When my daughter was five, she fell in the playground and broke her forearm. The emergency room nurse wasn’t sure that it was broken because my daughter didn’t show “any signs” of a break. What type of signs are there normally. By the way, both bones were broken.

Usually, when a child breaks a forearm, there are some signs that it is broken, including the most obvious sign of pain. Sometimes, as in cases like your daughter’s, it’s not so obvious.

The most common signs and symptoms of a broken forearm are:

pain

swelling

an obvious deformity or bump

guarding (the child will try not to let you touch it)

inability to use the hand or rotate the forearm to turn palm up or palm down

If there is every any doubt about a fracture, always get it checked in case the fracture is more severe than it seems.