perth is really screwed up! I’m so bored! All I do is clean, cook and watch TV! I’m going crazy! This is not who I am! The flip side however, is that I do have some things to do, my husband’s business management chores, bits of work for my own clients, the marketing course I signed up for …. but do you think I can bri
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Brachial Girl
- Feb 24, 2016
- 1 min
Deltoid and Tricep
24 Feb 2016. 8 months post nerve transfer. Deltoids and triceps progress. #brachialplexus #brachialplexusinjury #brachialplexusinjuryaustralia #erbspalsy #nerveinjury #nerves #muscles #birthinjury #nervetransfer #disability #brachialgirl #blog #paralysis #subluxation #ot #occupationaltherapy #reinervate #supraspinatus #infraspinatu #Triceps #Deltoid #TeresMinor #musculocutaneous #brachialis #tricep #bicep #brainsignal #JaslynCullen
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Brachial Girl
- Dec 23, 2015
- 1 min
Biceps against gravity
A bit of bicep action against gravity at last! Thanks to my OT, Jaslyn Cullen for filming www.jaslyncullen.com.au #brachialplexus #brachialplexusinjury #brachialplexusinjuryaustralia #erbspalsy #nerveinjury #nerves #muscles #nervetransfer #disability #brachialgirl #blog #surgery #nervesurgery #subluxation #bicepcurl #bicep #ot #occupationaltherapy #JaslynCullen
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Brachial Girl
- Oct 14, 2015
- 1 min
My Bicep Curls
Here’s a snippet of me doing bicep curls today with a 500gram weight on my wrist. Filmed by my lovely OT, Jaslyn Cullen. #brachialplexus #brachialplexusinjury #brachialplexusinjuryaustralia #erbspalsy #nerveinjury #nerves #muscles #birthinjury #nervetransfer #disability #brachialgirl #blog #surgery #paralysis #subluxation #ot #occupationaltherapy #reinervate #scared #success #strength #bicepcurl #bicep #JaslynCullen
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Brachial Girl
- Oct 7, 2015
- 1 min
EMS machine experiment
Experimenting for the next week with this little item. Let’s see if it helps stimulate my newly working muscles to get stronger! I’ll post a review in a week. This is a TENS and EMS machine. I”m using the EMS program on my bicep and anterior deltoid. The TENS function is believed to provide pain relief. #brachialplexus #brachialplexusinjury #brachialplexusinjuryaustralia #erbspalsy #nerveinjury #nerves #muscles #birthinjury #nervetransfer #disability #motorcycleaccident #trau
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Brachial Girl
- Oct 7, 2015
- 1 min
Brachial Plexus Autralia
RAISING AWARENESS IN AUSTRALIA FOR BRACHIAL PLEXUS AND ERB’S PALSY INJURIES Did you know … The reported incidence of birth related brachial plexus injuries can vary from 2-5 of 1000 births. Out of these around 80% or more resolve themselves. The rest will go through multi-discipline treatments, including OT and PT therapies, nerve and tendon transfer surgeries and other treatments. Besides the birth injury, other causes of brachial plexus injuries include car, motorcycle, spo
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