ANYONE ELSES LO HAD NURSEMAID'S/DISLOCATED ELBOW?

[VoodooBiltong]

Hi everyone,

my 7mth old dislocated her elbow falling back on her arm, even tho she was sitting on the floor and surrounded by cushions.

The hospital A&E docs struggled to diagnose resulting in us having to go back the next day to see a paediatrician (because they are obviously too important to work on sundays...)
anyhoo, just wondered if anyone else had been through this, how did the doctors react, and how fast their babies recovered???

cheers.

DS1 had nursemaids elbow when he was about 18 months. It gets its name because it can easily happen when you lift or swing a small child by one arm, eg when helping them up a step. I took him to A&E, it was diagnosed immediately and the doctor manipulated it back into place and offered calpol in case it hurt and he was straight back to normal. Sorry you had a bad time - is your DD ok now?

My 2 year old has had it three times now. The first time it popped it self back in just before we saw the dr at A&E. The doctor was very friendly and said it was quite common. The second time the A&E dr had to manipulate it back into place, they then put us into a room so they could watch her play to make sure it was okay, I think they wanted to see how I was with her as they made me feel like a really bad mother. The third time it had gone back in again by the time we had seen the Dr, the dr was very rough with her arm as he was showing a another dr how he would have put it back in had he had to.
She has got an appointment to see an orthopeadic peadiatrician though I doubt there is very much they can do. Hopefully she will grown out of it but I think every time it happens it's more likely to happen again as the area gets weakened.

DS1 did it 6 or 7 times between the ages of 1 and 3.5, then grew out of it (I presume his arm muscles became strong enough to prevent it popping out) I used to do it on a regular basis until I was about 7 iirc - freaked my school out so much I was banned from gym, I used to hang from the equipment and then my arm would dislocate and I think they got fed up with it! As they get older it often will correct itself. We had a few trips to A&E where the doctor couldn't pop it back and it went back in by itself over night. Once the elbows was back in place DS1 was usually fine and using his arm pretty quickly - it mainly depended on how long it had been out of action for, it was more getting used to using it again rather than it being uncomfortable as far as I could see.

My DD had this too. The first time she was about 18 months and her uncle was swinging her by the arms. Luckily my dad, the pediatrician was there and knew how to pop it back in straight away. The second time was a couple of months later, we were in Ikea and I was holding her hand. She tried to pull away from me and I didn't let go of her hand. Drove home and phoned my dad who explained to DH exactly how to pop it back in. It happened again when she was 4 1/2 - which was a bummer because I'd sort of assumed she'd grown out of it by then. She was sitting down and another girl went to pull her up by one hand. But this time she wouldn't let me or DH anywhere near her so we had to go to A&E to get it sorted.

Each time she screamed with pain while the elbow was actually dislocated and couldn't move the arm at all but was fine within about 10 minutes of getting it sorted.

I don't know whether she'll always be prone to it. She takes skating lessons and the coach always holds her by the left arm (the one that is prone to pop out!) and I'm always nervous she'll fall and it will go again. I've mentioned it to the coach over and over again but she always forgets.

thank god its not just my dd! felt awful as it keeps happening! dd has a really bad habit of doing the sliding on knees thing when you are holding her hand! and she is always falling over and i try and keep hold of her a and e ere lovely about it the first time i dont know who was crying more me or her! i was convinced they were going to report me to social services but the nurse said its the most common injury in small children they come across.

my dd is a bit of a drama queen though and when it happens she goes on about her poorly arm even though it is fine 10 mins later! she holds onto her elbow milking it! she then forgets which arm is supposed to be hurting until she sees one of us watching her then grabs her arm (usually the wrong one) saying she has a poorly arm and needs a present!!

My DD likes telling people about the all the times she's "broken" her arm! They usually look horrified and I have to explain what she means before they finish dialing the number for social services.

in a way I am glad its a common thing, so dd hasnt got weirdly weak elbows, and her auntie didnt neglect her...but I am very peeved it is so common and 2 separate a&e doctors didnt pick it up.

I have just emailed a large feisty complaint letter to the nhs trust responsible. ha ha I am not the complaining type but I am steaming about this!

she is ok in herself, a little reluctant to use it, and its 2 days after it was fixed now, she can use that arm but cant really bend it all the way yet, and mildly yells if I try and bend it. If it isnt right by friday I will take her to my own doctor.

it is like she remembers the pain and is scared of using it rather that it actually really hurts..

the scariest bit was when they were talking about bone infections from her TB mark and nerve damage FFS!!!

I was a total wreck, cried for 3 hours, mostly upset about her having to have 2 separate x-rays which really hurt her!

I cant believe they sent us away and she spent a whole night with a dislocated elbow! imagine the pain.

The times it happened to my daughter she was able to use her arm normally straight away. Take her back to the doctor as I'm sure it shouldn't still be bothering her.

voodoo she might be doing what my daughter does afterwards she is fine the drs have watched her playing quite happily but for days afterwards she goes on about her poorly arm, like you said i think she remembers how much it hurt and is scared of using it

she has improved enormously through today, I think because it was out of joint for so long it got very sore and bruised inside, but she was using both hands as normal just before she went to bed, so fingers crossed...