How Can I Tell If My Daughter Jammed or Broke Her Finger

Hi, S..

I'm an EMT with three kids of my own.

I think that the pain is probably coming from the swelling. Try icing it - no more than 20 mins at a time because you can cause tissue damage - and if she's had Motrin/Ibuprofen in the past and hasn't had any adverse reactions to it, give her an age-appropriate dose. If, after the swelling goes down, she's still in pain and you feel she needs to be seen, make a same-day appointment with your primary care physician or your child's pediatrician and take her in. Without actually being able to see her finger and feel for instability and crepitus it's pretty difficult to know if she's broken her finger or not.

Hope this helps!

I broke my thumb. It progressively swelled. It looked bruised too. They dont do a whole lot for it. I went to urgent care and they taped a little splint on it. I had to follow up with a different doctor a couple times to make sure it healed.

I'd say go get it x-rayed. But I'm also a worry wort and take my kids for anything. My 5 year old daughter had her thumb slammed in the door about a month ago (on the hinge side and her thumb was flat!) and I took her and had her thumb x-rayed, it was such a releif to see that it was not broken (thank goodness for little kid bones!). If you can go to Urgent Care instead of the E.R.

Good Luck!

I would recommend making an appointment with her pediatrician to get an x-ray to be sure. One of my daughters broke her arm over Labor day weekend. We didn't think it was broken because she could move her fingers and wrist. It was still painful and got very swollen, so I made an appointment first thing after the weekend and it turned out she had fractured her wrist in 2 places. She wore a cast for 3 weeks and then a brace for 2 more. BTW, they make casts that can get wet now :)

If there's no bruising, she most likely just jammed it pretty good, and that alone can be painful. You can just buddy rap her finger and also apply ice for the swelling and give her some ibprophen for the pain. I jammed my toe last week and it still hurts if I move it the too far, but she should feel better in a couple of days, but if not I would get it checked out. Hope she feels better. :-)