How to Care for Your Child with Finger Fracture

This leaflet will provide you with information about Finger fracture, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and home care advice.

What is Finger Fracture?

A "fracture" is another word for a broken bone. A finger fracture is when a person breaks a finger bone.

Symptoms of a finger fracture include:

The doctor will ask a few questions about your child's health, examine your child, and then order an X-ray.

Finger fractures are usually treated with a splint, "buddy taping," or both. This depends on the type of finger fracture your child has and how severe it is.
If your doctor advises giving medicine for pain, you can give:
- Paracetamol (any brand) or, Ibuprofen (any brand)
- Follow the instruction on the medicine package for the correct dose for your child
- Do not give your child Aspirin as this can cause a serious complication
A splint or buddy tape (using tape to hold the injured finger to a neighbouring finger) keeps the broken bone from moving while it heals. Taking good care of the splint or tape and treating pain will help keep your child comfortable while healing.
Fractures can take weeks to months to heal, depending on the type of fracture.
Follow up appointments usually are not required. Your doctor will advise you if your child needs a follow-up appointment.

To help reduce the swelling and relieve pain:

Raise the hand on pillows when your child is sitting down or sleeping.
If your child was given a sling, use it as directed. Don't use the sling during sleep.
Remind your child to wiggle the uninjured fingers to keep blood circulating normally
When your child is awake, put ice in a plastic bag wrapped in a towel on the broken finger for 20 minutes every 3 hours for up to 2 days. Don't put ice directly on the skin.

Daily care if your child has a splint:

Don't remove or change the position of the splint unless your doctor said it's OK.
Check the area around the splint. Ensure the skin is not scratched and the fingers are not pale, blue, numb or tingling.
Make sure your child does not pick or scratch under the splint.
Do not put anything in the splint. For example, make sure your child does not put toys, food or other objects into it.
Keep dirt, sand, lotion and powder away from the splint.
Keep the splint dry
Put a plastic covering over the splint when your child bathes.
If the splint is accidentally splashed, gently blow air onto it from a hairdryer on the cool setting.

Daily care if your child has tape:

If you do not see dirt on the skin, your child should use a hand sanitiser instead of washing hands with soap and water.
Replace the tape as you were taught if it gets wet or dirty.
Keep cotton or gauze between the buddy-taped fingers to protect the skin.
Loosen the tape if it feels too tight.

Seek medical care if: