Fractures

What are the types of fractures?

Fractures can occur to any bone in your body, including your shoulders, spine, elbows, wrists, fingers, hips, femurs, knees, ankles, and feet. The causes of fractures vary, and not all are the same. Your bone might be partially fractured or fractured into many pieces.

Fractures also run in different directions, such as crosswise or lengthwise. While fractures can be quite painful, they’re also treatable with the right kind of care.

Common types of fractures include:

• Nondisplaced fracture: although your bone is broken, the broken edges are barely out of place
• Compound (open) fracture: this type of fracture may break or pierce your skin
• Transverse fracture: with this type, the fracture line runs horizontally
• Oblique fracture: this fracture has a zigzag pattern
  
  

Whether your fracture is severe or not depends on the amount of force that caused it to break. If there wasn’t much force on your bone, it may have cracked rather than broken all the way through. Fractures that are displaced will often require surgery to restore proper alignment and position.

What causes fractures?

Fractures happen for all kinds of reasons, ranging from simply falling down, sports injuries to severe trauma, like a serious car accident.

Osteoporosis, a condition that weakens bones, also makes them more likely to fracture, sometimes without trauma. These are called “fragility fractures”.

What are the symptoms of fractures?

While pain is a common sign of a fracture, other symptoms may include:

• Loss of movement
• Swelling
• Tenderness
• Bruising
• Pain with weight bearing

Another sign to watch for is if the bone you may have fractured looks deformed and out of place.

How are fractures treated?

There’s no one-size-fits-all method when it comes to treating a fracture. Instead, Dr. Henderson designs a treatment plan that’s right for your type of fracture and takes into account your overall condition and the extent of your injury.

Dr. Henderson talks to you about your symptoms and medical history, and how the fracture occurred. For example, in cases of simple shoulder fractures, you may benefit from a sling to rest your shoulder, followed by physical therapy to help you regain motion and strength.

Other types of treatment include:

• Cast: helps limit your movement while you heal
• Surgery: if you have a more complex fracture, surgery can help restore your strength and range of motion, alleviate pain, and lower your risk of getting arthritis
• Joint replacement: this type of surgery is for fractures that are too severe or fragile to be repaired
  
  

In some cases, you may have an old fracture that hasn’t healed properly and needs to be treated. This is called a nonunion, or a malunion, and Dr. Henderson is experienced in treating difficult problems like such.

If you’ve been searching for high-quality care for your fracture, call or schedule a consultation online today.