Last week my daughter (6 years old) tried to take Spring Break seriously and fell from her swingset. Actually, she got intangled in her swing when trying to get on and fell and the swing pulled her arm up while she slipped and fell downward.

We rushed over to our family doctor who did an x-ray and said it is possible there is a hairline fracture, but with it being so close to the growth plate, he isn't sure. He gave her a sling and said to check back in 10 days if it isn't better.

We're on day 7 and she still claims to be in pain. The odd thing is that she says the pain is all in the inner part of her elbow (left.) She can squeeze my hand as tightly as she can with the uninjured arm and she can raise her arm as in a biceps curl. She states that it hurts too much to raise her arm like a lateral arm lift and won't even try to lift it straight up.

The pain she is describing indicates to me that she has hurt her shoulder, but she says that there is no pain there - only in the crease of her elbow.

I don't believe she is doing it for attention. She isn't asking for us to wait on her hand and foot and is disappointed that she can't ride her brand new bicycle. I also tried to see if the word "surgery" might cause an overnight recovery and she has only asked if that will hurt.

Any insights?

My sisterinlaw took a fall and injured her elbow it did not show a break nor did it have any bruising or cuts but slowly the outside of her hand and baby finger begin to draw inward and she was losing use of them. She also complained of pain in her elbow. They ended up having to do surgery on her elbow to repair the damage. So it is possible that she is hurt even though there is no outward appearance of injury. I'm not sure what kind of test they performed on my SIL. To determine the exact problem.

Might be some sort of stretched tendons? My son has had those injuries, and the doctor called it tennis elbow. It sometimes takes him a couple of weeks before he feels he no longer needs it in a sling. It might reoccur with various strains or pulls of the arm. My sons has been from falling, monkey bars, and a dog on a leash pulling on his arm...

Is she willing to try riding the bike? Or is she not doing that because of her own idea?

It also might become more sore after use, so certainly keep an eye on it, and see if she begins using it more... and nothing wrong with having the sling available if that helps it.

I'm not a doctor, and certainly your and your doctor's judgement is best since you are there to see her, but I hope I helped in some way.

So don't wait on her hand and foot, she has another hand ? And it is possible that she has a pulled muscle also that showed up more after a couple of days.

With all things, always go by what your doctor says

Some peoples pain tolerance is lower than others and she really could be in pain.
Most kids 'forget' they are in pain when it is to their convenience so if she is not 'okay' during school and then once school gets out she is okay or when she doesn't want to miss out on something I would say she is not faking.
Also being hurt in one spot CAN cause pain in other parts.
I feel down some steps backwards a few years ago and hurt my right ankle so I couldn't put much weight on my foot. I ended up with bad pain in my left hip because of my right ankle.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Just to update: I took her sling off and made her work her arm last night. She says it doesn't hurt anymore, but she can't lift it properly and I don't like the way it appears to "hang" from her shoulder. Orthopedist, here we come!