Conditions and injuries of the finger, hand, wrist, forearm and elbow: what they are, how they behave, and when they stop being minor.
Painless clicking after a broken wrist is common and usually fades over 2 to 3 months. A painful clunk when turning, a wrist that gives way, or creaking over a plate points to a TFCC, DRUJ or ligament injury, or a tendon at risk, and needs assessing.
Numb fingers after a broken wrist are common in the first days and usually fade over weeks. Numbness that is getting worse or spreading, or a tight cast with pale or blue fingers, needs the emergency department today.
Some aching and a weaker grip a year after a wrist fracture is common, and usually means the wrist was never properly strengthened. Pain on the little-finger side, a clunk, pain over the plate or a wrist getting worse needs a diagnosis.
Comfort your child, raise the hand, press on any bleeding and cold-pack the finger for 10 to 15 minutes. Most door injuries are bruises, but a lifted nail, a bent tip or bleeding that won’t stop needs the ER today.
A buckle fracture is a stable wrist break in children that heals in about 3 to 4 weeks, usually in a removable splint, with no follow-up X-ray needed. Normal play returns around 4 weeks, rough sport around 6.
Most growth plate fractures in a child’s hand or wrist heal in 3 to 6 weeks in a cast or splint and grow normally. A few, usually joint or crush injuries, need follow-up X-rays to check growth.
A toddler who suddenly won’t use an arm after being lifted or pulled by the hand may have a pulled elbow (nursemaid’s elbow). A doctor usually fixes it in seconds, and most children are using the arm again within 10 to 30 minutes.
A supracondylar fracture is the most common elbow fracture in children and needs the emergency department the same day. Most are in a cast, with or without pins, for 3 to 4 weeks, and get most of their movement back within 6 to 12 weeks after.
A wrist that’s still swollen 3 to 6 months after a fracture is common, and mild puffiness can last up to a year. Here’s what’s normal, what actually shrinks it, and the signs that point to CRPS or plate irritation.
Turning the palm up is one of the movements most often lost after a wrist fracture, and for most people it returns with daily exercises, with the biggest gains between weeks 6 and 12. A hard block, or under half the other side at three months, needs a review.