Toddler with broken leg
Discussion
My 3 year old broke his a tibia in an impressive fashion yesterday, trying to impress bigger boys going down their slide
He currently has some kind of temporary pot/bandage affair on, until he goes to the fracture clinic on Monday where he will get a proper pot (Assuming the bone is still aligned etc)
Anyone gone through similar? I assume with the proper pot on he will be ok to shuffle around and sit on a chair / toilet normally?
How long is it likely to take to heal? I can't really describe how bad it is, the fracture kind of twists round the bone, but it's not snapped in half or anything.
He starts nursery on 12th Sept, so I'm hoping he will be reasonably mobile by then - will he be walking with the pot on or will it be after it comes off he can start to walk?
He currently has some kind of temporary pot/bandage affair on, until he goes to the fracture clinic on Monday where he will get a proper pot (Assuming the bone is still aligned etc)
Anyone gone through similar? I assume with the proper pot on he will be ok to shuffle around and sit on a chair / toilet normally?
How long is it likely to take to heal? I can't really describe how bad it is, the fracture kind of twists round the bone, but it's not snapped in half or anything.
He starts nursery on 12th Sept, so I'm hoping he will be reasonably mobile by then - will he be walking with the pot on or will it be after it comes off he can start to walk?
My son broke his wrist at a similar age. I think his pot was on for at least four weeks, with a change at two weeks. It really does depend on the rate of healing.
The real b*gger is keeping the child clean while it is on - we resorted to showers with taped up plastic bags over the cast. You might consider bin bags and do not think of bathing him.
My son got quite frustrated with his lack of mobility and that was a wrist.
Happily there is less itching than for an adult in a similar situation as no real hair growing.
Peter
The real b*gger is keeping the child clean while it is on - we resorted to showers with taped up plastic bags over the cast. You might consider bin bags and do not think of bathing him.
My son got quite frustrated with his lack of mobility and that was a wrist.
Happily there is less itching than for an adult in a similar situation as no real hair growing.
Peter
My son was 3 when he broke his tibia - the reason is a bit more NSPCC mind (his Mum dropped him) oops!
Anyway it sounds a very similar type of fracture - I think they call it a spiral fracture in A&E.
He was put in a full foot to hip plastercast on the day, he then got xrayed at the fracture clinic to confirm everything was still ok where they added a plastic hard wrapping to the cast.
It was quite a heavy cast, but even so within about 3/4 days he was moving around on it. Either dragging his leg along like some sort of goblin or walking like a peg leg pirate! Ha. They say to try and not let them walk on it (even putting a bend in the knee of the castto make it more difficult) but a 3yr old doesn't really follow much in the way of medical advice... the first week was pretty tough as he went from an active outdoors kid to one that couldn't walk nor get his leg wet/dirty. But after a week he just adapted and as cliche as it sounds he was amazing at dealing with it.
From memory he had it for 8 weeks. Initially they indicated it may heal in 6 but at the 6 week fracture clinic they took s better safe than sorry approach.
After it was taken off he had a notable limp for probably 4 weeks but you'd never know now and he tears round like any other 3yr old.
The only lasting impact is with my wife... who physically winces every time he tells someone his mum broke his leg by dropping him. Gotta love kids!
Anyway it sounds a very similar type of fracture - I think they call it a spiral fracture in A&E.
He was put in a full foot to hip plastercast on the day, he then got xrayed at the fracture clinic to confirm everything was still ok where they added a plastic hard wrapping to the cast.
It was quite a heavy cast, but even so within about 3/4 days he was moving around on it. Either dragging his leg along like some sort of goblin or walking like a peg leg pirate! Ha. They say to try and not let them walk on it (even putting a bend in the knee of the castto make it more difficult) but a 3yr old doesn't really follow much in the way of medical advice... the first week was pretty tough as he went from an active outdoors kid to one that couldn't walk nor get his leg wet/dirty. But after a week he just adapted and as cliche as it sounds he was amazing at dealing with it.
From memory he had it for 8 weeks. Initially they indicated it may heal in 6 but at the 6 week fracture clinic they took s better safe than sorry approach.
After it was taken off he had a notable limp for probably 4 weeks but you'd never know now and he tears round like any other 3yr old.
The only lasting impact is with my wife... who physically winces every time he tells someone his mum broke his leg by dropping him. Gotta love kids!
5 years ago my middle child snapped (yes snapped!) his femur at about 20 months old, had one of those hip spica casts on (for 5 or 6 weeks) after being in traction for 10 days. even with one of them he managed to get himself about. the day it came off he was pulling himself back up on the furniture and falling off, that first night he managed to climb out of his cot and came thudding down on to the floor (that caused panic). Think it took a couple of weeks to regain leg strength & walk properly again . Couple of months before there was absolutely no sign of a limp. it's amazing how quickly kids recover. they forget they did anything and it's the parents that are worrying and wincing when they see the kids climb up and tumble over.
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