DS fractured elbow at Nursery.

[ListenLinda]

Hi, I wasn’t sure if this was the best topic to start this thread under but I guess it’s as good as any!

I got a call today from nursery to advise that DS had been playing with his sister, jumped over her and tripped up and landed on his right arm from a standing posistion. As he wouldn’t move it/straighten it out, they called me to come and collect and gave him 7.5ml of calpol at 11am.

got him home and called 111, who got us an appointment at minor injuries, x rayed and identified the break and put a temp cast on. Since the cast has been on, DS has been more himself and is not complaining of any pain, hasn’t had any pain relief since nursery gave him some.

as DS is the first child to break a bone, I just wanted to ask anyone else who has experienced similar, what to expect?

what will happen at fracture clinic?
will he be in pain? Is it unusual for him to not be in pain now?
will it heal well?
can he do as normal as possible activities?

any info would be helpful!
thanks

As Ds is my first child to break a bone sorry… not the first child ever 😂

Are you sure they didn’t give him anything in hospital? It would unusual for them not to I would say from experience.

kids bounce back way better than we do though, it’s insane

No they didn’t, as we were seen, x rayed and cast on before the 4 hours between doses.
he hasn’t complained of pain since the cast went on so I haven’t given him any but not sure if I should have done anyway.

I cant really help as I didnt get a cast when I broke my elbow, I didnt know they put casts on them but maybe its different for children. But regards pain once my elbow was supported and not moving it didnt really hurt at all so not unusual he isnt in pain now its immobilised.

If its not hurting I wouldn't medicte. When is his appointment at the fracture clinic?

My DS broke his collarbone age 3, he had to wear a sling for a couple of weeks but after an initial few days of pain (and lots of calpol and cuddles) he was back to his old self and perfectly cheery. We tried to prevent him from jumping and climbing while it was healing, which was tough, but otherwise just carried on as normal. Bones heal insanely quickly in young kids, we had the first x-ray the day it happened then another a week later and you could see the difference it was amazing, it really did heal very quickly.

The doctor said they take them kinds of fractures seriously in children, to prevent reduced mobility down the line.

I can’t remember the name she gave the type of fracture now, DS was very distressed at that point and just ‘want to go home’.

@Hellocatshome it’s coming in the post, they couldn’t get through the hospital while we were waiting.

When I have broken a bone and it gets in a cast it doesn't hurt as it isn't moving. I find after a couple of weeks it starts to ache as it gets better.

Based on my experience (so not a medical person just a clutz) In the fracture clinic they may re xray and then put a full cast on. They will check for any complications/bone alignment etc

Oh god, the x ray today was bad enough, he absolutely screamed the place down.

DD broke her arm just above her elbow a few months ago. It was a nasty mobile break and she was in a great deal of pain (she had to be given morphine to enable them to position her arm to be x-rayed). Once the temporary cast was on the pain was hugely reduced - according to the consultant, immobilisation is the best forn of pain relief for fractures.

DD had to have surgery to pin the joint, so a bit different to your DS. Her follow ups at the fracture clinic typically involved an xray followed by checking the (full arm) cast and the mobility in her hands and fingers, and later to have the pins removed.

After she was discharged from the fracture clinic she was referred for physio and she sees them every 6-8 weeks. She does her exercises every day and they are hopeful she should regain full movement although apparently it may take up to 2 years! Yours DD's break doesn't sound as bad though?

I’ll echo what the others have said when I broke my elbow (radial head fracture) it didn’t hurt that much (I drove home) and when I got it X-rayed the next day the doctor was surprised it was broken because I didn’t seem to be in pain and I never had the drugs they gave so maybe just see how it goes.. seem to remember sleeping was the worse.. encourage him to do the physio though - ball squeezing will hopefully appeal to a child because I’ve got full mobility back..

@pastaandpesto oh gosh that is a nasty break! How is she doing now?
DS is not as bad no, he is currently snoring away.

I am concerned about him sleeping, he is usually such a little fidget butt and flops around all over his bed. I’ve just checked on him and he has moved from laying on his good arm to on his back with his bad arm across his chest, like he knows not to move too much

Bit like Pp my ds needed surgery for a broken elbow age 6. He got a plate and screws put in below elbow. It was a long recovery weekly fracture clinic/ physio for 5 months. I was incredibly worried he wouldn’t regain full use of his hand as bottom two fingers curled into a claw type shape and were fairly immobile for months. One day they went back to normal. They reckon his ulnar (sp) nerve was trapped and freed itself when he was doing some physio aka Swimming. Back to normal apart from big scar. They reopened to remove plate as was over growth plates in bone. I suppose that is worst case scenario but they really do take these injuries seriously and work to ensure children recover as fully as possible.

She's doing OK, thank you! She's able to fully straighten it which is great, although she's still got a long way to go with bending it. Apparently it helps that they are still growing!

Hope your DS is able to get comfortable!

DS fractured his leg just before he was 2. They saw us the following day at fracture clinic. He wasn't in pain really at all after having the cast on, he was pretty distressed at having the xray though. He had a full cast on at the minor injuries unit then they put a walking cast on at fracture clinic. I did give him regular pain relief for a few days just in case, but they did advise that i should. The first thing they did was weigh him and give him pain relief when we arrived at the hospital though.

I do think they seem to get them in quite quickly to fracture clinic, my DS2 recently dislocated his knee, he did it on the Weds, they phoned me Thurs rather than sending a letter and he had his appointment Friday. I'm not sure why they don't seem to book the appointments for fracture clinic when in A&E anymore.

I fractured my elbow (a very minor fracture) and found the most comfortable way to sleep (I’m a side sleeper normally) was with my arm on a cushion to keep it as level as possible.

I thought this was going to be a “should I demand CCTV/report to Ofsted” type post and came on to say that I broke my elbow at school…and I’m the teacher! 🤦🏻‍♀️

I've broken a couple of bones as a teen and adult and once the cast was on it was pretty pain free unless it got knocked.

It's important to do any exercises that he is given to do. It's really easy when you have a cast on to stop using that limb altogether, but if he stops using his hand/fingers then he'll get stiffness/muscle loss.

I ‘bent’ my elbow as a child (landed on it and the joint bone bent upwards - as my young bones were still soft, an adult’s would have just broken. Had surgery to bend it back (black bruise from wrist to shoulder, no incision), a sling and physio to get it bending properly. I had to swing a teddy and get a sweet from hand to mouth without moving my head forwards. No cast - they tend to keep joints moving.

@QueenOfWeeds oh no, I know my son and know that what nursery told me happened is what happened 😂they were very good and thorough and very apologetic that he had done it there.

He has had a decent nights sleep, he woke up at 3am for the toilet and said it was hurting, so I gave him calpol and he is still asleep now.

i’m going to wake him up soon and see if he wants to go to nursery today.

@PugInTheHouse minor injuries were trying to get through to fracture clinic at our nearest hospital, but the phone kept ringing out, so they advise me to leave and someone would call me when they got through to them.

My 10 year old broke his elbow last year. The most pain he was in was when the radiographer had to “twist” it to get the right images - not fun to watch. 😔 within a week much time my elderly dad’s dismay he abandoned his sling and was up a climbing frame. 🤦‍♀️ It’s healed perfectly.

Someone on here recommended this cast cover when DS broke his elbow as a toddler, it was a life saver for baths as it really worked. www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B007UONM2W/ref=sspa_mw_detail_0?ie=UTF8&psc=1&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9kZXRhaWwp13NParams

Hes absolutely fine now, it healed well and you’d never know. He managed the cast ok though I ended up snipping the plaster between his finger and thumb as it was rubbing badly. He needed calpol for the first couple of days I think but was ok after that and then the same again when the player came off. I hope your DS feels better when he wakes up

My DD broke her arm when she was 2. It was a fairly small break so just required a cast, she was given a sling but within a few days she had whipped that off and was using the arm as if it wasn't in a cast.

Biggest drama was bath times, we got a plastic cover for the cast and that worked ok but it was very much in and out quickly! Bedtimes were also a bit of a challenge for the first few days, every time she tried to move the weight of the cast stopped her and she woke up.

When we went to the fracture clinic I was expecting them to remove the temporary cast and put on a plaster one but they didn't. With the nature of her break it healed quickly and the cast was off within 2 weeks.

We rarely needed to medicate but gave occasional Calpol if she complained it hurt.

Hope he heals quickly!

@Cathster that sounds promising for DS, hopefully he won’t need a full cast for the full 6 weeks.
i took him into nursery this morning and he was straight off with his friends, it didn’t look to be bothering him.
i told him the story of when I broke my arm when I was little and he seemed cheered up that mummy had the same cast 😂