My pediatrician currently referred me to a general orthopedic. He went to see him once already, but wouldn't a pediatric orthopedic be a better fit for my 3 year old that broke his forearm?
I guess it depends. Perhaps there isn't a top notch pediatric ortho specialist near you or the doctor feels the general ortho he referred you to has the best experience and qualifications.
I hope your little guy heals quickly. Broken bones are such a bummer.
Best wishes!
There is no guarantee that a pediatric ortho will have a better bedside manner or necessarily has more knowledge. If you were happy with his services and he appeared to have the appropriately-sized equipment to treat his son, then stay with him.
If it were a complicated break or it involved the growth plate, then maybe a pediatric ortho would give a better result...otherwise a general will give you everything you need.
As a side note, our family doctor set and casted my broken leg when I was four.
Bones are bones, any ortho should be fine unless you had some kind of personal problem with the one you saw. My mom is an ortho, and she sees patients of every age.
My 5 year old just broke his arm right above the wrist. The general ortho we took him to was great. For some stuff I fully use pediatric docs and specialists but for a simple break (which ours was) I have no issue with using a general doc / specialist.
A ped othor will probably have a better bedside manner for your kiddo and special way of telling your child what s/he is doing while the arm is set and casted.
If it's a simple break, I would think it doesn't matter whether you see a pediatric specialist or not. A pediatric orthopedic would only be critical if it was something that would affect the future growth of your child.
They both would have the skills to take care of him, but the pediatric orthopedic is used to dealing with small, scared children all the time. The general one may or may not.
