Kenaz Got a Nursemaid’s elbow

Every day when I come back from work, Akiva and Kenaz are outside in our complex. Yesterday was the same. They were looking at bullfrogs which were brought out by our neighbor kid for torture. Akiva and Kenaz grabbed my hands and showed me the huge frogs. And they started pulling my arms and running a circle around me like a merry-go-round.

Then I heard or felt deep clicking sounds from Kenaz’s hand. He started crying hysterically. I know something happened. His shoulder seemed in the right position, however his bellow elbow seemed no strength. I asked him if he can open and close his hand. He didn’t respond me. When I touched his hand, he screamed.

I decided to take him to an emergency room at Kowloon hospital. I explained to a doctor what happened but he instead to take an x-ray. The result was no broken bones and no problem. The doctor examined Kenaz’s arm. Kenaz was screaming!! He told me there was nothing wrong on his arm (even Kenaz was still sobbing) and told us to go home and rest.

Meanwhile, Akiva was holding some weeds he picked at our playground in his one hand and a soccer ball in his other hand. He was fascinating to see patients at emergency room. When I asked him to go home, he was watching a man lost tip of his toes. He wanted to know what happened on him and didn’t want to go home. While we were waiting for taxi, an ambulance came in. A woman on stretcher was tossed over a bed, she moaned by pain. Akiva didn’t want to get on a taxi because again he wanted to know why she was lucky to be on the ambulance.

We came home and ate chocolate ice cream for dinner. Kenaz was still on pain, but he finished his ice cream by one good hand. He fell into sleep on my shoulder without moving his bad arm. I wanted to resarch about his condition on internet, but somehow internet was down.

In the middle of night, he screamed by pain. I held him and set his bad hand on the secure position. Some time in early morning I noticed Kenaz was rolling around without waking up by pain. When he woke up, he touched his hand and said “unh??”. He had no pain and no problem.

I am glad I didn’t tell Jesse about it when he called me from Hangzhou on his business trip.

* Nursemaid’s elbow (pulled elbow) by babycenter.com

What caused this?
It may not have been anything out of the ordinary. Sometimes young children get nursemaid’s elbow if they’re grabbed or jerked by the wrist, picked up by one arm, or swung by the wrists while playing. It can also happen if your toddler suddenly pulls away from you or drops to the ground while you’re holding his hand or arm, or if you lift him by one arm onto a curb or step.

While you may not be able to completely avoid activities that can cause nursemaid’s elbow, you’ll reduce the chances of it if you avoid jerking or pulling on your toddler’s arms or wrists and take care to lift him from under his arms rather than by his arms.

What should I do?
Take your toddler to his doctor or to an emergency room. Nursemaid’s elbow needs to be treated to prevent permanent damage.

The doctor will carefully examine your child for signs of a fracture. If she decides your toddler has nursemaid’s elbow — based on the exam and how the symptoms came on — she’ll manipulate his arm in a specific way to put the ligament back into place.

A doctor can do this quickly and easily, and your child will be uncomfortable for only a moment. Afterward your toddler will be able to use his arm normally. Don’t try to fix it yourself — you could do more harm than good and cause your child additional pain.

If your toddler still seems to be hurting, you might want to give him the proper dose of ibuprofen to ease any swelling and pain.