Fracture Care Specialists

What is fracture care?

Fracture care is a term for the treatment of broken bones, which are common and often very painful injuries.

There are over 200 bones in your skeleton, forming a solid scaffold for your body. They're strong and resilient, being able to take great strain when they're healthy. They can even bend a fraction under pressure, particularly in the young. However, excessive force can cause your bones to crack, snap, or sometimes even shatter.

As you age, the strength of your bones and their flexibility decreases, a problem that's made far worse if you develop osteoporosis. This is a condition where your bones lose so much of their density that they get weak and brittle, snapping or collapsing under very little pressure.

What injuries would require fracture care?

Fracture care is necessary for all broken bones, although the kind of intervention you require varies depending on the type of fracture. Some of the fractures that you could experience include:

Simple, stable fractures

Simple fractures are ones where the bone breaks cleanly in two without the ends moving out of position.

Compound (open) fractures

Compound fractures, where a bone breaks through the skin, are typically some of the most painful injuries. They require urgent, expert fracture care, and are more likely to become infected.

Comminuted fractures

Comminuted fractures involve the bone breaking into multiple pieces, making repair more challenging. Crush injuries – for example, getting your hand shut in a door – can flatten or shatter the bones.

What does fracture care involve?

At Schofield, Hand and Bright Orthopaedics, the fracture care varies depending on the type of fracture you sustain, which bone breaks, and the extent of the damage. Other factors, such as your age, health issues, and activity level, also factor into the choice of treatment.

A simple, stable fracture doesn't require any direct intervention, so it's likely you just need to wear a cast or brace to protect the bones while they heal. However, if the broken bones aren't correctly aligned, your provider has to reposition them.

They might be able to do this by manipulating the bones from the outside, using X-rays to make sure the ends are in the right place. This is known as a closed reduction. Open reduction is where you need surgery to get the bones into the correct positions.

What does open reduction fracture care involve?

Open reduction is a surgical procedure where your provider at Schofield, Hand and Bright Orthopaedics makes an incision to gain access to the bones.

They might use screws, pins, and plates to fix the fracture and sometimes external fixation devices to hold the healing bones in place.

To benefit from the team's experience in fracture care, call Schofield, Hand and Bright Orthopaedics or book an appointment online today.