Fractures happen when you have accidents like falling, getting in a car crash, or getting injured while playing sports.
When you break a bone, sometimes you’ll need surgery to fix it. Other times, a splint, cast, brace, or sling might be enough for your bone to heal. The time it takes to fully recover depends on which bone is broken, where the break is, and how severe the injury is.
Fracture Treatment Methods
Immobilization
When you have a fracture, how it’s treated depends on many factors like type of bone, severity of fracture, it’s displacement etc If it’s not too serious and your bones didn’t displace much, you might just need a splint or cast to keep everything in place while it heals. The splint is worn for about two to three weeks, while a cast might be needed for four to six weeks. During this time, you’ll probably have X-rays to check if the bones are healing properly.
Closed reduction
For certain fractures, a procedure called closed reduction might be done. It’s a non-surgical method where the doctor physically aligns your broken bones from the outside by pushing and pulling your body part. They’ll use a local anaesthetic to numb the area, or you might receive sedatives to relax, or even be given general anaesthesia to be asleep during the procedure. Afterward, they’ll put a plaster over the fractured area.
Surgery
Certain fractures need surgery.
Internal Fixation
The surgeon will realign your bones and fix it, which means inserting metal into the bone to hold it in place while it heals. There are different techniques for this:
Nails: A metal rod is placed inside the bone from top to bottom.
Plates and screws: Metal plates and screws are inserted into the bone to hold the pieces together.
Pins and wires: These are used for smaller bone pieces and can be used with nails or plates.
External Fixation
If your fracture is open and you have a bad wound over the skin, or if your skin is crushed by the injury, your doctor might opt for an external fixation. During this procedure, they will place pins into your bone on both sides of the fracture inside your body. These pins will then be connected to a brace or bracket outside your body that holds everything in place. This external fixation is a temporary measure to stabilize the fracture and allow it to start healing. Later on, you might have an internal fixation surgery for a more permanent solution.