Recover elbow movement before shoulder, what does it mean?

Forum for parents of injured who are seeking information from other parents or people living with the injury. All welcome
mom2nine
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed May 28, 2008 1:23 pm

Re: Recover elbow movement before shoulder, what does it mean?

Post by mom2nine »

We are currently trying to get an MRI scheduled to see if they can confirm one way or the other if there is a shoulder dislocation. Is it possible to rule out a dislocation with just an x-ray? I hate to think of them having to sedate him for the MRI. I will let you all know how that goes.

Thanks again,
Kimberly
katep
Posts: 1240
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2004 3:20 pm

Re: Recover elbow movement before shoulder, what does it mean?

Post by katep »

RUN do not walk away from any doctor who says you can detect dislocation/subluxation/joint malformation with an x-ray in an infant or young child!! Joshua had an x-ray in September of 2004 at 9 months old and his shoulder joint was completely invisible. It is all cartilage at this age, *especially* the BPI arm which calcifies at an even slower rate than normal. He had an MRI a month later and it showed significant subluxation and malformation of the joint.

You simply cannot see the young infant's very soft and mostly cartilage joint on an x-ray, CT-scan or other radiological method. On very young kids (less than 6 months I believe) it is possible to do an ultrasound of the joint (before it gets too big) but it doesn't give anywhere near as good a picture of the joint.

Sedating for the MRI is scary, partly because it is the first time... I remember vividly. I lost my best friend over Joshua's MRI that he had at 3 months old because of my stress over the MRI. It gets better. It's always scary, but just make sure it is done with pediatric aneshesiologists and the risk is *very* minimal.

Kate
AK1999
Posts: 80
Joined: Mon Nov 05, 2001 1:47 am

Re: Recover elbow movement before shoulder, what does it mean?

Post by AK1999 »

Good sign at this age!!!
Locked