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Introduction of Fracture

Bones form the skeleton and allow the body to move, while also protecting organs. Bones are constantly changing and remodeling in response to hormones. Fractures occur when outside forces exceed a bone's ability to withstand the pressure, resulting in the bone structure failing. Broken bones cause pain through irritated nerve endings, bleeding, and muscle spasms. Doctors examine injuries to determine the type and location of fractures as well as any complications in order to properly treat the broken bone.

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Reginald Romero Quintana
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35 views2 pages

Introduction of Fracture

Bones form the skeleton and allow the body to move, while also protecting organs. Bones are constantly changing and remodeling in response to hormones. Fractures occur when outside forces exceed a bone's ability to withstand the pressure, resulting in the bone structure failing. Broken bones cause pain through irritated nerve endings, bleeding, and muscle spasms. Doctors examine injuries to determine the type and location of fractures as well as any complications in order to properly treat the broken bone.

Uploaded by

Reginald Romero Quintana
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Bones form the skeleton of the body and allow the body to be supported against gravity and to move

and function in the world.


Bones also protect some body parts, and the bone marrow is the production center for blood products.

Bone is not a stagnant organ. It is the body's reservoir of calcium and is always undergoing change under the influence of
hormones. Parathyroid hormone increases blood calcium levels by leeching calcium from bone, while calcitonin has the opposite
effect, allowing bone to accept calcium from the blood.

What causes a fracture?

When outside forces are applied to bone it has the potential to fail. Fractures occur when bone cannot withstand those outside
forces. Fracture, break, or crack all mean the same thing. One term is not better or worse than another. The integrity of the bone
has been lost and the bone structure fails.

Broken bones hurt for a variety of reasons including:

 The nerve endings that surround bones contain pain fibers and and these fibers become irritated when the bone is broken
or bruised.

 Broken bones bleed, and the blood and associated swelling (edema) causes pain.

 Muscles that surround the injured area may go into spasm when they try to hold the broken bone fragments in place, and
these spasms cause further pain.

Often a fracture is easy to detect because there is obvious deformity. However, at times it is not easily diagnosed. It is 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.

Fractures can occur because of direct blows, twisting injuries, or falls. The type of forces on the bone may determine what type of
injury that occurs. Descriptions of fractures can be confusing. They are based on:

 where in the bone the break has occurred,

 how the bone fragments are aligned, and

 whether any complications exist.

The first step in describing a fracture is whether it is open or closed. If the skin over the break is disrupted, then an open fracture
exists. The skin can be cut, torn, or abraded (scraped), but if the skin's integrity is damaged, the potential for an infection to get into
the bone exists. Since the fracture site in the bone communicates with the outside world, these injuries need to be cleaned out
aggressively and many times require anesthesia in the operating room to do the job effectively.

Next, there needs to be a description of the fracture line. Does the fracture line go across the bone (transverse), at an angle
(oblique) or does it spiral? Is the fracture in two pieces or is it comminuted, in multiple pieces?
Finally, the fracture's alignment is described as to whether the fracture fragments are displaced or in their normal anatomic position.
If the bones fragments aren't in the right place, they need to be reduced or placed back into their normal alignment.

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