Calling Dr. Hive...DS3's arm gets hurt easily

[joannqn]

My almost 4 year old has this ongoing injury to his left arm. It started, oh, well over a year ago. I don't remember what happened but it was similar to nursemaid's elbow only he says it hurts midway between the wrist and elbow on the outside of the arm. Every other month or three it gets re-injured. Usually it happens when someone is pulling, even very gently, on his arm during play...just like nursemaid's elbow. But can you have nursemaid's elbow with the muscle hurting rather than the joint?

 

Last July, he hurt the same arm while playing on the playground. It was bad this time so I ended up taking him to the ER. They x-rayed his arm, found nothing wrong, wrapped in a split for psychological comfort (really), and sent us home. Later, we got a call back from the doctor saying he couldn't see it but the radiologist thought he saw a possible hairline fracture right on the edge of the bone and that we should follow up with our doctor if he continues to have pain. Well, it was all better by the next day.

 

He hurt that same arm again tonight. All he did was stand up from the couch. Sounds silly but this boy never just stands up...he's all wiggly and wild about everything he does but he didn't hit it on anything, pull it, etc. Anyway, we gave him tylinol, put his arm in a splint, and tried to make him rest. Three hours later it still hurts. We put him to bed with ice on it (which I'll remove in a bit). He'll probably feel fine in the morning, but I'll take him in if it isn't.

 

Any guesses to what is wrong with his arm?

[mom2jjka]

Unfortunately - once they dislocate their elbow - it makes it very susceptible to that happening over and over again. It could be popping in and out of joint.