Presentation
Fall from bike. Pain in wrist.
Patient Data
Age: 9 years
Gender: Male
From the case:
Normal forearm x-ray - 9-years-old
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Normal examination. No fracture. No joint effusion.
Case Discussion
Forearm x-rays are difficult. You end up with an frontal view of the wrist and a lateral view of the elbow on one image and the opposite on the other. It takes a great deal of skill to get it right! And, as such, often poor images are presented for reporting.
As such, it is almost always better to get a study centered on a joint.
However, in children under 8, it is not uncommon for them to be unable to correctly identify the injured joint. As such, a wrist injury in an young child will get a forearm x-ray in our institution and it's not uncommon to find a more proximal injury.