Understanding Bone Fractures
The human body consists of 206 bones. And even if each one is created from strong materials, they are still likely to break. When any of these 206 bones break, we say that the bone is fractured.
The strength of the bones is dependent on the size, health, and age of the bones. Thus, risks of bone fractures are greater in older people. Likewise, the severity also increases with age. Due to these facts, the bones of children have lesser chances of getting fractured as these have better flexibility.
Understanding bone fractures includes knowing what their potential causes are. The Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, has acknowledged the following as responsible for the occurrence of one fracture: a fall, a blow, other physical traumas, bone tumors, osteoporosis, osteopetrosis, and Paget’s disease of bone.
So that understanding bone fractures is thorough, it is essential to know that there are several types of bone fractures – simple, compound, comminuted, stress, complete, incomplete, and impacted.
The simple bone fracture can be described as a bone that is broken into two parts. Compound type is characterized by the bone that protrudes from the skin, and is also known as open fracture. Comminuted bone fracture means a bone that is broken into fragments. Stress fractures is also known as hairline bone fractures, and possess a break at the hairline, usually not apparent even under x-ray in the first few weeks. Complete type involves the total rupture of the bone, while the incomplete type is the direct opposite. Impacted fracture is characterized by the embedding of one fragment of broken bone into another.
Patients suffering from any of the different types of bone fracture can expect such symptoms as swelling, bruising and pain around the fractured area, loss of function at the affected area, and deformed limb.
Completely understanding bone fractures entails gathering extensive details on the different treatment options available. Since bone undergoes constant remodeling, bone healing mostly happens naturally. However, stress fractures require a lot of rest and avoidance of the activities that brought about the fracture. Stress fractures typically needs 6 to 8 weeks healing period, and not giving them such time may not allow them to heal properly.
Rest is also beneficial to the more complicated types of bone fractures. Severe cases may necessitate realignment, or a process called “reduction”, wherein the bone is placed back into its correct position. Casts are often used and are known as external fixation.
Complicated bone fractures may need more than just the conservative means. Surgery, or internal fixation, may be performed to address complex fractures of the bones. This invasive technique uses various types of “tools”, such as: wires, nails or rods, screws, and plates.
Wires may be used alone or along with other “tools” to treat small fractures in areas like the hands or foot.
Nails or rods serve to keep long bones together. These are placed in the middle of the bones and are locked in place using screws.
Screws remains to be the most highly-used among all tools available for bone fractures. These can be used independently or in combination with some other tools.
Plates work like the splint. They are used so that two separate bones may be re-attached. Screws lock the plates in place.
The length of time required for the broken bone to completely heal is different for each case. Healing is dependent on several factors, mainly severity of damage, location of bone, and age of the patient. And even if bones have the ability to naturally heal themselves, older people achieve this longer than younger people. Thus, aging gives us more reasons to take care of our bones.