Broken wrist

[Mepop]

Has your child recently had a broken wrist? How was it treated? My 11 year old child had a complete fracture of ulna and buckle fracture of radius. 1 week in cast then 3 weeks in removable splint is plan. No check ups needed since initial urgent care appointment. Is this normal? Urgent care said she would be a cast for up to 13 weeks!

Ortho hand consultant here (albeit for adults nowadays). I can't think of any fracture in a child that would need anything longer than 6 weeks in a cast, and almost all wrist fractures in children are stable, especially as the radius is a buckle.
The x-ray images from urgent care are usually reviewed by an orthopaedic consultant virtually and then advice given. A short period in a cast for pain relief and then a splint (which you can keep on except for bathing) for 3 weeks sounds very reasonable. Kids are their own best physios, as they'll just get on with things according to discomfort. Usually wrist fractures in children are discharged early like this

Thanks that’s really helpful and reassuring. The person who told us 13 weeks was a trainee. They had to get someone to check my child, the X-rays and to sign off the notes so maybe that’s why they were so off with their timescales.