A broken wrist is known as a wrist fracture and it may occur due to a variety of causes starting from undue pressure on the wrist which can result in an injury as well as debilitating conditions like arthritis, which makes the bones and joints prone to fractures. There are also non displaced breaks, which are stable kinds of fractures and in which, the wrist remains in its place. Let us find out more about the kinds of fractures and the procedures for treatment of the same.

Type of Fracture: The wrist is basically made up of eight small bones that connect the two long arm bones, which are known as the radius and ulna and create the forearm. The broken wrist can take place in any of these bones. A hand surgeon will generally take a look at this kind of fracture and determine whether it is displaced, stable or open. As discussed earlier, a wrist fracture can be of various types. While a non displaced wrist fracture is a more stable kind that does not really require much more than rest or medication, a displaced wrist fracture is a non stable kind where dislocation happens.

Other Factors: There are a variety of other factors that will be taken into consideration in order to repair this kind of a fracture. To begin with, the Orthopaedic specialist will consider your age and the kind of job, hobbies and other kinds of activities that you indulge in. Also, the doctor will try to ascertain whether or not you are in good health on an overall basis. The presence of other injuries will also be taken into account for this kind of an injury in there has been a bike or car accident that has caused the fracture.

Treatment: The method of treatment will vary as per the considerations listed above. A padded splint may be installed in order to align and support the bones and wrist respectively, so that there is ample relief from the acute pain as well. Further, an unstable fracture will require a cast as to support the entire forearm and give proper rest to the region so that the bone can grow back together and get aligned again. Surgery may also be required for very severe cases, and pins, screws, metals and plates may also be used depending on the exact location and type of fracture.

Recovery: Remember to move your fingers as much as you can so as to prevent them from getting stiff while they are held up in a splint or a cast.
Hand therapy will be helpful in gaining back motion and function of the wrist.

Wrist Fracture Procedure - Facts You Should Know About 

A small piece of bone is known as a fragment and it is very common that an avulsion fracture also tends to damage the protrusions of bone to which the tendons attach. This basically means that the tendon or ligament will come away from the bone and it will take a small piece of bone with it. It is sometimes very hard to find out what type of injury you have and this is why knowing the causes and symptoms of an avulsion fracture are very helpful in determining exactly how severe the injury is. 

Here are the causes of an avulsion fracture:

Explosive landing: Athletes who tend to jump or land with great impact tend to get these most commonly. Therefore, it is crucial for your health that if you participate in such sports, you do follow the correct method of jumping.
Explosive extension: Similar to how an athlete landing ferociously can get an avulsion fracture, someone who is extending the legs very violently and explosively during an exercise can also get an avulsion fracture. This is because the bone getting extended could very well damage the protrusions to which the tendons are attached. 
Symptoms
These are the two main causes of an avulsion fracture. There are not many symptoms of an avulsion fracture. This is because an avulsion fracture can only be determined by an MRI or by an X-ray scan. Therefore it is nearly impossible to diagnose that you have an avulsion fracture without looking at the results of the tests performed on the part of your body. However, the way you got the fracture and especially the details of it are very good indications of whether you have an avulsion fracture or not.

Avulsion Fracture - Common Causes Behind it

A broken bone or a crack in the commonly known as a fracture. Any bone in the arm can be broken, but common areas for fractures in the arm is wrist, specifically the distal radius, forearm bones (radius and ulna), elbow, humerus and shoulder. 

What causes fracture in bones?

Fall: Falling an outstretched hand or elbow is the most common cause of a broken arm.
Sports injuries: Direct blows and injuries on the field or court are a common cause of all types of arm fractures.
Significant trauma: Any of your arm bones can break during a car accident, bike accident or other direct trauma.
Abuse: In children, a broken arm may be the result of child abuse.
How to identify?

An audible snap or cracking sound may be your first indication you've broken an arm.

Signs and symptoms include:

Severe pain, which may increase with movement
Swelling
Bruising
Deformity, such as a bent arm or wrist
Inability to turn your arm from palm up to palm down or vice versa
When to see a doctor?

If you have enough pain in your arm that you can't use it normally, see a doctor right away and do the same for your child. Delay in diagnosis and treatment of a broken arm, especially for children who heal faster than adults do, can lead to poor healing and deformity.

Fracture In Upper Limb Bones - 4 Things That Can Cause It

A bone may break due to several reasons starting from a fall or an injury or a condition like osteoporosis that makes the bones brittle and leaves them susceptible to fractures. The fracture usually takes a few weeks to get fixed as the broken bones grow back together with the help of various forms of treatment including a plaster and sling applied by the orthopaedic specialist or general physician. Find out more about how bones heal with this article.

Types of fracture: Before we get to the subject of how bones heal, it is important to understand the various kinds of fractures recognised by doctors. The first kind is the complete fracture where the bone breaks into two distinct parts. The next kind is the greenstick fracture or hairline fracture where there is simply a crack on one side of the bone due to pressure. Further, there is the single fracture which occurs where there is breakage of the bone only in one place. A bowing fracture may occur when the bones bend instead of breaking completely. This kind of fracture is pretty common for children. The comminuted fracture happens when the bone is crushed or broken in many places. And finally, the open fracture is one where the bone ends up protruding from the skin.

Treatment: Once you have broken a bone, the doctor will conduct an X ray which will help in understanding the type of fracture and the extent of the damage caused. The doctor will then apply a cast and plaster that will help in bringing the bone back to its normal position so that it grows back with the main bone. In case the bone has broken into various parts or there is a complete fracture, then the doctor may even insert metal pins.

Natural healers: Bones are known as natural healers that can heal with the process of new cells and vessel production which rebuilds the bone by covering the broken ends and closing the gap caused due to the damage or the crack.
Clot: Once a bone has broken, a blood clot or a callus forms in the surrounding region, which kind of acts towards sealing the area.
Threads: Once these clots have formed, the new threads of the bone cells begin to grow slowly from the ends of the broken bones. This will grow on both sides of the affected and fractured bones, almost as if drawing a line from one broken end to another.
Absorption: Finally, the callus will be absorbed by the new cell and the gap will close.
See a doctor is you are experiencing any noticeable symptoms that may point towards bone fractures.

Broken Bones - How Do They Heal?

When you experience any kind of bone and joint pain, you may be wondering what the best remedy might be to get relief. Some people ignore the pain, and it worsens, while others take over-the-counter medicines. However, the best remedy for bone and joint pain is to visit a pain management specialist. The field of pain management has evolved over the last twenty years. Nowadays, there are dedicated pain management specialists who are experts in treating bone and joint pain.

Here are 3 reasons to consult a pain management specialist for bone and joint pain:
1. Pain management specialists are trained especially for understanding any kind of bone or joint pain. They undergo special training based on bone and joint pain management and thus know how best to recognize and treat such pains.

2. Pain management specialists have a multidisciplinary approach towards treating bone and joint pain. The aim of pain management is to provide overall treatment and pain management specialists know about the best ways to take care of joint and bone pains. Pain management involves interventional procedures, psychological therapies, medication management and physical therapies. Pain management specialists also provide you with lifestyle modification remedies and assign you exercise schedules and diet plans. Alternative medicines like acupuncture and massage therapies are also provided by pain management specialists.

3. Pain management specialists cooperate with you and come up with the best solution for your bone and joint pain. Pain is such an aspect, which has no fixed cure and the remedy varies from person to person and depends on the nature and severity of the pain. Thus everyone should receive a personalized treatment, which is most suitable to cure the pain that has occurred to them. Pain management specialists work with patients, discuss a lot and come up with the best treatment procedure, which would complement the patient. For example, a neurostimulation device can be prescribed to a patient who suffers from complex regional pain syndrome and did not have success with other treatment procedures. In many patients with a shattered spinal disc, pain management specialists prescribe injections, which work effectively to give relief and treat the condition.

A pain management specialist can make the best assessments on bone and joint pain. Being trained especially in bone and joint pain management, you can bank upon pain management specialists to receive the best treatment for your bone or joint pain.

3 Reasons to See a Pain Management Specialist for Bone and Joint Pain

Breaking a bone is, needless to say, a painful experience. But, when people have their broken bone put in a cast, they tend to forget about it until it comes out. This is quite wrong! A person would want to be up and running but does not find that the hand or the leg as it has been cast up. For weeks, the person's hand or leg barely moves and also shrinks up quite a lot!

There is a lot of pain, not only due to shrinkage when a fracture occurs. The occurrence itself causes what is known as acute pain. Then, for some weeks, the sub-acute pain just seems to persist, to the person having the fracture. The reason for this is the fact that the bone and the soft tissue are in the process of healing.

Chronic pain is a worry as it does not go away even after the healing process has ended. In order to make sure that there is a quick recovery and there is no chronic pain which is experienced at all, some of the proverbial leaves need to be taken out of the book of physiotherapy.

To start with, sometime between a fortnight and a month after the injury or the bone break has taken place, the doctor will wish to see some movement in the soft tissue that has broken around the bone. The great advantage of this is that while it may be a little bit of effort and time involved, there are great benefits by the way of less pain and swelling as the blood flows as normally as is possible.

If such movements are not done, a person can have related soreness, which can be even more of a pain! An example of this would be a broken foot or ankle causing the stiffness of the knee. When a person is already in pain, adding to his or her trouble makes no sense at all, does it?

Post one month mark, the physiotherapist would want to see more functioning so that the normal levels can be attained. A person who has a fracture should not despair as if he or she is willing to stick to the schedule given by the physiotherapist and perform all the exercises that have been set out, he or she will be back at the normal level much sooner than would have been expected!

Also, getting active again will reduce the risk of a repeat injury, and that is enough justification to do so!

What To Expect When Recovering From Broken Bones?

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