Wind knocked out of him or Pulmonary contusion?

April 30, 2017 1:58 PM

My 9 year old was playing at McDonald's today. He fell off a climbing structure from a pretty good distance. I didn't see it happen but he got the wind knocked out of him and his chest hurts. What do I look for and when should I be concerned? (Since I tend to worry, I have to resist the urge to drive him straight to the hospital every time I feel like it!)
posted by beccaj to Health & Fitness (14 answers total)

Do you have an urgent care? They can address your questions without the wait of an ER.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:00 PM on April 30, 2017

Response by poster: roomthreeseventeen: I do about a half hour away but I don't want to take up room in an urgent care if there's no reason to see a doctor - and exposing him to stomach bugs and viruses.
I also don't want to get him to bed hours after his bed time for no good reason so I just was hoping to find out when it was prudent to seek medical attention.
posted by beccaj at 2:05 PM on April 30, 2017 [1 favorite]

This is one of those things that no one can really assess from a distance. Do you have a pediatrician? Call them and have their after-hours, on-call doctor call you back.
posted by flourpot at 2:14 PM on April 30, 2017 [1 favorite]

He's likely fine but there is no way any of us can know. I'd be hesitant to give you advice erring on the side of 'don't worry' in case there IS something wrong. We simply can't answer this for you. Trust yourself here.
posted by Amy93 at 2:16 PM on April 30, 2017 [6 favorites]

Does your insurance have a nurse line? That would be good for this.
posted by maurreen at 2:22 PM on April 30, 2017 [11 favorites]

I still remember having the wind knocked out of me as a kid with a fall. I do not remember it hurting later in the day. I would contact a doctor asap.
posted by Toddles at 2:45 PM on April 30, 2017 [5 favorites]

Just take him in to the ER or to an urgent care.

My kid has trouble breathing literally every. time. he gets a cold. It goes into his chest and he needs a treatment with a nebulizer or he turns blue. I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't taken him to the emergency room the first time he got a cold and seemed to be really, really uncomfortable, more so than what seemed normal to me for a cold.

Take him in. He might be fine. He might have a cracked rib. Nobody will judge you. You're his parent and it's appropriate to follow your instincts.

Edited to add: it's okay to go to bed late every now and again. Everyone will rest easier.
posted by TryTheTilapia at 3:06 PM on April 30, 2017 [4 favorites]

I brought my kid to the ER for something really similar. It was just bruising, but we were treated with utter seriousness as they took x-rays and ultrasounds.

At home, you could probably press gently around on his chest to see if anything is obviously broken or hard/hot/swollen.
posted by tchemgrrl at 3:55 PM on April 30, 2017 [1 favorite]

My dad (first responder) reckons if a kid has fallen from around twice their height you should get them checked out by a pro, no ifs, no buts. As tchemgrrl's comment above shows ERs take falls pretty seriously.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 3:59 PM on April 30, 2017 [7 favorites]

I don't want to catastrophize, but the thing a doctor would probably want to rule out is a punctured lung from a cracked rib. You'd likely be able to tell if he was having problems breathing, but there's a chance that you couldn't, too. That's a serious enough thing that I, personally, would want to get it checked at Urgent Care.
posted by mudpuppie at 4:09 PM on April 30, 2017

For future reference- you may want to get a copy of Even if Your Kid Eats This Book, Everything will Still Be OK. It is written by a pediatrician/ER doctor and gives a run down of when you should go to the ER, when you should do urgent care, when to get same day appointments and when it can wait. I swear by it as it gives me a framework for my anxious mind decision making.

Hope the kiddo is feeling better soon.
posted by Suffocating Kitty at 4:45 PM on April 30, 2017 [5 favorites]

I'm an ER doctor. You can't assess this on your own, and the internet can't help. He's most likely just bruised but trying to diagnose him at home is beyond your skill set and why we go through years of training.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 4:50 PM on April 30, 2017 [35 favorites]

Speaking as an adult who had a relatively minor chest injury last year, this is a prudent time to seek medical attention.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 8:12 PM on April 30, 2017

My brother had a fall and didn't go to a hospital. Two years later he went in for chronic chest pain and discovered he'd had three broken ribs that healed bad.
posted by Marinara at 8:22 PM on April 30, 2017 [1 favorite]