Ds1 had his cast taken off his arm on thursday after breaking it just above the wrist.

am a bit worried though.

It's still swollen and bruised and he says tipping his hand forward or back hurts.

he was given a splint to wear for a week although the doctor said that while he was at home relaxing it wasn't neccessary to wear it. Ds won't take it off unless it's for the bath or sleeping and then he holds his arm really protectively.

is this normal????

yes, it's normal, don't worry. Kids vary a lot in how confident they are after cast is removed. Let him wear the splint as much as he wants to and get him to move it about gently in the bath.

is it normal for it still to look swollen?

They do lose muscle toneafter having a cast & it feels "weird" not having it there after having so much sport but keep at him to exercise it & it will get back to normal. if in doubt take him back to the GP or orthopaedic clinic.

yes, it is normal for the broken bit to be swollen after the fracture has healed. In the ankle the swelling can last several months. Less in the wrist, a few weeks usually.

The body increases the blood supply to the area to encourage healing, it takes a while for the blood to disperse.

oh thank goodness for that! i've been so worried.
it's so bruised on the underside of his arm and swollen and he's so insecure...i was really worried.

where the cast has been, his skin is in terrible condition too! it's like eczema all up his arm.

massage with olive oil ten minutes before his bath. the dead skin will come off after a couple of baths and be lovely underneath.

have been doing his normal eczma routine-oil in bath for a soak and then emulsifying ointment wash etc.

i'm back.
he had a cry today pulling his trousers up as he said it hurt to do so.

am i worrying too much?

When a joint has been immobilised for a few weeks, it really hurts to start moving it again, particularly when using force. It will hurt less as the days go on.

emma should i be giving him calpol as a mtter of course? it's still swollen too.

oh bless him, i suppose he and you thought once the cast was off, then it would be ok. sure he will be back to normal very soon x

Calpol won't do any harm at all.

Swelling should also calm down in a few days.

Does he have follow up arranged at fracture cinic?

no -they said wear the splint for a week, then be very careful for 2-3 weeks and that's it. discharged.

How bizarre.

If he's still got swelling or a significant amount of pain at the end of the week with the splint, I would advise you to get onto the fracture clinic and ask for him to be reviewed.

Hopefully you won't need to though.

thanks emma. i'm very concerned about him-he's my little boy! but wasn't sure if it was just me being a fusspot!

he's being very protective of it and holding it a lot.

will do as you suggest and if' it's no better on thursday i will call up. thanks.

Mum's worry about their little boys- that's our job!

What's that rogue apostrophe doing in there?

my dd broke her ankle 3 years ago and it was in plaster for 6 weeks, she had hardly any movement in her ankle after the cast was removed and couldnt walk without crutches for 2 weeks after the cast was removed, then took another 4 weeks of physio exercises to get her range of movement back again. I think it took as long to heal out of the cast afterwards as it did when it was in the cast. It took alot longer than I realised, but its fine now, I was told the whole healing process of the bone remoulding takes up to a year depending how bad the break was!