My 5 yo broke her arm last month. It was a T3 humerus fracture just above her elbow on her right (dominant) hand. (I will spare the traumtic details.) She had pins placed during surgery and the cast went almost up to her shoulder. Cast and pin removal last week, and its hard for her to straighten out her arm. More concerning, however, is that her hand is almost completely limp. It feels like a baby hand and she isn't using it because she can't. I spoke with the surgeon today and he said the bruising and limited use is normal and that its too soon to tell anything. Follow up is already scheduled for a few weeks out. Have any of your kids experienced anything like this? I'm just curious how your kids' recovery went.
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That would be concerning! What was the surgeon's explanation? Was she able to use her hand to grasp things while the cast was on?
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I'm so sorry! I can understand why you are concerned.
2 out of my 3 girls have had fractures to the radius/ulna bones of their dominant arms, but we don't have experience with surgery. Their was definitely some stiffness/lack of use when the casts first came off, and the arms looked pretty pathetic/shriveled (below the elbow, waterproof casts) but that was due to habit and mild weakness from disuse, not due to pain or inability to move their arms.
If it were me, I might seek a second opinion. I'd definitely encourage her to do things with that hand - play with play-doh, dig beads out of thera-putty or play with other figit toys, etc. Based on my experiences with accidents/injuries as an adult, it almost sounds kind of like she could use some rehab or PT exercises. That might be a follow-up question for the surgeon?
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I totally agree with everything PinkElephant said. Sounds normal, but depends on how long it goes on for. From my experience, after you get a cast off, it does take some time to get full use back, and there is definitely some weakness for awhile. I broke a finger this fall and it took a week or two for just that to feel normal after I got the splint off! I like the Play-Doh idea. Try to encourage any use and stretching and if you aren't seeing improvement I would definitely get a second opinion. I'm surprised they didn't recommend PT right away as the default, but maybe kids are different than adults.
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@Chuckles: @PinkElephant: @Lahela017: Thank you for replying. What i'm worried about is something called median nerve palsy. She had a closed reduction with pins set in during the surgery and I think this is when the very rare median nerve palsy can happen. I did talk to the surgeon yesterday on the phone and he told me that a limp hand can be normal, as well as all of the bruising all over that I"m seeing. I do have an appointment during the first week of January, but if my mom gut tells me something else is still wrong, I can call back and bring her in. So, I will wait until next week to look for improvement. The doctor said it would be too early to tell anything and no harm in waiting. So, I will keep trying to get her to use it and do some of the things you girls mentioned. Her hand looks paralyzed, with the fingers curled in. She barely used it while in the cast and now I feel so bad. My 3 yo broke her radius and ulna earlier this year
and it seemed like such a more crazy, visibility horrible, break. And she recovered immediately and I was told her bones are stronger than ever now. This current humerus break was something else entirely and I'm still in absolute shock how this is happening. Thank you, again, for responding with your experiences and suggestions. 
and it seemed like such a more crazy, visibility horrible, break. And she recovered immediately and I was told her bones are stronger than ever now. This current humerus break was something else entirely and I'm still in absolute shock how this is happening. Thank you, again, for responding with your experiences and suggestions. 
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