Easily Dislocated Arm?

[Kabob]

Have any of you encountered a child that easily can get a dislocated arm?

I have heard of children getting an arm dislocated when picked up by the arms but in this case I have a 22 month old girl here that got her elbow dislocated over the weekend so dcm advised me to be careful of course.

I am terrified to even hold her hand now (I was before because she is so unsteady and fragile looking) because she is incredibly unsteady on her feet and so trips a lot and also she likes to goof off while walking (ie drag her toes or walk with an exaggerated wobble). Apparently she dislocated her elbow while dcm was holding her hand and dcg decided to lift up her legs because she wanted to be picked up and pop! Out went her elbow.

So now I can't hold her hand and must be super careful if I need to change her shirt and such. I used to hold her hand upon request when walking with her or just as a precaution on the stairs but now I'm thinking I have to carry her down the stairs and such...which I did mostly anyway since she hasn't been that coordinated anyway...

[Cat Herder]

Nursemaid's Elbow is a very common injury in toddlers (radial head subluxation).

http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical...nursemaid.html

[NeedaVaca]

My DD had this and it was called was Nursemaid's Elbow. It scared me to death the first time and but was very easily fixed. Unfortunately once it happens it tends to happen often until they outgrow it. It happened to her often enough that the Dr showed us how to fix it ourselves...she did finally outgrow it though

[dalman]

Originally Posted by NeedaVaca

My DD had this and it was called was Nursemaid's Elbow. It scared me to death the first time and but was very easily fixed. Unfortunately once it happens it tends to happen often until they outgrow it. It happened to her often enough that the Dr showed us how to fix it ourselves...she did finally outgrow it though

Very common.

[Kabob]

Thanks for the info! The article said sometimes it can't be prevented...ugh....hopefully it doesn't happen here! Dcg is super accident prone as it is...when she was first walking she kept getting odd injuries. A couple of times she got black eyes from falling while holding a book. Seriously....she just cannot catch a break!

[Cat Herder]

It is really easy to fix.

Sometimes they simply come out to the ER waiting room with discharge papers and a sucker in hand, never even booking a room. They see it ALL. THE. TIME so won't be all judgy, either.

They will ask the kid to "shake hands" (a simple technique to reduce it) and send them to the checkout desk. They may even show Mom how to do it, some first aid classes teach it (varies by state if you are allowed as a provider to reduce it yourself)

It really is that easy, don't be afraid. Learn to recognize it quickly and teach parents never pick up/pull small kids by their hands/wrists.

This is a photo of it being reduced, notice the horror on the kids face? Yeah, me either...

[Kabob]

Originally Posted by Cat Herder

It is really easy to fix.

Sometimes they simply come out to the ER waiting room with discharge papers and a sucker in hand, never even booking a room. They see it ALL. THE. TIME so won't be all judgy, either.

They will ask the kid to "shake hands" (a simple technique to reduce it) and send them to the checkout desk. They may even show Mom how to do it, some first aid classes teach it (varies by state if you are allowed as a provider to reduce it yourself)

It really is that easy, don't be afraid. Learn to recognize it quickly and teach parents never pick up/pull small kids by their hands/wrists.

This is a photo of it being reduced, notice the horror on the kids face? Yeah, me either...

Thanks. It was more worry of being blamed if it happens here than anything else. I heard of dislocations happening from lifting wrong but I didn't know it was that common. Broken bones and related stuck freak me out...blood and such don't.

[sally]

When my older daughter was 2 we were playing around and she complained that her elbow hurt and after watching her not use her arm for a couple hours we took her to the emergency room. The dr on call checked her out and said her elbow was dislocated and popped it back into place. He said it happens often and had it happen to his own child just the day before. It is very common.

[TwinKristi]

My DS4 had this as well. He actually dislocated his own elbow trying to get a watch off his wrist (one of his brothers thought it would be cute) yanking on it. It happened a couple times after, but putting him in the car seat popped it back into place once and they popped it back in while in the triage office at the ER. I had a friend who's dr showed them how to pop it back in place at home to avoid all the ER trips. It's very common and once diagnosed you know it's not from abuse or anything. Like I said, my own 2yr old dislocated his own elbow yanking on a watch! It doesn't take much to pop it out once it happens.

[Kabob]

Originally Posted by TwinKristi

My DS4 had this as well. He actually dislocated his own elbow trying to get a watch off his wrist (one of his brothers thought it would be cute) yanking on it. It happened a couple times after, but putting him in the car seat popped it back into place once and they popped it back in while in the triage office at the ER. I had a friend who's dr showed them how to pop it back in place at home to avoid all the ER trips. It's very common and once diagnosed you know it's not from abuse or anything. Like I said, my own 2yr old dislocated his own elbow yanking on a watch! It doesn't take much to pop it out once it happens.

Ick! You're not helping to make me feel better. I keep watching her and worrying her antics will dislocate something. It's an easy fix but not one I want to try on someone else's child. At least the mom is aware that it will probably happen again. Just the thought of it is just creepy to me...again just a weird phobia of mine. If it happened here I would be able to appear calm but I'd be freaked out on the inside.