If They Could Make A Fist Then It’s Not Broken
It happens constantly. Your child is running she then trips and falls on her hand and now she’s holding her hand crying. Or your kids are fighting and slamming doors on each other when one of them screams out in agony. You come running “What happened? What happened? Are you ok? Let me see your hand. Let me see it” And of course a child knowing never to trust an adult looking at their hand will protect it even more. Its as if we are going to grab it and cause them more pain.
No matter how many times you demand to see your child’s hand they will simply not let you.
One thing I learnt over the years teaching First Aid is that if a child broke his or her finger it will hurt like hell and they wont be able to move it which means that I they could move it then its probably not broken. Simply ask your son or daughter to make a fist. If they can do it then chances are there are no broken fingers. This works almost all the time for me when dealing with my kids. They have no idea that your really checking their hand. Once you see that they could make a fist you could get up and say “Your fine” and walk away.
June 3rd, 2007 at 12:47 pm
[…] presents How To Check if Your Child Fractured His or Her Finger Without Them Knowing that You’re Checking posted at […]
June 3rd, 2007 at 12:56 pm
[…] presents How To Check if Your Child Fractured His or Her Finger Without Them Knowing that You’re Checking posted at […]
June 5th, 2007 at 3:00 am
[…] record breaking number of submissions! Here are a few that caught my eye this week: Eric presents How To Check if Your Child Fractured His or Her Finger Without Them Knowing that You’re Checking posted at Husbandhood. That’s a first-aid tip I’d never heard, though I think […]
January 21st, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Good general advice but don’t count on it.
During the night last Thursday we were wakened by screaming. When I check on my five year old she stated that she had fallen out of bed. We put her back to bed but less than an hour later she was up say her fingers hurt. She would not let us exam an her hand. We notice very slight swelling in the forefinger. So we gave her a cold pack and Motrin and pusher back to bed in the morning we examined her again. She could wiggle her fingers and make a fist so we sent her to school. Later that morning her school Nurse calls that the hand had starting swelling. X- Rays showed fractures through the growth plate at the base of the 2nd and third metacarpals (The bones that connect the fingers to the wrist). Even if the hand appears to have movement there may still be a hider break. Watch for pain that prelist of worsens, Swelling, weakness of grasp; numbness, resistance to use hand or a usually dark purple bruise which may take a couple of days to be visible.
January 25th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Hi Gregg. First, thank you for commenting. Sorry for not responding sooner. We were away on vacation.
In the case you mentioned with your daughter the fracture was in the area of the hand. Since I never heard of the metacarpals before I decided to research it. According to the information you posted above and what I have read online the point of injury is located closer to the wrist than the fingers (”base of the 2nd and third metacarpals”). In this case the information in my post above would not apply. My post was specifically for injuries to the fingers and not the hand. If a child broke his or her finger then they would not be able to bend it.
But your comment did come in handy as it reminded me that a child has a greater chance of sustaining a fracture falling off their bed than falling down the stairs.
May 15th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
[…] This article was originally published on my parenting blog at Husbandhood.net […]