Fracture

A fracture conjures up horrible pictures in most peoples minds of bone sticking through leg wounds and of screaming agony. While this, unfortunately, can certainly be the case there are a wide array of types and severity of fracture. From the gradual build up of the stress fracture with it's often dull throbbing pain, the greenstick snapping clean through of a bone to the twisting and shearing of the spiral fracture. Within this variety of types there are also grades from 1-5 which defines the extent and types of tissues involved. Obviously the more tissues involved the longer the healing process takes. No matter what type of fracture is experienced the initial reaction and care should follow the same rules. Immobilisation to remove the chance of the fracture ends causing further damage to surrounding tissues and also to help the initial rejoining (union) process to start to take place, elevation if possible to reduce swelling which in the case of most traumatic injuries is the greatest cause of damage after the initial injury. Compression depending on the type of injury again t0 reduce swelling and ice also to reduce swelling. The next obvious step is to move the casualty to expert medical care as soon as possible to assess the extent of the damage and ongoing care. On no account should any unqualified person try to move a suspected fracture site. This is espescially prevelant in the case of suspected spinal fracture because of the chance of paralysis and posssible life threatening damage being caused. Following treatment at hospital it is important to seek ongoing care and advice regarding timescales for exercises geared towards restoring full functional range of movement and strength. The mistake many people make is to assume that once a fracture is healed and out of plaster then normal life will resume straight away. The biggest shock is to see a stick thin limb appearing from the plaster and have the prospect of further ongoing work to get back to normal. A physiotherapist should always be consulted in this case, and there will be one near you wherever you live in Scotland