"Nursemaid's elbow"

Monday night, at that running-around-on-crack time between her bath and bedtime, was when Corrie injured her arm. She likes to attempt to throw things up in the air and will often use both hands (arms) to do this -- even if it is a piece of toilet paper or whatnot.

Now, I have swung her around by her hands and arms and hung her upside down by her legs...and nothing happens. She tries to throw a piece of toilet paper in the air and her elbow slips out! From Carrie's description, it sounded like she had her arms crossed up when she did this - so she effectively judo-chopped one forearm with the other :P and thus injured her elbow. (If you ever see her try to throw something up in the air with both arms, you'll know what I mean. She jumps, both arms go up and then down real fast... but with no body coordination at all).

She cried and could not move her arm. We didn't think much of it until Tues. morning when she woke up still on her back and unable to get herself to sit up (She can barely do a situp with BOTH arms) and still would not move her arm (or let you move it). Carrie called me at work and we took her to Urgent Care. Dr. Husain came in an asked a few questions, then took her by the wrist, twisted her arm, and bent it at the elbow. I thought he was just testing it (she was turning away towards mom and balling) but he was actually fixing the elbow joint/ligament right there. Ten seconds later she was smiling and fine, and used that arm to accept his pen and sign 'thank you'. :)

It was 'nursemaid's elbow', a common injury in toddlers 2 years old or a bit older (and more girls than boys, more left arms than right, according to one website). Usually it is the result of swinging a child by their arms or tugging at them to come-along -- but can also happen from a fall or some other freak accident like ...throwing toilet paper in the air. :)

I asked the Dr. if she was more prone to ligament issues in general (mentioning her hip dysplasia at birth) and he said probably not.