5th metatarsal fractures should be suspected in athletes injuries during a sudden change in direction with the heel off the ground. Most have pain along the lateral edge of the foot, with difficulty weight-bearing.
The Jones fracture is a fracture of the 5th metatarsal. It has a high rate of non-union and you should involve Orthopedics in the near term after managing the injury in the ED.
There are several decision rules for ankle injury X-Rays in children. Ankle fractures occur most commonly in 10-15 year olds, and usually result from an inversion injury mechanism. Sprains are far more common and usually involve the anterior talofibular ligament. Let's briefly review some of the existing rules that we use to (hopefully) help us order fewer ankle X-Rays.
Proximal humerus fractures in children are generally managed non-operatively and have a great prognosis.. Learn about the diagnosis and management in this Fracture Fridays post.
High ankle sprains are injuries to the distal ligament between the tibia and fibula (syndesmosis) and are seen in American football and hockey players. Learn about the diagnosis and management in this very brief review.
What happens when kids jump of things and don't land smoothly? They break things. Sometimes those things are their arms. Learn more about a very common pediatric fracture in this edition of Fracture Fridays.
You definitely need to know how to apply the Kocher criteria to differentiate the septic hip from transient synovitis. There's a great online tool at MD Calc for just that.
Pelvic avulsion fractures are an important injury to recognize in adolescents. They present with a 'pop' and pain following a burst of physical activity.
What’s the best maneuver for reducing a dislocated shoulder? My guess is as good as yours. There are multiple maneuvers that work - and work well for anterior (AKA anterior-inferior) dislocations. This episode reviews how to manage shoulder dislocations in the Pediatric population.
It is much more common for children to break a finger than dislocate one. Why? Those darn growth plates. Nevertheless reducing a dislocated digit is one of the most common emergency procedures around and can generally be performed without much difficulty. However there are some situations where you shouldn’t just yank in the digit. Learn about these situations and more in this episode.