A fracture is an injury in which the bone is broken or fragmented. This occurs as a result of bone trauma during a fall, accident, or sports practice. However, it is possible for the bone to break as a result of debilitating disorders and lose its strength, as is the case with diseases such as osteoporosis.
Fissure. There is a break in the bone that does not cover its entire diameter.
Open fracture. It is the most serious form of fracture, in which the ends of the broken bone act as an element that cuts through soft tissues such as muscle and even 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.
In the case of undisplaced fractures, where the bone breaks, its ends are put in place, it is more difficult to identify it, in fact many times people who have suffered trauma and have very intense pain - they have preferred to drive in home - are surprised when an x-ray shows that there was a fracture. The predominant symptom in these cases is a very intense pain, and well localized, which intensifies when touching the trauma site and which worsens with mobilization, this pain does not disappear with the use of analgesics, which makes the person go to doctor showing fracture.
Surprisingly, bones can fracture from stresses as simple as sneezing or hugging. Obviously it is a weakened and very fragile bone, as in people who suffer from diseases such as osteoporosis, osteogenesis imperfecta or in the case of bones that have been invaded by tumor metastases.
A "spontaneous" fracture is vertebral fracture, the vertebrae of the spine are weakened by collapse and collapse of osteoporosis. This is the reason why many elderly people are hunched forward with a very pronounced hump on the back. This occurs because the collapsing vertebrae take the shape of a wedge that causes this type of deformity to develop.
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 can heal by immobilizing the affected area. Materials such as plaster or fiberglass are used, and there are immobilization devices called splints. This treatment lasts for several weeks.
Surgical treatment. When the fracture is of the displaced or open type, the only way the bone is rejoined, and is well aligned, is by placing metal elements that hold the ends. For this, titanium material is used, mainly plates, bars and screws, in fractures that cover the ends of the bones, as is the case of the head of the femur, its fracture that occurs mainly in the elderly, is corrected by articulation of replaced with a metal prosthesis.
