Nursemaids Elbow?

[meloneyb21]

I've never heard of such a thing until this morning. My poor son's left arm was pretty much useless (he was miserably crying, I didn't know what to do). I thought it was broke and started to panic! Went to the ER about 5am and was told it was something called nursemaids elbow? Never heard of it, but the Dr. made a couple moves and popped my son's elbow back in place. He went from total misery to clapping in like 2 minutes flat. Weird.

 

[amez]

glad he is feeling better now--I've not had a problem with any of my kids but a friend of mine's son has his pop out on occassion.

 

[kacaju]

yes it happened twice to my dd who is now 11. First we have no clue what happened. She was at the playground with her older cousins and sisiters with dh and our SIL. I came home and was told she was very upset and saw she couldn't use her arm. took her to the er and that is just what they did for her. Second time about a year later, dh was putting a swimmie on her arm. Grabbed her arm and tried to push a dry swimmie up her arm. Popped it right out. Took herto the ped and they popped it right back in!!

 

[Dr. J.]

It is because of a relatively lax ligament in children's elbows. If someone pulls on a hand or wrist when the child isn't flexed or resisting, the ligament gets displaced and the child will hold the arm bent with the palm facing their chest.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I had a friend whose dd had this. After 3 trips to the ER, she learned how to fix it herself.

Sorry your son had to suffer and glad that he is better!

 

[mrsv98]

Yes, DD did this when she was about 3. She slid down the stairs and tried to stop herself and pulled it out. I too thought she broke her arm. We called the doc and went to the ER but in my looking at her arm, I actually popped it back in without knowing so by the time we arrived at the hospital she was fine.

The Ortho did tell us that she should not hang from anything for a year as it tends to happen again once it starts. That meant no monkey bars or swinging from the high bar at the gym but the instructors were knowledgeable about it so it wasn't an issue.

Sorry you were at the ER for Christmas but at least your boy is ok

 

[maddiel]

My DD10 had it happen a couple of times when she was around three. Once it happens it's more likely to happen again, but they do grow out of the risk of it happening around five or six.

The first time it happened it was difficult to pop back in - the duty nurse and the initial doctor in the children's ER couldn't do it. Because it took a while to get it back in place, she was really resistant to try and move it once it was fixed - we spent an extra hour at the hospital while the staff offed her treats on that side! When it happened again the nurse taught me what to do to pop it back in, which I had to do once.

After that, I used to have her hold my wrist when we were walking so I wouldn't yank it if one of us tripped.

M.

 

[tazdev3225]

My DGD had hers go out 4 or 5 times in the space of a couple of years. The first time we had just left the pediatricians offiice and she pulled away from me. I actually felt the pop and thought I had broken her arm. She did it a couple of more times but the worst was when I had taken her to the shore and we had to drive over 2 hours back home with her elbow out of position. The last time it happened we had an ER visit, a pediatrician visit and another ER visit to get it back in. The first ER dr refused to accept my diagnosis and said that she needed to see an orthopedist because she probably had a fractured wrist. This was with negative x-rays. While we were at the ER at the children's hospital it she fell and knocked it back into the right position.

The drs around here wouldn't show us how to "fix" it as they said if it's done improperly you can cause more damage to the elbow. I don't know how true that was but she has thankfully putgrown the problem.

 

[GAGirlInVA]

My youngest brother in law has this. My step-MIL pops it back in very quickly.

It must be terribly painful because he is a rough and tumble boy but this brings tears to his eyes.

 

[SandrA9810]

If it's so common in kids... how did it get the name "nursemaid"?? Tennis elbow sounds funny enough.

 

[meloneyb21]

DS is doing much better now. He actually just woke up about an hour ago. We came home, opened his gifts and he was knocked out since 11:30am. The poor thing never went to sleep last night. He likes to sleep on his stomach but was unable to turn himself over so he just cried. My poor baby. I felt so bad.

 

[maddiel]

If it's so common in kids... how did it get the name "nursemaid"?? Tennis elbow sounds funny enough.

Picture a toddler walking along holding his nursemaid's hand. The toddler trips and falls and all their weight is carried by the arm that is reaching up. If the elbow ligament is loose, the force of the jolt can pull it out of place.

Holding hands with a grown up (who is obviously taller so their hand is reaching up), being swung by the arms, hanging from playground equipment, flopping to a deadweight while someone is pulling a shirt over the child's head are all typical ways this can happen.

M.

 

[wdwmom2]

If it's so common in kids... how did it get the name "nursemaid"?? Tennis elbow sounds funny enough.

It stems from back when nursemaids used to be the one's to take care of the children. Commonly comes from holding onto a child's hand and the child goes to drop to the ground, or from holding the hand and pulling the child up from the ground.

As a child grows, the ligament that holds the radius in place strengthens, making nursemaids elbow less likely to occur.

My oldest had it 2 or 3 times when she was little.