After suffering from a fracture, patients greatly benefit from physical therapy. Skilled services of a physical therapist at ProCare Health & Rehab Centers are crucial in healing car accident victims with broken bones. Read further for the steps you should take towards properly recovering after a fracture.
What to do after a fracture:
So what exactly does properly healing a fracture, or commonly called a broken bone, entail? A physical therapist helps people with carpal tunnel, muscular dystrophy, or injuries caused by a plethora of accidents. ProCare Health & Rehab Centers specialize in car accident injuries.
Through physical therapy and rehabilitation, a physical therapist can help patients work towards regaining a normal range of motion, strength, and functional mobility. Some patients even report feeling stronger and more flexible than before any injuries.
The unfortunate pain that comes with a fracture is a rough feeling to experience. You may have had a fracture before, or you may have just recently suffered from one. Either way, it is important to know that when you have broken a bone, or even have a muscular injury, swift medical attention is dire to the body’s healing process.
The longer patients wait to seek medical attention, the more time a broken bone has to veer out of its paper place and alignment. Even hours can make the difference. If you wait days, the body may experience more symptoms such as fever or dizziness from the pain.
Pain, fever, and dizziness, along with other signs, are the body’s ways of telling the person something is wrong and requires attention. In order for broken bones to return to the proper alignment and setting, a medical professional must take x-rays and examine the area promptly.
First step in healing a fracture:
After a fracture, a doctor must ensure the bone is set, or reduced. Reduction of the bone can be done manually. A more complicated fracture may require one or more surgical procedures.
The surgery is called open reduction internal fixation, or ORIF. A surgery is necessary if there are too many pieces of broken bone that need to be set that couldn’t otherwise be set manually, or without surgery. Either way, after the a fractured bone has been reduced, a cast is used to stabilize or immobilize the bone.
Casts used during the healing process:
The cast enables the fracture to heal properly even if it encounters little bumps here and there during normal activity. For more simple fractures, patients may only need a removable cast. This allows for a range of motion near the fracture area.
Removable casts are usually cloth and more comfortable than hard casts. Hard casts are more suitable for children’s fractures. They are not removable and come in a variety of colors.
The fracture area is first wrapped with cotton and synthetic materials to provide padding, especially around bony areas such as an elbow. Waterproof cast liners may be used under fiberglass casts which allows people to get cast wet. Again, this is very suitable for children. When moving around with a cast, a wheelchair, crutches, or walkers may be helpful.
How fractures are reduced:
Physical therapists rely on doctors to properly reduce fractures, and here is why. When a doctor carefully maneuvers the fractured bone pieces into the correct place with their hands, this is called a closed reduction. More severe fractures require an open reduction, or surgery, as we mentioned before.
Some fractures do not need hardware, or metal pieces, inserted do keep the bone in place. A metal piece may be needed but will later be removed to avoid soft tissue irritation. Also, doctors can stabilize a fracture by placing percutaneous pins through the skin and into the bone.
The pins stay in place until sufficient healing. Then, the pins are removed by the doctor. A metal fame may be used in combination with the pins to keep the pins and healing bones in place.
Next week, we will further discuss the proper way to begin healing a fracture. We will share why it so important to seek proper attention for the best recovery outcomes with a physical therapist. Make an appointment today if you have suffered a fracture and wish to reach the best function of your healed fracture.
Staff Writer
