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According to a recent Canadian study, children who wore removable splints had better mobility as they healed from bone breaks, when compared with children wearing traditional plaster or fiberglass casts.

When six-year-old Elijah Wittingham fractured his wrist during a baseball practice, his doctors put him in a splint.

“They said because it would be easier to maneuver,” says Teresa Wittingham, Elijah’s mother. “He could wash with it, he could take it off and you could put it back on. So every time after he washed, or even when he was doing his homework, he could take it off, do his homework and put it back on. So that was very convenient.”

A removable splint isn’t always the best choice for a kid with a broken bone. Some fractures are so unstable and severe that a plaster or fiberglass cast is required.

But that means that a child’s joints and muscles can’t move for weeks.

And when the cast comes off, “they’re stiff, they had some muscle atrophy and they’re sore,” says Dr. Stephanie Martin, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. “The splint, on the other hand, immobilizes the broken bone. But because they can take them on and off for bathing, they can take them on and off for doing some range-of-motion exercises, typically the joint that’s around the fracture site is not as stiff.”

Experts say removable splints work best on kids who will follow directions – and seldom take off the splint. And, they say, it helps if parents enforce those rules.

“If you have the right dynamics of the correct fracture, the correct child, and the correct parents; splinting is a wonderful option,” says Dr. Martin. “But they do have to leave it on.”

For his part, Elijah advises kids who have to wear a splint “to not play rough – because you might hurt yourself again and you’d have to wear it for two more weeks.”

What We Need To Know

• After a splint or cast have been applied, rest and elevation can greatly reduce pain – as well as speed up your child’s healing process, Contact your doctor as soon as possible if your child experiences any of the following: the feeling that the splint or cast is too tight; increased pain, numbness and tingling in the affected area; burning or stinging sensations; excessive swelling below the cast; the loss of active movement in the toes or fingers. (American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons)
• If your child’s cast itches, attempt to redirect their attention away from the itch. To relieve an itch, try tapping on the outside of the cast or blowing cool air down the cast with a hair dryer. Never stick a coat hanger, pencil, keys or other items down a cast to scratch an itch – they can end up causing dangerous puncture wounds. (Dr. Stephanie Martin, Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta)

Resources

• U.S. National Library of Medicine – National Institutes of Health
• Nemours Foundation – Center for Children’s Health Media

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