What is a humeral fracture in children?

Children may suffer fractures if they are not careful. This is usually caused by falling or not paying attention when dressing. This can be very painful for children. After a humeral fracture occurs, what needs to be done is to go to the hospital for examination and treatment in time. So, what causes humeral fractures in children? Let’s take a look at it together.

Humeral fractures are usually caused by direct violence, such as birth trauma fractures or fractures caused by roughly stuffing the child's upper limbs into the sleeves when dressing. Indirect violence can also cause fractures, such as when a child breaks his or her wrist. Common fracture sites are in the middle and lower humerus.

The symptoms are swelling, pain, deformity, bone friction and functional impairment of the affected upper arm. The diagnosis can be confirmed by X-ray or fluoroscopy.

The treatment of humeral fractures in newborns is relatively simple. You can place a cotton pad between the armpit and chest of the child, bend the elbow joint to a right angle, and tie a bandage to the chest to fix it for 2 to 3 weeks to heal.

If a child's humeral fracture is dislocated, it needs to be reduced manually under anesthesia and then fixed with a splint, or a tubular suspension plaster to correct the overlapping deformity. It is usually fixed for 4 to 6 weeks.

Humeral fractures in children are serious injuries and are prone to malformation of the fracture, the most common of which is cubitus varus. The elbow joints of normal people have an outward angle, which is called the "carrying angle" in medicine, or what ordinary people call "elbows turning outward." If elbow varus occurs, it will look like "elbows are bent inward", which will affect the appearance. In addition, elbow varus increases the risk of subsequent elbow fractures and sometimes affects the flexion and extension of the elbow. In addition, the nerves and blood vessels around the elbow joint are easily damaged when a fracture occurs. However, even for severely displaced type 3 supracondylar fractures, as long as the treatment is appropriate and functional exercises are carried out well after surgery, most of them will not leave these "sequelae".

Through the above introduction, we know what humeral fractures are in children. After a child suffers a fracture, parents must pay attention to it. Active treatment is the key. In addition, during treatment, attention should be paid to the child's psychological counseling, diet, and daily care, and the child should be taken care of carefully from all aspects.