Injured wrist :(

[CookAMH]

We were walking up the stairs this morning and I was holding 18mo DS's hand. He stumbled so I pulled him up by his hand, and his wrist popped and he started crying and layed on the stair. The crying/fussing didn't subside like it normally does after a bump and he wouldn't move it. He went down for a nap fine a little later but it was still sore upon waking, and he still wouldn't move it and cried when it was shifted. We hung out while we waited for the doctor's office to call back (we didn't feel it necessitated an ER trip) and he just sat with us and was pretty mellow (but smiley and talking). We were able to see a doctor this afternoon to have it checked and she doesn't believe it's broken but a sprain. No bruising or noticeable swelling. We have an order for an xray and are going to see how it is tomorrow (her advice which we agreed with). He's napping now. I'm sure it'll be sore for a while.   

Any tips for comforting him at home? He's sleeping now and will be in bed by 8. I will probably give him some motrin later on before bedtime. I doubt he'd be receptive of ice, and it's not swelling.   Any idea what the pop might have been? We told the doc about it but I forgot to ask about that specifically. She also didn't say anything about wrapping it.

Oh and his 18mo visit is on Thursday so we'll be able to follow up there.

[lifeguard]

The son of friends' of ours had his elbow dislocated in a similar manner (although in this case they were playing around). Your description sounds exactly the same - one minute fine, next minute crying & unhappy - we didn't even hear a pop. The doctor said it is a REALLY common injury for this age group. Hopefully that's not the case for you but when they set it he immediately felt better.

[tzs]

my 20 month old neice just had a similar thing with the elbow....it's so common they even have a vintage-y sounding name for it...i can't remember. i've also seen it happen in a child's shoulder the same way...by pulling of the arm. they both just had to be popped into place.

[CookAMH]

I was reading about that elsewhere...elbow something....I suppose it could be hard to differientiate between wrist and elbow pain if they can't tell you specifically.  It was def. the wrist that popped.

I made a little sling for him and he's acting normal with that on. We'll see how it is tomorrow.

[CookAMH]

OP here. I don't see too much change. He started to use it a little more tonight but still favors it. He has his 18mo appt tomorrow with his ND so I'll ask about it then. We wonder if we should get an x-ray after all to check that any growth plates are ok.   It does seem like tonight he figured out that he can use a little more without pain, but still grimaces or cries out if used the wrong way. Anyone else have experience with fracture vs sprain in the days following?

[anechka]

I would take the kid to the ER and get him checked there and X-ray probably would be a good idea. My daughter gets nurse-maids elbow (that is how they call elbow dislocation) very easily. The first time it was her babysitter who dislocated her elbow by pulling her by her wrists; then it was myself (dont' even ask how they happend:(( and finally few day ago my MIL dislocated same elbow for the THIRD time. Every time we go to the ER and they already know us. This time around the doct shows us how to pop it back into its place if it is ever happens again. The interesting thing is that all three times she would hold her wrist not her elbow and cry. So, the first time around we thought it was her wrist but no, it was her elbow. I wonder, if your kid had indeed an elbow dislocation and not the wrist.  

[CookAMH]

Interestingly enough, this was resolved last night. A woman from church was over around 5 and before I could stop her as I told her about DS's wrist, she gently twisted it as she looked it it. Something popped and he cried. I had to leave later on but DH was home and put him to bed and said he started using his arm again and didn't seem to react in pain to getting his sleeves on/off for PJs. Today, he is treating it completely normal, using it like it never happened. We've concluded that something was out and she ended up putting it aright, whether she meant to or not. We had intended to get an x-ray this morning before his 18mo routine visit but felt no need once witnessing his behavior today. His doc confirmed that and just said to keep an eye out if he starts to favor it again.

I don't know why the MD we saw on Monday missed this and I wish she would have done something to avoid two days of pain for my LO. 

[tzs]

wow!

[CherryBomb]

Yep, definitely sounds like nursemaid's elbow!  I can't believe the doc didn't catch that, it's very common.  Dd3 had the same issue (it's most commonly seen in 2 year old girls in the left arm, which is her!)  Once it's been injured it can happen again very easily, so be careful with that arm.  A few times this would happen to dd3, she would cry and not move her arm, and finally we'd decide to take her to the doctor, but getting her in the carseat must have fixed it because by the time we'd get there she'd be fine.  The last time, which was a few weeks ago, dh decided to just take her in anyway and see what was going on, and that's when they gave us the info on nursemaid's elbow.