I have a question about baby/toddler joint development: My brother-in-law insists on picking up my one year old by one ankle or one hand. I ask him to not do this, but he says it is safe. Is this safe or am I correct that her growing joints can become dislocated?

One of the most common orthopaedic injuries in children is a condition known as Nursemaid's elbow, which is caused when an adult picks a child up by one arm. or pulls on the hand to prevent a child from falling. It is common in the toddler years. In so doing, the adult overstretches a ligament in the elbow that gets caught on the wrong side of the bone. The head of the radius then slips out of position (it is "subluxed" as well). To have the ligament out of position is rather painful and the child will not want to move the affected arm until the problem is resolved. Because of the stretching of the ligaments involved in this injury, there is a high rate of reoccurrence of nursemaid's elbow - about 25%. Therefore, it is best to always pick a child up under the arm pits, and avoid picking the child up by the ankle as well, as a similar situation could result.

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