Tennis elbow is a painful condition that can impair the ability to use one’s arm for basic activities. Although it often affects individuals who play tennis and other sports, many people who do not engage in athletic pursuits develop the condition.
Injuries are unavoidable in children. My kids, especially my daughter, love the playground. They love any playground, but preferably one with some sort of structure that elevates their bodies to a height that makes me nervous.
My wife’s recent trip to Phoenix prompted this post. When I was practicing in Las Vegas and even during my residency training in Los Angeles we routinely took care of kids (and adults) with cactus thorns in various limbs.
We treat a lot of kids with congenital differences of the upper limb. Many times kids with these differences function at a very high level with their affected limb.
This is a common question we get from parents over the phone, and sometimes from our referring pediatricians.
Surprisingly, there are no good studies that have looked at what factors predict a child to have a fracture following an injury.
A friend of mine at U Maryland, Dr. Josh Abzug, was involved with an interesting study that was published last year. He and his colleagues looked at all of the reasons that patients returned to their doctors because they needed their casts changed earlier than was planned.
