Fractures & Treatment

 

Bone Fractures

Bone fractures, commonly known as broken bones, happen to millions of people across the country each year. Typically caused by sports injuries, car accidents or falls, these painful injuries take time to heal. Your healthcare provider has several options to treat fractures.

• Symptoms and Causes
 
• Diagnosis and Tests
• Management and Treatment
 
• Prevention
• Outlook / Prognosis
 
• Living With

OVERVIEW

What is a bone fracture?

When you break a bone, healthcare providers call it a bone fracture. This break changes the shape of the bone. These breaks may happen straight across a bone or along its length. A fracture can split a bone in two or leave it in several pieces.

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What types of bone fractures are there?

Healthcare providers can usually categorize a bone fracture based on its features. The categories include:

• Closed or open fractures: If the injury doesn’t break open the skin, it’s called a closed fracture. If the skin does open, it’s called an open fracture or compound fracture.
• Complete fractures: The break goes completely through the bone, separating it in two.
• Displaced fractures: A gap forms where the bone breaks. Often, this injury requires surgery to fix.
• Partial fractures: The break doesn’t go all the way through the bone.
• Stress fractures: The bone gets a crack in it, which is sometimes tough to find with imaging.

A healthcare provider may add extra terms to describe partial, complete, open and closed fractures. These terms include:

• Avulsion: A tendon or ligament pulls part of the bone off. Ligaments connect bones to other bones, while tendons anchor muscles to bones.
• Comminuted: The bone shatters into several different pieces.
• Compression: The bone gets crushed or flattened.
• Impacted: Bones get driven together.
• Oblique: The break goes diagonally across the bone.
• Spiral: The fracture spirals around the bone.
• Transverse: The break goes in a straight line across the bone.

Who gets bone fractures?

Anyone can break a bone, with certain situations making it more likely. Many people break bones from falls, car accidents and sports injuries. Medical conditions such as osteoporosis can also play a role. Osteoporosis causes at least one million fractures each year. Healthcare providers call these injuries fragility fractures.

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SYMPTOMS AND CAUSES

What causes broken bones?

While bones are very strong, they can break. Most often, breaks happen because the bone runs into a stronger force (getting thrown forward in a car crash, say). Also, repetitive forces – like from running — can fracture a bone. Healthcare providers call these types of injuries stress fractures.

Another reason for fractures is osteoporosis, which weakens bones as you age. It’s a serious condition, so older adults should speak to a healthcare provider about their risk.

What symptoms do bone fractures have?

The symptoms of a fracture depend on which bone breaks. For example, you’ll likely know right away if you have a problem with your arm, leg or finger. If you’re not sure, consider these possible symptoms:

• Difficulty using the limb.
• Noticeable and unusual bump, bend or twist.
• Severe pain.
• Swelling.

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DIAGNOSIS AND TESTS

How do you test for a bone fracture?

To diagnose a broken bone, your healthcare provider will examine the injury. You will also likely have one or more imaging tests. These tests can include:

• X-rays: This tool produces a two-dimensional picture of the break. Healthcare providers often turn to this imaging first.
• Bone scan: Healthcare providers use a bone scan to find fractures that don’t show up on an X-ray. This scan takes longer — usually two visits four hours apart — but it can help find some fractures.
• CT scan: A CT scan uses computers and X-rays to create detailed slices or cross-sections of the bone.
• MRI: A MRI creates very detailed images using strong magnetic fields. MRI is often used to diagnose a stress fracture.

MANAGEMENT AND TREATMENT

What broken bone treatments are there?

A healthcare provider can usually treat a broken bone with a cast or splint. Casts wrap the break with hard protection, while splints protect just one side. Both supports keep the bone immobilized (no movement) and straighten it. The bone grows back together and heals.

With smaller bones such as fingers and toes, you won’t get a cast. Your healthcare provider might wrap the injury before using a splint.

Occasionally, your healthcare provider might need to put you in traction. This treatment uses pulleys and weights to stretch the muscles and tendons around the broken bone. Traction aligns the bone to promote healing.

For some breaks, your healthcare provider may recommend surgery. Your treatment may use stainless-steel screws, plates and fixators, or frames that hold the bone steady.