17 month old with a sprained knee, and I'm at the end of my rope

[April Dawn]

Has anyone dealt with a bad sprain in a young toddler? I am dealing with it right now and it's about the fifth circle of hell. I could use some advice.

DS sprained his knee two weeks ago. It will improve for a day or two, and then get worse again. I think he is overdoing it with activity as soon as it starts to feel better, and then when he overdoes it he has a bad day or two. His doctors (pediatrician and pediatric orthopedist) have said that toddlers won't overstrain an injured limb, that they are good at listening to their bodies and knowing when to stop activity. But I just don't feel like that's happening with him.

He's also really cranky. The leg will slow him down when he plays, or it will buckle under him, and he will start screaming and crying. I don't think it's actually a pain cry - I think he's just plain frustrated that his leg will not cooperate with him.

I am finding it almost impossible to wear him. I had a thread in babywearing that got a suggestion, but it only works awkwardly. Without wearing him, I can't get anything done and I can't get him to sleep.

I am worried about everything he's been exposed to. I keep having to give him ibuprofen and I worry about the effects of so much ibuprofen. He had to have a crapload of x-rays to diagnose the injury and rule out fractures or chronic joint conditions, and I'm worried about the radiation exposure. We have another doctor appointment Thursday and I'm scared to death they are going to want to do more tests to figure out why it's not healing as quickly as they said it should.

I am completely worn out from dealing with this, yet I can't sleep. I am stressed to where my stomach feels like it's burning all the time. I know there are far worse issues than a sprain, and thank heavens he doesn't have those conditions (the first few days he was so hysterical all the time that the doctors evaluated him for some very, very serious things). I am very fortunate to have a strong, healthy toddler who will heal. But it's hard to remember that sometimes when he's been screaming and cranky for hours EVERY single day lately.

Sorry for the rambling... I'm more than a little tired.

[mellowjello]

If you are open to trying homeopathy Arnica might help.

[April Dawn]

Thank you.

Edited by April Dawn - 5/20/11 at 5:04pm

[mamafish9]

Can you wear him in an ergo? Or consult a kids PT (wondering if the knee could be wrapped or supported in some way).

[April Dawn]

Originally Posted by mamafish9

Can you wear him in an ergo? Or consult a kids PT (wondering if the knee could be wrapped or supported in some way).

I have a Kanga XT SSC - so, it's sort of like an ergo but bigger (he's a tall kid). I worry that the way the knees are bent would be painful for him. A mom in the Babywearing forum suggested a way to rig up a sling that would support the leg; I tried it, and it's just kind of awkward (I could be doing it wrong, too). We do have an orthopedic appointment tomorrow to recheck it, so I am planning to take my carrier and show the doctor how it works and ask for his opinion on whether it would be ok to use. Fingers crossed that he says babywearing is ok!

[mbravebird]

My older son had a joint bleed in his knee at that age. (He has hemophilia.) Joint bleeds are very, very painful, so we did not have trouble keeping him off it at first, but after it started healing we did have similar challenges -- he wanted to walk on it because it felt better, but walking on it could cause a rebleed or poor healing, both of which were dangerous.

My memory is that I spent days on the floor with him, reminding him to scoot on his butt instead of walk (crawling wasn't OK either). And, after a while, as long as I was with him, it became the norm to scoot on his butt to get around. It was challenging, and I did not get a lot done, it's true. I also just carried him everywhere. When you use your arms you can do a kind of scoop position, which supports the knee. Again, you're not going to be able to do much else.

For the radiation, I have several things in my toolbag: Modifilan, Yarrow Environmental Solution from FES, and epsom salts baths. Also, thinking positively is important there. It is scary, but you can also remember that our bodies CAN detoxify, and be aware of his body's ability to do that, and support it with your thoughts as well as your actions.

We found that arnica oil was better than arnica cream for tissue repair. Arnica cream seemed better for pain, but the oil would make the blood in his hematomas reabsorb more quickly.

We also used castor oil a lot, and I would highly recommend it for a sprain. You'll need to keep the joint in contact with the oil for at least overnight, and perhaps several nights in a row, but I would think you'd see lots of improvement with that. You can generously soak some cotton or wool flannel with castor oil (get the good kind from the health food store), and attach it to his knee -- I'd strap it on with an ace bandage.

Also, have you considered a cryo cuff instead of ibuprofin? It's a way of icing a joint really effectively, and should do a good job reducing inflammation. The hospital should have one.

I know it's stressful. Get in the epsom salts baths with him -- they will calm you and help you sleep. I'll post back if I think of anything else!

[Panserbjorne]

excellent post above with a lot of great suggestions.

I'd also add that I'd be doing cell salts to support the healing process (calc fluor, ferrum phos and mag phos.)

arnica is for tissue trauma. it should be helpful but I'd do it internally. I'd also add ruta which is the remedy for sprains and strains. arnica may help with inflammation, but it's not going to do much for the tendons/ligaments. That's ruta's job.

Castor oil is a MUST for me with things like this.

For radiation the pp was spot on.

If this were my kid he'd definitely be on my back! Hopefully you get good news on your carrier.

Best of luck. I hope things improve for you!

[April Dawn]

Thank you all, I appreciate it.

Edited by April Dawn - 5/20/11 at 5:05pm

[April Dawn]

Update from the doctor's visit today!

The good news: babywearing is ok as long as DS seems comfortable. And we didn't need any more tests!

The bad news: the doctor says the sprain has caused synovitis - a complication that can happen due to an injury. He briefly mentioned that he thought that was happening last week, but he confirmed today he's seeing signs of it and explained more about it. He said there's excess fluid in the knee - N.'s body produced it as a reaction to the injury. It should eventually go away on its own, but the doctor said that can take 4-6 months to happen. As long as the fluid is still there, he may continue to have flare ups where he won't walk or will have a severe limp for a few days. Then he will seem to heal, and be fine, but then a flare up could happen again. We don't need to do anything beyond letting him rest it when he's having a bad day with it and giving ibuprofen when needed for pain/inflammation. So that's good. But still, I am in shock that this could keep bothering him off and on for six months! Anyways, thank you all for the tips.

Edited by April Dawn - 5/20/11 at 5:05pm

[Panserbjorne]

because of the update you can also look at nat sulph as a cell salt to help clear that fluid.

the tablets dissolve instantly. I always gave them to my kids with no issue, but you can also put them in a water bottle and just have them sip throughout the course of the day.

[TzippityDoulah]

I don't mean to put alarm in motion... but just out of curioisity,. has he been bitten by a tick lately? Knee imflammation and pain is assosiated with Lymes disaes. When I was 3 or 4 this happened to be me it was painful for years. But it was actually hard to walk initially and I remember crying a lot.

That said, it could totally just be a regular sprain too.

my sympathies to you both! toddlers in pain are very frustrated (and frsutrating!) little people!

[April Dawn]

Originally Posted by HennyPenny

I don't mean to put alarm in motion... but just out of curioisity,. has he been bitten by a tick lately? Knee imflammation and pain is assosiated with Lymes disaes. When I was 3 or 4 this happened to be me it was painful for years. But it was actually hard to walk initially and I remember crying a lot.

That said, it could totally just be a regular sprain too.

my sympathies to you both! toddlers in pain are very frustrated (and frsutrating!) little people!

He has never had a tick bite at all that I know of, and I give him a bath and put lotion all over him for his eczema daily, so I think I likely would have seen a tick. He is also almost entirely bald still at 17 months, so I don't worry about me not seeing a bite on his head. Plus, we know that he had an incident that almost certainly caused the sprain; another child pushed him off of playground equipment. So, we are pretty sure of the diagnosis. But thank you for offering the info.