Finger Fractures in Kids After a Car Accident
I’m Ed Smith, a West Sacramento personal injury lawyer. When it comes to your child’s development, nothing is quite as fragile or important as their hands and fingers. If anything damages them, the results can be long-lasting, which is why it’s imperative that you focus on fixing any fractures or breaks immediately to ensure that your kid doesn’t have any permanent damage that will follow him or her throughout life.
Causes of Fractures
As is the case with many of your child’s body parts, the fingers are especially susceptible to breakage because they are so small and they are exposed the most to different elements. Bone fractures can occur by slamming their fingers into tight spaces, such as drawers and doorways. Another common situation that leads to breakage is a car accident. Even if the overall damage to your vehicle wasn’t severe, your little one may have managed to break a finger or two in the process, depending on the situation. Thus, if you are in a collision that involves your child you need to get his or her hands checked out immediately to see if a fracture took place.
Identifying Fractures
Fortunately, it’s quite easy to spot a fractured finger as multiple symptoms and markers will make the injury apparent. If you see any of these on either of your kid’s hands, you should take him or her to the hospital immediately to correct the issue. The sooner you can get the broken finger reset and healing, the less long-term damage will take hold. Common symptoms include
- Swelling around the fracture site
- Tenderness and pain
- Bruising (either mild or severe)
- Inability to move the finger (or fingers)
- Deformity of the finger
In some cases, the fracture will be obvious because the finger is bent in an unnatural position. Also, the pain will most likely be immense, so your child will undoubtedly let you know that it hurts.
Watch Youtube Video – Finger and metacarpal Fractures – Everything You Need To Know. This video provides a good overview of how the fingers normally function. It also gives information on the treatment of finger fractures and indications for surgery.
How to Treat a Fracture
While it’s always necessary to see a physician to correct a fracture, there are two different methods for ensuring that the fingers heal correctly and won’t result in long-term damage or deformity. The first method is to reset the bone and hold it in place with a splint or cast. This is by far the most common treatment for fractures as it is relatively simple to do and our bodies can recover quickly if the breakage is addressed immediately.
In other cases, however, it might be necessary to conduct surgery to fix the problem. This is usually the case if tendons were affected by the fracture or if the damage was extreme. In this instance, your child’s fingers will need pins or screws to set the bones back in place to ensure that proper healing happens.
Regardless of the cause of a finger fracture, whether it’s a car accident or some type of injury sustained at home, it’s crucial that you get it addressed as quickly as possible to avoid complications down the line.
Related Articles by Ed Smith ~
- Pediatric Wrist and Hand Fractures
- Fractures and other serious injuries to children
West Sacramento Personal Injury Lawyers
I’m Ed Smith, a West Sacramento personal injury lawyer. If you, or someone you care about, has suffered a serious injury or has passed away in an accident, please give me a call at (916) 921-6400 for free, friendly advice. Or, when calling long distance, call me on my toll-free line at (800) 404-5400.
For more than 3 decades, I have helped families throughout Northern California retrieve fair and just compensation for cases involving personal injury and wrongful death.
My reviews can be found on: Avvo (a site for attorney reviews), Yelp and Google.
I am a California section member of the Million Dollar Advocates. This is a group of top trial lawyers who have obtained million dollar case verdicts.
Here a some of my Verdicts and Settlements.
I am the founder of AutoAccident.com, an informative personal injury website in California.
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