broken pinkie in child

[sunlver]

My 11 yr old daughter broke her pinkie on Thursday. She had broken it before, we did xrays(this was about 3 yrs ago)and they put it in a splint. They said the growth plate wasnt invovled.

On Friday night my husband took her to the Patient first(not our reg doctor as they were closed by then)and they did xrays and again put it in splint and said to follow up with her regular pediatrician. Well on Saturday, the nurse calls and tells us the radiologist looked at her xray and this time her growth plate was fractured. They said she needs to go to a specialist asap. Now, she does have an appointment tomorrow with an orthopedic specialist. Has this ever happened to anybody, and what is the normal protocol for something like this?
Is this a big deal?
Ive dont research on the internet, and it seems sort of common in children, but when the nurse called she made it seem like a serious issue

 

[LuvOrlando]

This happened to my son but with his arm. The trouble is that on a Friday there are no Orthopedists available so they just wrap you up & send you home from the ER with a "Everything will be fine" then Monday you get the truth. But, by Monday your child's bone has already begun to heal so if things are not straight the bone needs to be re-broken and set. It is pretty awful but this seems to be how they do things.

My son had a nasty break that needed to be re broken, reset & re casted 2 years ago. My DH had this done when when he was a kid without anesthesia and to put it mildly he said "H--- No, not my kid." So my son was sedated and his arm is now fine.

Most breaks happen along the growth plates because that is where the bone is weakest. Usually finger breaks need nothing but being wrapped together to heal. We've had quite a few of these so unless it looks crooked, and you can see crooked, she is probably fine. If it's not straight the bone will not grow in straight, also there is a slight risk of the break traumatizing the bone into not growing any longer. A Pediatric Orthopedist is the best specialist for this kind of injury, unfortunately we now know one pretty well ... sometimes I wish I could just bubblewrap my kids.

The only thing serious about this is that she really needs to be evaluated by a Specialist ASAP because each day that passes her body is doing more & more work to fix itself and if it's not doing it right fixing it later on becomes very hard to do. My DH still can't rotate his wrist completely from a thumb break

 

[sunlver]

This happened to my son but with his arm. The trouble is that on a Friday there are no Orthopedists available so they just wrap you up & send you home from the ER with a "Everything will be fine" then Monday you get the truth. But, by Monday your child's bone has already begun to heal so if things are not straight the bone needs to be re-broken and set. It is pretty awful but this seems to be how they do things.

My son had a nasty break that needed to be re broken, reset & re casted 2 years ago. My DH had this done when when he was a kid without anesthesia and to put it mildly he said "H--- No, not my kid." So my son was sedated and his arm is now fine.

Most breaks happen along the growth plates because that is where the bone is weakest. Usually finger breaks need nothing but being wrapped together to heal. We've had quite a few of these so unless it looks crooked, and you can see crooked, she is probably fine. If it's not straight the bone will not grow in straight, also there is a slight risk of the break traumatizing the bone into not growing any longer. A Pediatric Orthopedist is the best specialist for this kind of injury, unfortunately we now know one pretty well ... sometimes I wish I could just bubblewrap my kids.

The only thing serious about this is that she really needs to be evaluated by a Specialist ASAP because each day that passes her body is doing more & more work to fix itself and if it's not doing it right fixing it later on becomes very hard to do. My DH still can't rotate his wrist completely from a thumb break

Thank you for getting back to me on my post. I honestly was suprised we got an appointment for tomorrow, but I am not complaining. I know sometimes with specialists it takes awhile.Her finger has been wrapped since she broke it, I dont think it looks crooked....but I am no expert

 

[pumba]

My daughter broke her thumb in the growth plate and they put a full cast on her hand up to her elbow...
Hope that is all the do for your child....fingers crossed

 

[golfgal]

They will want to evalute the damage to the growth plate. Worst case, her pinky stays the same size it is now and doesn't continue to grow. They will possibly put screws in so they can force the bone to grown in that situation.

 

[Mom21]

My daughter broke 4 fingers in 6 months One broke into the growth plate at the base of the finger. On the xray you could see a triangular piece almost floating. Not sure how to explain. I immediately thought surgery. However they gave it time in a splint and it healed nicely. Yes to an orthopedic dr. We got to be on first name basis with ours for a few months. You should have seen his face when she kept having to come in. Coming up on 2 or 3 years (can't remember as we've had other injuries including slamming into a 3rd story window at a hotel and slicing both of her shins open to the bone--not a toddler mind you but a 12yo at that time) and so far no more. Just a bad streak of luck for her.