I could hear the scream from across the room.  It was shrill and filled with panic.  Any parent can identify the difference between the cries of normal toddler discomforts and a true emergency.

I dropped what I was doing in the kitchen and found my three-year-old lying motionless on the ground, unable to move his left arm. My five-year-old was looking sheepishly down at the carpet, afraid to meet my gaze.

Panic was rising in my own chest as an explanation unfolded that my young daughter had pulled him off the couch while twisting his arm in a game of wrestling.

After a quick evaluation for any evidence of a broken bone, I was confident that he had “nursemaid’s elbow” — caused by a subluxation of the radial head.