I have just recently found the amazing benefits of the Bamboo brace, and was searching the internet for support for my children with hemiparesis. And whalla!! Speaking with Michael and trying the brace with many children has made me a believer!!! The support needed for any weightbearing position, is now individual...not just a "one support fits all". Taking my hands off of some of my children has been so helpful..as they are so determined to be independent and they are so proud of themselves. Parents seem to love it, as it is easy to don, and not cumbersome to the child. We have begun ordering them through the Illinois Early Intervention Program. This is a tool that all therapist's dream about, and so glad that Michael took the time to fullfill our dream.... (Posted on 3/7/12)

I'd just like to tell you how much of a difference the bamboo brace has made
to Aleisha. Aleisha is 4 in March and has a has a global developmental
delay. I ordered the bamboo brace because of her constant mouthing of her
hands. Since wearing the bamboo braces on both arms, she has much more
control and we are finding she is concentrating more on other things. Although she puts her hands straight back in her mouth when the braces come off we are hoping that eventually she'll mouth less and less when unbraced. Thank you for developing The Bamboo Brace, it's fantastic!

Jackie W
New South Wales, Australia (Posted on 2/27/12)

I am a school physical therapist. I currently am using the Bamboo Brace with an 81/2 year old student who has Lissencephaly. Her hands were always in her mouth. The skin on her hands and around her mouth were quite red and raw. This behavior was limiting her ability to participate in functional activities in the classroom. Using the Bamboo Brace helped her keep her hands away from her face and stay more focused on using her head switch and using her hands to explore her environment including a variety of textures. She tolerates the brace well during activities and seems comfortable wearing it. (Posted on 2/16/12)

My son, Sevil is 4 years old and was adopted from Haiti shortly after he turned two. He has CP (hemiplegia) and hadn't received any therapy at all before he came home to us. With a rigorous OT/PT regimen, he has made tremendous progress. Sevil's OT recommended the Bamboo Brace to us when we were looking for something to counteract the tone in Sevil's affected arm. He's got great range of motion and decent voluntary control, but when he's running, playing, climbing, etc. his arm clenches right up into a classic CP tonal pattern.
We originally ordered the toddler size, and were having difficulty with getting the proper angles. Michael was fantastic to work with - provided personal advice on usage, new therapy ideas, and eventually got Sevil into the next larger size. (Sevil is 40" tall, and 4" from elbow to armpit) The new brace is fantastic. I was originally concerned that Sevil would hate it and remove it (it IS conveniently accessible with his dominant hand) but he rarely complains about having it on and actually ASKS to wear it sometimes.
I love it because it's one of the few tools/therapies we've seen that has the potential to address the impacts of Cerebral Palsy from the neurological level. By allowing the rest of Sevil's body to be engaged in his activity, but preventing his arm from clenching up, his brain can form neural pathways that don't include his tonal patterns. It makes it much easier for him to do things like hold BOTH handlebars when riding his bike, because he can focus his attention on pedaling & avoiding obstacles rather than on stretching out his arm to reach the handlebars. (His siblings appreciate the avoiding obstacles part a lot!)
If you're considering purchasing the Bamboo Brace for your child, I highly recommend it. The risk/cost is so low compared to other options out there, and the potential benefits are tremendous. And be sure to contact Michael if you have any questions or problems with the brace - he clearly cares about kids, and wants to see your child gain function and skills.
-Rochester, NY (Posted on 11/13/11)

My son Liam has left hemiplegia and we started using the bamboo brace a little more than a month ago. Liam is doing so well. His balance has improved so much and he barely falls now. His PT also noticed his improvement. To top it off he is holding his left arm straight now at times without his brace when walking, so we are so psyched. He saw the neuromuscular doctor and he didn't recommend botox for his arm because he said his range of motion was good and his spasticity wasn't bad at all(seriously he improved so much).. Thank you so much, we are so happy with the brace and know that it has made a world of difference for Liam. We are so happy with it that we've ordered another one just for his pt/ot sessions. Additionally, I've had a couple of conversations with michael as well as a phone consultation and am truly impressed with how he was able to help Liam and how dedicated and compassionate he was. Thank you for everything, Maria and Liam.
(Posted on 10/27/11)

I have used the Bamboo Brace with several of my patients, including infants and toddlers with diagnoses such as perinatal stroke and brachial plexus birth palsy. I am looking forward to also using the Bamboo Brace in older children, when the larger sizes come out.

In one young child who had sustained an in-utero stroke, the Bamboo Brace enabled him to carry a tray across the room, for the first time using both hands, without any objects falling off.

In brachial plexus palsy, the Bamboo Brace enables a weak triceps to support the arm during propped sitting and other activities, to assist with functional strengthening of triceps at end-range. When used this way, the Bamboo Brace can help prevent the common formation of elbow flexion contractures in this population. Especially helpful when biceps function is returning after brachial plexus injury, the Bamboo Brace can be an alternative to casting or Botox in smaller children; two interventions that can further weaken a recovering biceps. (Posted on 4/24/11)

My daughter started crawling at 14 months, I give all the credit to the bamboo brace. When she was 9 months we found out she had a stroke either right before or right after she was born. We have been working with PT's and OT's and have been working on crawling since before we even knew about the stroke. She has left sided hemiparesis.

Her PT recommended the Bamboo Brace, she would wear it at therapy and I saw improvement the first time she wore it. I called the 800 # to get our own for at home, thinking I would hear a recording and Michael himself answered! He answered all my questions right there on the phone. He's super nice, fyi!

The brace has given her the confidence she needed to bear and shift weight onto her left arm. Her arm used to stay bent and close to her body, she has it out and straight all the time now!

3 weeks and 1 day after she got the brace she started crawling. {not that I'm counting!} She crawls with the brace, without the brace, she is such a little mover now!

I was so happy and relieved when we saw her crawl for the first time. Nothing can even describe the feeling. I honestly don't think she would be crawling right now if it weren't for the bamboo brace.

Hilary and Spencer
(Posted on 4/14/11)

My 2 year old son has hemiplegia and his therapist suggested this bamboo brace to use with his McKee splint and supinator strap. It's been amazing!! The 5 different settings have been so helpful for switching between "therapy" mode and "life" mode. Its incredibly easy to use and my son doesn't even notice he's wearing it. I'm so thankful that someone noticed a need and worked on remedying the situation. As a mom of a kid in therapy, I am incredibly grateful!! (Posted on 2/23/11)

We read about the use of this brace for children with hemiplegia and decided to try it. Our daughter is 3, and she has right sided hemiplegia from an in-utero stroke at birth. She has muscle weakness and increased tone in her right arm and hand, especially, but also in her right leg. She has had OT and PT since birth, including constraint therapy for her hand.
What we really like about the Bamboo Brace, is that when we put it on her it does many helpful things that we use in her daily therapy. First, it supports her elbow for weight-bearing on her right arm. Now we can focus on getting her right hand flat and open when she is crawling as her arm doesn't collapse. We have also found that when she wears the brace, it breaks the pattern of increased tone so much that her walking and running gait and her jumping improve, as her arm hangs more naturally by her side as opposed to held up on her chest. We have her wear the Bamboo Brace when she goes to gymnastics class, as it also helps her extend her arm when needed and tends to keep her whole body in a more relaxed and balanced position.
We purchased this brace because it sounded like a great idea to me... As parents constantly watching her movement and development, we could see how having her arm tucked in to her chest was causing problems, and we had often wondered about an elbow brace but one was never suggested to us. Since we've had it, we've shown it to two OTs and one PT who work with our daughter and they were very impressed with what it does for her.
We didn't get this brace until our daughter was almost 3, and though she was able to eventually crawl on her own (with her right hand fisted) when she was about 15 months, we think the Bamboo Brace would have been really helpful back then and probably would have enabled her to crawl earlier and better as we could have paid more attention to opening her hand as opposed to helping stabilize her elbow. We even have used it to help teach my daughter to go down the slide at the playground. She used to go down with her right arm tucked in despite us telling her to hold on to both sides. As a result, she would often lose her balance on the slide and even roll on to her stomach. With the brace she was able to at least hold her right arm out so she was sitting in a balanced position before going down so she could stay sitting upright and facing forward while going down the slide! Thank you, this brace really has made a world of difference for our daughter. We think having it in larger sizes for children to wear during sport activities would be great (hint hint)! Robyn and Roy (Posted on 2/8/11)

This brace is amazing, and its effects on my daughter are so powerful it brings me to tears to even discuss it. Of all the exercises we have done, such as breaking down movement to little steps and practicing, building strength to allow independent sitting, of everything we have done since the CP diagnosis, nothing else has had the impact this brace has had on my daughter’s arm, trunk, shoulder and general strength. Every other therapist we see and the ortho doc all compliment me on Hannah’s range of motion in her shoulder and trunk, and they all say “we just don’t see that level of rotation and strength in a child with hemiplegia.” Mike explained to me that Hannah’s bent arm pulled her out of alignment, making sitting difficult, and using the brace we were sitting up within 2 weeks. Then we continued to use it to help break her pattern of holding her arm bent, so she could begin to use it and bear weight on it. She used her arm to pull up to stand, she used that arm to balance while she stands and plays and now she crawls with or without the brace. I truly believe we would not have made this much progress without the Bamboo, and especially not been able to achieve crawling. Hannah actually brings it to me and holds out her arm to have me put it on her and get down to some playtime fun. If I want Hannah to be incognito, the brace can fit under a shirt, or it stays firmly placed over a shirt as well. The stays can be changed to provide greater or lesser resistance, depending on what you are using the brace for at the moment, and you can change them in the blink of an eye to have greater flexibility for play and less for crawling. We have one at the day care and one at home and we take it to hippotherapy, sometimes using two there so she can be on hands and knees on a moving horse. Now that she is walking we use the Bamboo to keep her from bunching up her arm during activity or stress, so she can get her arm out in front of her to break a fall or catch herself. Because we used this brace, Hannah has made extraordinary progress that is recognized by every treating agency we see – I really can’t recommend this highly enough, and I hope it becomes standard treatment at least for all kids with hemiplegia, because the results are truly outstanding. (Posted on 10/13/10)