Concept in Definition ABC

A fracture It is an injury in which the bone is split or fragmented. This occurs as a result of trauma to the bone during a fall, accident, or injury. practice sporty. However, the bone may break as a result of disorders weaken him and cause him to lose his endurance, as is the case with diseases such as osteoporosis.

There are four ways a bone can be broken:

Fissure. There is a break in the bone that does not cover its entire diameter.

Nondisplaced fracture. In this case the bone splits but the broken ends stay aligned with each other.

Displaced fracture. Unlike the previous one, the ends of the bones have displaced from their place and are not aligned.

Open fracture. It is the most serious form of fracture, in it the ends of the broken bone acted as an element that cut the soft tissues such as the muscle and even the skin. In this type of fracture there are very deep skin wounds through which fragments or ends of the bone can be seen. These bills are often accompanied by heavy bleeding.

How to recognize a fracture?

Injury to a bone is accompanied by loss of blood and training of a hematoma, which together with the inflammation makes the area swollen and sore.

Fractures are very easy to recognize when they are open fractures, in which you can see the ends of the bones sticking out through the skin. In closed fractures it is also easy identify fractures when the ends of the bones are displaced, this results in deformity in the area, a lot of pain when touched or mobilized and a loss of the ability to movement of the structure where the injury is located.

In the case of undisplaced fractures, where although the bone is split, its ends are in place, it is more difficult to identify it, in fact many times people who have suffered a trauma and have very intense pain - which they have preferred to drive at home - are surprised when an X-ray is taken I know evidence that there was a fracture. The symptom predominant in these cases is a very intense, well-localized pain, which intensifies when touching the trauma site and aggravates With mobilization, this pain does not disappear with the use of painkillers, which makes the person go to the doctor showing the fracture.

Can a fracture occur spontaneously without trauma?

Although it may seem surprising, bones can fracture from efforts as simple as sneezing or being hugged. Obviously it is a weakened and very fragile bone, as occurs in people who suffer from diseases such as osteoporosis, the imperfect osteogenesis or in the case of bones that have been invaded by tumor metastases.

A "spontaneous" fracture Very common is vertebral fracture, the vertebrae of the spine, being weakened by osteoporosis, collapse and crush. This is the reason why many elderly people find themselves hunched forward with a very pronounced hump on their back. This occurs because the vertebrae, when collapsing, take the shape of a wedge that causes this type of deformity to develop.

How are fractures treated?

There are two types of treatment for fractures: orthopedic treatment and surgical treatment.

Orthopedic treatment. When the fracture occurs and the bones do not move, they may heal by immobilizing the affected area, materials such as plaster or fiberglass are used for this, there are also immobilizing devices called splints. This treatment lasts for several weeks.

Surgical treatment. When the fracture is of the displaced or open type, the only way for the bone to reattach, and is well aligned, it is by placing metal elements that keep the ends United. For this, titanium material is used, mainly plates, bars and screws, in the case of fractures that span the ends of the bones, As is the case of the head of the femur, its fracture, which occurs mainly in the elderly, is corrected by joint replacement with a prosthesis metallic.

Topics in Fracture