is it bad is your arm is broken in two spots and is numb?

Question

the arm is in a temporary cast but his arm is still numb
is that normal?

Answer 1

Well, it makes it hard to control your martini.

Answer 2

How do you know it is broken? Is it swollen, purple, tender to the touch, out of alignment, out of normal shape?

It is almost impossible to treat your own broken arm yourself. It must be realigned (fractures must be reduced) then, made immobile in alignment, and kept that way until the bones have knit, at least enough to stay in position. The contortions required to even apply first aid to ones own broken arm, which merely ties the broken parts down so no more damage is done, make it difficult to line up the breaks correctly.

An X-ray, taken at some imaging facility, will reveal the actual condition of the bones in your arm, a level of treatment certain to be available at major hospital emergency rooms, and perhaps at some minor hospitals too.

Before going off to a hospital with a broken arm flapping all over the place, a person with a broken arm must get a nearby person, friendly neighbor, or something, to help you with the splints. Stiff board-like materials. the lighter and stiffer the better, make good splints. These are tied to enclose the arm with pieces with cloth. The arm must be tied to both pieces and the pieces must be tied to each other, so that nothing moves. When the arm is immobile above, between, and below the suspected breaks, it is safe to go rushing off to an ER. Once there, the ER staff takes care of it.

The key difference between a break and a bruise is the amount of damage to the bones. If you have a break, and ignore it, it will heal out of alignment and may be impossible to ever get straight again. Even partial fractures, which do not sever the bone, can cause future problems with the joints at either end. A break will appear worse every day for several days if untreated, whereas a bruise will discolor, heal, and change back toward normal in the same time period. By which time, bones will have begun to knit, in positions out of proper alignment. One best gets the X-ray image, somewhere, somehow, in the twelve hours following the event. After 48 hours, permanent damage may be done.

Once a fracture is reduced, the bones should start to knit in a couple of days, and should achieve a stable, healed state in six weeks or so, faster in the young and healthy, slower in the ill or enfeebled aged. While it is healing, the ends of the nerves that were damaged give the person itching, burning, or numbing sensations. If numbing spreads, and increases or persists, the quality of the healing surrounding the break may be responsible, and a doctor must remove the cast, check beneath, recheck the alignment by touch, and apply another cast. A series of "temporary" casts is not enough, there are "permanent casts" that will be needed if healing takes anywhere near the average amount of time. If you got a temporary in the ER., and were told to get a permanent somewhere else, go find a place where it will be done, in a medically effective manner. The old plaster stuff still works, as do modern modern brace and tape contraptions, but the plaster types will hold up for the duration, whereas some of the contraptions might not.

What were you doing that one of you broke an arm, possibly in two places, and Yahoo Answers was your best source of information?

Answer 3

When did the numbing start? If the numbing started after the temp cast was put on then the cast it to tight. More ER's use temp cast that has fiberglass in the center with a cloth covering. The nurse or ER Tech will dampen this and then mold it to your limb. After that they will use ace bandage and secure the mold to the extremity. This is used to stabelize the broke bone so it doesn't move and cause worse damage and pain. Then you make an appointment with another doctor and they will make a permenant cast for you. If the temp cast that I described is the one that you have then you can either go back into the ER and they will loosen the ace wrap, or you can do it yourself. You will need another person to assist you though. One person MUST stablize the broken bone. The other can take the ace wrap off and re wrap it. You should NOT feel numbness. That means that the blood isn't circulating though that area. That is extremely important. Worse case senerio is that you can lose that area. You tissue can not live with out the blood circulating.

Answer 4

Well numbness usually means that there is compression on the nerve and thats really bad you should check it and fix it asap before the damage becomes permanent and lose sensation for good

Answer 5

How do you know your arm is broken in two spots? If you feel numbness and have swelling and pain, I hope you get x-rayed asap.

Answer 6

I hope by the time you read this you have your arm taken care of because if it really is broken it will have to be broken again to reset it the correct place.

Answer 7

check to see if you have numbness in your fingers. if you can wiggle your fingers and they are a normal pink color and aren't numb then you are ok. if any of these things are affecting your fingers then you need to go to the doctor because your temporary cast is too tight.

Answer 8

A broken bone, is always not good.