3 Tips For Helping Your Child Through Recovering From A Broken Bone
As a parent, one of the worst things is to see your child hurt or otherwise in pain. But with the extent that many children play and how careless they seem to be with their bodies sometimes, it’s not too far fetched that your child might break a bone at one point or another. When this happens, it can be hard for your child to adjust to life in a cast and might require them to have more patience than they presently possess. So to help ensure their time spent in a cast doesn’t mean weeks or months of misery for the whole family, here are three tips for helping your child through recovering from a broken bone.
Take The Most Care During The First Day Or Two
Once you’ve had your child seen by a medical professional, you’ll then be told what you should do to help your child heal quickly and remain comfortable. To set yourself and your child up for successful healing, Paige Fowler, a contributor to WebMD, shares that the most care should be taken during the first day or two after the injury. This is when things like swelling and pain are going to be most apparent. So to help your child through this stage, try to keep their injury elevated above their heart whenever possible and apply ice or other cold compresses.
Know How To Troubleshoot Problems With The Cast
If your child’s broken bone required a cast, this can be both a blessing and a curse. While this cast will help to stabilize your child’s injury and protect it from getting hurt, it can also be very uncomfortable and quite inconvenient. To address problems that might come along with wearing a cast, it’s important to know how to fix any problems your child might encounter. According to Doctors Richard W. Kruse and Susan M. Dubowy, contributors to KidsHealth.org, you should encourage your child not to get their cast wet or stuff anything down into their cast, regardless of how itchy it might get. If they get uncomfortable, try tapping on the outside of the cast to scratch itches.
Keep An Eye On Any Growth Plate Fracture
When kids break bones, they also have the chance of breaking their growth plate. If this happens, Bonnie Schiedel, a contributor to Today’s Parent, shares that you should keep a careful eye on how the injury heals and if your child’s growth continues as normal. If it doesn’t, you might need to get additional medical treatment to help ensure that your child develops in the appropriate way and doesn’t suffer from physical abnormalities later on in life as a result of their broken bone or growth plate.
If you have a child who’s just broken a bone, consider using the tips mentioned above to help ensure that he or she is able to recover quickly.