Depending on where the fracture is and how severe, treatment may include:. A cast made from plaster of Paris is one of the most common ways of immobilising a limb. This cast is made from a preparation of gypsum that sets hard when water is added.
Depending on the location and severity of the fracture, the operation procedures can include:. After surgery, your doctor will check that you have full feeling in the area. For example, if you have a broken arm in plaster, they may ask you to wiggle your fingers.
They will also check your limb for tingling, pallor pale colour or coolness. The injured part is kept as still as possible in the first few days. Nurses will offer you pain-relieving medication. They will determine the difference between the pain of your fracture and any pain that could be caused by the splint, traction, plaster cast, poor alignment of the limb or swelling of the limb.
Blood clots that form on the broken ends of bone are the start of the healing process. Over about five weeks, the body joins the two bone portions together with a combination of fibrous cells and cartilage. This temporary bone callus is not as strong as real bone. It can break easily until it is slowly replaced with real bone. For this reason the doctor may remove your cast or splint after a few weeks, but you still need to treat the bone with care for at least one more month.
Some bones, such as the collarbone or bones of the toes, are immobilised with a sling or splint instead of plastered and rested for about two months. In most cases, your cast will be removed after a few weeks but you must treat the limb with care for at least the next month or so. Leg fractures will take several months to heal. The weaker, temporary bone callus is still being replaced by real bone and can be easily injured.
Unlike skin, broken bones heal without forming scar tissue. But immobilised muscles tend to weaken and wither. You may need rehabilitation, including strengthening exercises, for a short time. This page has been produced in consultation with and approved by:. The abdominal muscles support the trunk, allow movement and hold organs in place by regulating internal abdominal pressure.
The type of pain felt in the abdomen can vary greatly. Children may feel stomach pain for a range of reasons and may need treatment. Acromegaly is caused by an excess of growth hormone in adults, which causes the overgrowth of bones in the face, hands, feet and internal organs. Exercise can prevent age-related changes to muscles, bones and joints and can reverse these changes too.
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All users are urged to always seek advice from a registered health care professional for diagnosis and answers to their medical questions and to ascertain whether the particular therapy, service, product or treatment described on the website is suitable in their circumstances. Your ankle is made of three bones—tibia, fibula, and talus. You can break any of them. If you do, technically you have a broken tibia or talus or fibula. You can also stretch or tear the ligaments and tissues holding all three bones together; that's called a sprain.
They both hurt—a lot. Without an X-ray, we can't tell whether it's a broken bone or a sprained ankle. As far as first aid goes, it doesn't matter. Both are treated the same. Healthcare professionals also say it wrong all the time. They say broken ankle when they are talking about a broken bone near the ankle joint. It's a shortcut. If you are confused by anything your healthcare provider says, ask for clarification. Sign up for our Health Tip of the Day newsletter, and receive daily tips that will help you live your healthiest life.
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For a small bone like a finger or toe, the fracture can be immobilized by wrapping it with a soft wrap or a splint. The realignment may be done without surgery, and is called closed reduction. This often requires a local anesthetic and painkillers. Sometimes surgery will be required to reposition the injured bone.
This is called open reduction. The surgeon may also need to insert the following into your bone to help surgically align the bone:. Hip fractures almost always require surgery to promote faster and better healing.
Some limb fractures may need traction, a gentle pulling of the muscles and tendons around the broken bone in order to realign the bone. The traction can be created with a system of weights and pulleys that are mounted on a metal frame over your bed.
The healing time depends on the location and severity of the break. Your age and general health will also affect your recovery time. You may have a physical therapy program and exercises designed to build up muscle strength and joint flexibility in the injured area.
Most fractures heal without complications. Keeping your bones healthy is important at every age. This means getting enough calcium from your diet and doing weight-bearing exercises to keep your bones strong.
Weak bones break more easily. After age 40, everyone begins to lose bone mass. Your genetic makeup determines your peak bone mass, but diet and exercise make a big difference in keeping your bones healthy as you age.
Read more: 5 Fun water exercise that seniors can do together ». The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons recommends that both men and women over the age of 40 have:.
If you are a woman and have gone through menopause, you should increase your calcium to 1, milligrams a day. This is because hormonal changes decrease bone strength, which can lead to osteoporosis and increased risk for fractures. At any age, daily weight-bearing exercises, such as walking, are necessary for bone health. Check with your doctor about an appropriate exercise program for you. It might not hurt at the time, but in , using data from the UK Biobank of half a million adults, researchers at Southampton University found that people who had fractured their arm, leg, spine or hip in the past were more likely than other people to have widespread pain in the body decades later.
Luckily this kind of pain is uncommon. The hormonal changes of the menopause can lead to rapid bone loss and the frequent fractures seen in osteoporosis. When it comes to ethnicity, in the US there are more than twice as many hip fractures in white women than black women. A number of factors have been suggested to account for the increased bone strength in black women, including higher bone mass during childhood and a lower rate of bone turnover, which might lead to a slower decline in bone mineral density with age.
Having said that, black women can still suffer from osteoporosis. In the US, for example, African American women are less likely to be referred for screening for osteoporosis than Caucasian women, and if they do receive a diagnosis they are less likely to be prescribed treatment.
If the toe is at a weird angle after a break more complex treatment and even surgery might be needed. Most broken toes can be taped to the toes either side and held steady in a special rigid shoe. Healing usually takes four to six weeks. Breaks in big toes are more serious and some people will need a cast up as high as the calf for two or three weeks, followed by taping to the second toe.
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