Fractures
A bone fracture is a break in a bone - most people fracture at least one bone during their lifetime. The severity of fractures increases with age because children's bones are more flexible and less likely to break.
What are the causes of fractures?
Fractures can occur because of direct blows, twisting injuries, or falls. The type of force on the bone may determine what type of injury occurs.
What are the types of fractures?
There are seven basic types of fractures:
- Simple fracture: the bone breaks into two pieces.
- Compound or open fracture: the bone protrudes through the skin
- Complete fracture: the bone is completely separated into two or more pieces
- Incomplete fracture: the bone cracks but doesn't separate
- Stress fracture: a hairline break that is often invisible on an X-ray for the first six weeks after the onset of pain. Stress fractures can be the result of repetitive use.
- Comminuted fracture: the bone breaks into several pieces
- Impacted fracture: one bone fragment is embedded into another bone fragment
What are the symptoms of fractures?
Pain, swelling, discoloration, and deformity are the most obvious symptoms, but occasionally, the broken bone isn't obvious and the doctor needs to look for other signs that a fracture exists. For example, in elbow injuries fluid seen in the joint on X-ray indicates a subtle fracture. In children, bones may have numerous growth plates that can cause confusion in X-rays. Sometimes, the doctor will X-ray the opposite arm or leg to determine a baseline.
Diagnosing Fractures
As mentioned above, often a fracture is easy to detect because there is obvious deformity, but this isn’t always the case. It’s important for the physician to take a history of the injury to decide what potential problems might exist. Moreover, fractures don't always occur in isolation, and there may be associated injuries that need to be addressed. Patients should expect visual examinations and X-rays, and possibly more advanced procedures such an MRI.
Treating Fractures
At Midwest Sports Medicine, every patient receives individualized fracture care. This involves the evaluation of the fracture, the first cast or splint application and 90 days of follow-up care. Whether you’ve suffered a single broken bone, multiple fractures or severe soft tissue injury, our fellowship-trained orthopedic trauma specialist will provide the best possible care to ensure the best possible outcome.
Trauma patients will benefit from the caring, comprehensive service provided by the range of orthopedic specialists within our practice, including:
- Board-certified subspecialists
- Physiatrists
- Physical therapists
- Occupational therapists
- X-ray technologists
We offer our trauma patients the services of board-certified physiatrists – physicians trained in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Physiatrists often manage the rehabilitation aspect of patient care, evaluating the patient’s needs and developing aggressive, personalized programs that focus on restoring function.
In addition, physiatrists are trained to assess patient’s social, psychological, and vocational needs. Toward that end, they regularly coordinate, supervise, and collaborate with other healthcare professionals, such as physical therapists, occupational therapists, and athletic trainers to ensure complete recovery and return to normal activity.
We provide expertise not only in acute care, but also reconstructive care. This means that we treat orthopedic trauma immediately after it happens and manage any bone, joint, and soft-tissue reconstruction in the days and weeks that follow.