Subluxation in the elbow joint often occurs in children 1-4 years old during a fall or playing with parents: how to recognize an unpleasant injury and how to avoid it
Are there any well-meaning injuries that can be inflicted on a child? Unfortunately yes. For babies up to 3-4 years old, parents, unwittingly, can dislocate the handle in the elbow joint. Such an injury is called "nanny's elbow". And all because it happens at the moment when they want to protect the child from falling or play outdoor games with him. The injury itself is not dangerous, but rather painful. Read about how to recognize it, where to take the child for treatment and what to do to prevent another dislocation, read our material.
Toddlers are tireless explorers, and often go where they shouldn't, putting themselves in danger. The reflex reaction of any parent at this moment is to grab the child by the hand and pull it towards you, pulling it away from a dangerous place or critical situation. Since the parent is much taller than the child, he always pulls up. At this point, the ulna (radius) bone may be displaced from its place in the joint. Sometimes this happens during outdoor games: especially when parents pick up and circle the child by the hands. In some children, subluxation even occurs during dressing: for example, when the mother is in a hurry to push the child's handle into a too narrow sleeve.
When an elbow injury occurs
Joint subluxation can happen even while playing / istockphoto.com
In order to provoke a "nanny's elbow" in a child, it is not at all necessary to have remarkable strength. From the point of view of physiology, this is a completely understandable situation. The radius bone in our skeleton is connected to the elbow joint by elastic ligaments. Have little kids the ligaments are still very weak, and in the case of external influence they cannot always keep the bone in the desired position. Because of this, the elbow in babies can easily move from its place. In medicine, such an injury is called radial head subluxation.
As the child grows up, the risk of getting this injury decreases: the bones harden, and the ligaments become stronger and thicker. However, until the age of four, every baby is at risk. Traumatologists say that girls have more babysitting elbows than boys. And if this happened once, there is a high probability of repetition. To avoid subluxation of the radial head, parents should take good care of themselves. Most often, trauma occurs in such situations:
Often "nanny elbow" is associated with the first steps of the baby / istockphoto.com
- the parent grabs the child by the hand to hedge against the fall
- parent lifts the baby by the hands or wrists
- the parent teaches the child to walk by holding the arms extended above the head
- the parent rocks or whirls the child by holding his hands
- the parent intensely pulls the baby's hand, urging him to go faster
- the parent dresses the child, sharply stretching his arms through the sleeves
You can provoke "nanny elbow" while dressing / istockphoto.com
How to identify an elbow injury
Any joint problems cause great discomfort. And “nanny's elbow is no exception. Immediately after the injury, the baby feels sharp pain, begins to cry and cannot calm down for a long time. In this case, the hand, most likely, will not have any bruises, or swelling, or any other "visual" signs of damage. However, in this case, this is not an indicator that everything is in order. If the pain does not go away for several hours, the baby refuses to move his hand and presses it to himself, turning his palm to the body, which means that you need to go to a traumatologist.
Do not pull and pull the child's hands / istockphoto.com
Doctors are so often faced with this problem that they usually solve it in a few minutes. After making sure that there is no fracture (sometimes an X-ray may be needed for this), the doctor uses a special technique to return the elbow to its place. The "contraction maneuver" is performed without anesthesia. But sometimes the parents have to hold the child, because the procedure is still quite unpleasant. Most likely, the child will scream and even cry. But the pain after proper therapy goes away very quickly, so after 5-10 minutes the baby can calmly move his hand.
Despite the seeming simplicity of the procedure, doctors urge you not to try to carry it out at home. In fact, there are five techniques of reduction (or return of the joint to the desired position), and only a specialist can see which one is suitable for a particular child. In addition, at home, parents cannot assess the severity of the injury. After all, severe pain, even without hematomas and edema, can sometimes be a symptom of a bone fracture.
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How to provide first aid for bruises and cuts: instructions for mom
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Head injury in a child: Komarovsky told when to panic
