What are Fractures?
Fractures are partial or complete breaks in one or more of your bones. Fractures can happen if you experience a high impact collision, or the bone comes under excessive stress because of a fall, sports injury, or car accident.
Conditions like osteoporosis that weaken bone density significantly increase the risk of fractures, especially compression fractures in the spine.
Fractures are usually painful, and can often be excruciating. There’s also a risk of complications like infection or improper healing if you fracture a bone, so you should always get urgent medical help.
You can get expert urgent care from The Woodlands Sports Medicine Centre 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
What Types of Fractures are There?
There are numerous different types of fractures, including:
- Simple or Stable Fracture: A simple fracture means the ends of the broken bone are still in line and won’t require surgical repair.
- Unstable Fracture: An unstable fracture is one where the broken bones aren’t in line and might require manipulation or surgery to realign.
- Partial or Greenstick Fracture: A partial fracture is one where the bone breaks on one side while the other stays intact.
- Compound Fracture: A compound or open fracture is a severe injury in which the bone sticks out through your skin, or you can see the fractured bone. These types of fractures are especially painful and distressing and carry a higher risk of infection.
- Growth Plate Fractures: Growth plate fractures involve the tissues at the ends of children’s long bones and can affect how well the child grows and develops.
- Stress Fractures: Stress or hairline fractures are tiny cracks in bones that develop from overuse, often due to regular, vigorous exercise or repetitive stress.
How are Fractures Treated?
Most fractures are simple and only need splinting or casting or require your provider at The Woodlands Sports Medicine Centre to realign the ends of the bones accurately without the need for surgery.
It’s important to have an orthopedic surgeon treat your fracture using diagnostic imaging to ensure the bones are correctly aligned, and that there are no loose fragments or other tissue damage to worry about.
You wear your splint or cast for long enough to give the bones time to heal, then the cast comes off, and you follow a program of physical therapy to rebuild strength in the affected area.
Other types of fractures might require specialist surgery; for example, a compound fracture needs extensive tissue repair as well as bone realignment. These types of fractures and comminuted fractures, where the bone breaks into multiple pieces, might require pins, screws, or plates to fix.
You might need a bone graft if your bone is very badly damaged. Compression fractures in your spine can benefit from vertebroplasty or kyphoplasty to raise the vertebra to a more normal height.
To find out more about fracture care, call The Woodlands Sports Medicine Centre today or book an appointment online.
