sublux sling - it's amazing

Hi Shirley,

Thank you so much for sharing your mother's experience of using a sublux sling for her arm paralysis. There are a number of different types of slings on the market and many stroke survivors with arm weakness find a sling helpful for comfort, greater confidence in moving from a to b and to support the heavy arm. It is wonderful news that your mother is experiencing improvements since her stroke in December and that her sling is helping. 

While the sling is likely to be contributing to a reduction in her pain, which has improved her sleep, the improvement in strength and sensation is likely to be due to the exercises and therapy as well as spontaneous recovery. As her movement and sensation continues to improve hopefully your mum can spend time with her arm out of the sling and use it in day to day activities. In my experience in working with stroke survivors, having a sling can be useful for pain and support and for others it can lead to reduced use of the arm. We want to encourage use of the arm if there is movement. The saying 'if you don't use it you lose it' applies to stroke recovery. Do you know if your mum's therapists using any other therapy to improve the strength and sensation of the arm like arm exercises, electrical stimulation, sensory retraining or mirror box therapy? 

You might be interested to read another conversation on slings here: https://enableme.org.au/Community/Questions/2016/08/Are-there-any-government-or-private-reba

Thank you again for sharing, we hope your mum continues to make progress.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss anything to do with your mum's recovery, don't hesitate to call us on StrokeLine on 1800 787 653.

Best wishes,

Simone (Occupational therapist for StrokeLine)

A few more thoughts... It sounds like the sling has really helped with her confidence and this in itself is important in recovery! Sleep is so important as is reducing pain so your mum can participate in rehab. If the sling has helped with this then that is all positive. I would ensure that as her movement and sensation continue to improve and if the pain (and subluxation if there is any) continues to be well managed that the sling is used less and her arm is being used more, as this will improve her arm function further. Keeping her arm in the sling all day won't encourage active movement. Keep chatting with her physio and occupational therapist to ensure ongoing improvement. It sounds like your mum has made a great start. Simone 

Hi Simone thank you for your reply.  The sublux sling mum is using is more like a shoulder brace which actually frees the arm totally making massage and exercises possible. The company I purchased it from has offered to donate a sling to mums rehab. He uses profits to donate around the world. Sadly mum is in a nursing home and they don't really have a rehab so it would be a waste to donate there. However maybe you might find it useful. If u look at the website subluxsling.com and you think it may be some thing you could use with patients let me know and I will have it donated to you. In the nursing home I don't think mum is getting enough therapy is there anything you could suggest. 

Thanks for sharing your success with the SubluxSling. It's always nice to hear from people about what they've found useful, and based on the link I can see how it may work to help reduce pain and provide mechanical support for subluxation. 

It is unfortunate that there isn't as much public awareness around the different types of slings available for hemiplegic upper limbs. Much more basic forms are prescribed in a hospital setting which tends to not last well into the community setting, and there is generally a low level of understanding in a nursing home setting.

As a neurological physiotherapist, many of my concerns also echo that of Simone from StrokeLine, where any remaining or spontaneous activity of the limb should be encouraged even if you don't have the 1:1 support of an experienced therapist in a nursing home environment. One of the things we often find doing is reminding nursing home staff that slings do not replace good positioning and care for the hemiplegic upper limb. Certainly the SubluxSling does allow more freedom of movement of the elbow and hand, and this is particularly helpful for those with less shoulder stability but have some finger and hand movements to start working with.

Thank you nonetheless for sharing - it's always great to hear real life feedback to assist others in making informed choices about what may work for their individual circumstance. Keegan

I am so glad to hear all the advantages of sublux sling. I am a physio, currently working in nursing home/village and considering to buy this particular sling for my resident.

He's 8 months post stroke, been using normal sling to position his hemiplegic right arm. Shoulder already shows signs of subluxation.  Does have pain in shoulder.

Although  has almost full Passive ROM. 

I hopr he can still use this sling while he already has subluxation.

Recently with massage,  stretching, and some mirror box therapy, he is showing some elbow,wrist and finger movements. 

Also Shirley, i would love to know how your mum is going with her rehab? Does she still use the sling?