Nursemaid's Elbow: The Return

Ethan hurt his arm again on Monday. I came to pick him up from daycare and he was sitting on Miss Janet's lap, cradling his arms and crying. She hadn't seen him do anything, and wasn't even sure where he was hurting-- thought for a bit that he might be having gas pains or something, because he was holding his arm across his stomach. But then when she went to lift him off her lap, I noticed he was holding his arm oddly, and almost immediately suspected that he'd injured his elbow again. Sure enough, he was acting the same way he did several months ago when he was diagnosed with "nursemaid's elbow"-- basically, a dislocation of the radius bone in the elbow. It usually happens when they get pulled by the wrist too hard or swung by the arms, but in this case Janet's not sure how it happened.

The doctor at Kaiser said that there's a chance this is just going to be more likely now that it's happened a couple of times, and we'll have to be aware of it. He even showed me how to fix it myself, but I'm just not sure I'm up to it. I'd rather pay the $35 and take him down to the urgent care every time, at this point. Anyway, they fixed him right up and he's as good as new (ish). Now, if we can only figure out how to keep him from getting these elbow dislocations, I'll consider it a success!