Recovery exercises

Recovery exercises and rehab are very important for this injury. You may quickly realize that it is not feasible to visit a physio every day - it would be challenging, both organizational and cost wise.

During my days in occupational therapy, at the beginning of the injury, I noticed the environment and what could be expected of a continuous visit to that hospital (government sponsored). I tried a physio with alleged previous experience with BPI, and the prospect was not any better.

On top of the mandatory nerve transfer exercises, I came up with a few series of exercises I've been doing since I was able to slightly move the arm. I don't know if these are the most optimal I could do, but I've heard that people doing physiotherapy on their own still can achieve decent recovery, so I thought I couldn't get too wrong on them.

Before being able to trigger functional movement, I believe the most important is to send stimuli to the nerve. This is mainly achieved via the nerve transfer exercises your physician has given you (activate the muscles innervating the nerve stomps). At some point there will be a tiny movement, triggering that movement several times a day, multiple repetitions, will complement the initial exercises.

About 6 months after the surgery I started going to the pool to practice arm movement. In there, any tiny movement you may have will be amplified. A few months later, I started riding a city bicycle, where I could feel constant deltoid stimulation while having a comfortable upright position. After that, running provided me with a constant deltoid stimulation for the duration of the run. I also have additional weights exercises to strengthen the triceps, and the forearm in general.

This is a long process that goes on by years, where you can only measure meaningful progress by weeks or months.

Making arm exercises part of your daily routine might not be easy, but will definitely pay off as a long term investment. I wake up one hour earlier just to get started on my exercises, which will be partially repeated along the day. This is already part of my daily routine, like having breakfast or brushing my teeth. An unexpected bonus to this, playing educational videos while doing the exercises is giving me additional knowledge on several subjects. Time well spent !