Sometimes faster than you can believe!
In a family practice like mine, broken bones in little ones are not very common. Sometimes the family doc can handle them, sometimes not, and referral is needed….
Dad brought in his four-year-old daughter, who had managed to fall and break her right forearm. We would call that a non-displaced “greenstick” fracture. Stable enough, but still, needs a cast. We were trained on plaster back in the day, and later switched most all the time to fiberglass. A short arm cast application is a quick office procedure. 10 minutes. But given the girl’s age and the risk of re-injury, I asked Dad to bring her back in for a recheck in just 10 days, to check the position of the bones.
He did well, and brought her back just 11 days after her fall. I repeated her X-rays, through the cast. Then I started laughing.
“What’s so funny?” said the Dad.
“Oh, I asked you back to recheck to position of the broken bone, but I didn’t expect this! It’s healed!”
Yup. I could see the new bone formation, called “callus” around the fracture site, indicating healing. Solid enough to remove the cast and let her go about her business.
In 11 days? Yeah, I didn’t believe it either, but the evidence was right there.
Kids heal fast. Sometimes faster than you can believe!