Sam has Nursemaid's Elbow

Yesterday was an exciting day. We suspect that Samuel dis-located his elbow. He was sitting on the floor, and reached his arms out to the sitter to pick him up. She took his hands and pulled him up off of the floor. (I was standing right there & she didn't do anything we haven't done a million times). He immediately started bawling. The poor thing, he is such a tough little guy & doesn't cry for injuries unless it's serious. He refused to move his arm at all and wouldn't, or couldn't, squeeze my finger. So, I sat down with him and put an ice pack on his arm for about 20 minutes - he said his wrist hurt, so I thought maybe it just got twisted.

Well, things did not improve, so I took him to the pedi, who is 45 minutes away. He cried when I took him to the bathroom & again when I put him in the carseat - "don't hurt my arm, mom". I gave him Motrin before we left and had ice on it all the while. We pull into the parking lot, he stretches both arms behind his head, and says "my arm feels better, mom". :huh: I took him in anyway. Doc says it had probably been dis-located, but popped back into place when I was fiddling with it to check for breaks. We had something similar happen a couple of months ago & he was fine after an hour or so - didn't take him in that time. She said that once it's been dis-located, it's more apt to happen again.

So, now we're trying to be more careful with him, but lord, it's more difficult than I anticipated. I worry about just helping him up off the floor, I caught myself grabbing his arm to stop him from running, he was hanging from the rings on the swingset...a multitude of possible problems. The good news is that he favored his arm a bit yesterday, but is completely back to normal today, although he's more cautious as well (when he thinks about it).

 

My Eli has this problem. It is so scary when the elbow dislocates. He's 3.5 now & hasn't had an incident since last summer. He had just started going to a new daycare. He was walking in the hallway holding hands with one of his classmates. Don't know exactly what happened, but it dislocated.
It is so hard to remember not to pull on his arms at first. That seems like an pretty elementary thing to say until you try it & realize just how often you do it. To make matters worse he is the tantrum throwing type. If he decides to throw himself on the floor I just need to try to make it a soft landing & manange to pick him up somehow. Now that he's older he pretty much listens to me when I say don't pull, you might hurt your arm.
The ped said they should grow out of it by age 4.

 

QUOTE(Joanna G @ Jul 18 2007, 12:39 AM) [snapback]335583[/snapback]
The ped said they should grow out of it by age 4.


That is comforting to hear. I was thinking this was going to be a life-long issue and we'd be popping that thing back into place a couple of times a year! :laughing:

 

My older sister had it...she had occasional issues until she was a teenager. She's now a physical therapist..she really freaks out when ever she sees parents swinging their little toddlers around by their arms...or lifting them up by their hands... Some kids are more susceptible to it I guess. (Her caution has prevented my dh from going too crazy...but I do admit he has swung them around in play, and held their hands while they climbed up him...and my kids have not had a problem with elbows or shoulders!!)

 

Oh My....finally, I hear of someone else who has this problem! My oldest daughter dislocated her own elbow when she was 5.5mths old...yes...that small. Even the nurse practioner did not know what it was, and because we had just been in 10 days earlier when she rolled off the couch (yes, my mistake, i did not know she could roll, but it never happened again), she looked at me and said, if we need x-rays, we are also calling a social worker. My eyes bugged, and I almost started crying. Finally, another doctor came in, and all he did was taker her hand, and put it up to her shoulder, and it popped right back in. Thank goodness! He was excited as well, because he had always heard of this, but had never seen it before. She actually did it to herself, she was trying to roll over, and once she did, her arm was stuck under her, and she tried to pull it out. Sounds odd, crazy, unbelieveable...but it was true. I was always so worried about her when she was learning to crawl and pull herself up, but it has never happened again. I just learned to always always always grab her shoulder, instead of her hand. We do hold hands, but if I have to grab her, it is never her hand. Oh, and yes, her wrist looked like it hurt, or was broken, this happens when the elbow comes out of its joint. My dad, a vet, took one look at her arm and wrist, started tearing up, and said that he thought perhaps her wrist was broken. He barely touched her little tiny wrist, and she screamed. He would not touch her again. He was so upset.
Right before we left...my doctor said, do not be surprised if this happens again. If it does, just put her hand to her shoulder and it should pop right back in. WHATEVER! Of course, now, with twins, I do not think I would have a problem doing it...but at the time, she was my first, my one and only, and heck if I was going to do that to her!

Oh My....finally, I hear of someone else who has this problem! My oldest daughter dislocated her own elbow when she was 5.5mths old...yes...that small. Even the nurse practioner did not know what it was, and because we had just been in 10 days earlier when she rolled off the couch (yes, my mistake, i did not know she could roll, but it never happened again), she looked at me and said, if we need x-rays, we are also calling a social worker. My eyes bugged, and I almost started crying. Finally, another doctor came in, and all he did was taker her hand, and put it up to her shoulder, and it popped right back in. Thank goodness! He was excited as well, because he had always heard of this, but had never seen it before. She actually did it to herself, she was trying to roll over, and once she did, her arm was stuck under her, and she tried to pull it out. Sounds odd, crazy, unbelieveable...but it was true. I was always so worried about her when she was learning to crawl and pull herself up, but it has never happened again. I just learned to always always always grab her shoulder, instead of her hand. We do hold hands, but if I have to grab her, it is never her hand. Oh, and yes, her wrist looked like it hurt, or was broken, this happens when the elbow comes out of its joint. My dad, a vet, took one look at her arm and wrist, started tearing up, and said that he thought perhaps her wrist was broken. He barely touched her little tiny wrist, and she screamed. He would not touch her again. He was so upset.
Right before we left...my doctor said, do not be surprised if this happens again. If it does, just put her hand to her shoulder and it should pop right back in. WHATEVER! Of course, now, with twins, I do not think I would have a problem doing it...but at the time, she was my first, my one and only, and heck if I was going to do that to her!

 

It's quite scary thing when it happens!! Three out of our four have done it. It is a horrible thing to take them in for because you're so afraid the dr will look at you like you've done somthing wrong...ours have been honest to goodness accidents....dh was holding the hands of 2 when it happend...he felt so absolutly horrible and insisted he be the one to take them in.

Lilly was 2...dh was holding her hand on my grandparents drive way and started throwing a fit because she didnt want to leave and she did the wonderful limp thing and dh didnt let her drop on the driveway.

Madison was a bit over 1 and I have absolutly no idea how her's dislocated. I was upstairs getting clothes, DH was at work, Abby was at the kitchen table, Lilly was upstairs in the bathroom and Lauren was with Madison in the family room. I heard the "I'm hurt cry" and came running and quickly realized what was wrong when she wouldnt lift her arm up. They were in a phase of pulling on eachother...so I dont know if Lauren did it or if Madison fell of something or what.

Lauren was 2....this past Thanksgiving. We were in Anaheim visiting DH's family and were in our hotel getting ready to head over to their house and Lauren was throwing a fit and DH was holding her hand and she went limp and he didnt let her go quick enough because they were standing on a tile floor and POP...they got to spend the morning in the emergency room.

We were also told that it would be likely to hapen again, none of them have had it happen again, thank goodness. Dh was shown how to pop them back in when he took Lilly in and he showed me....but neithor of us could do it when it came down to it....M & L wouldnt let us even move their arms without crying SO SO SO hard......so the dr's had to do it.