Special Type Of Fracture: Stress Fracture

                        

There are many types of fracture and one of them is the incomplete type. Stress fracture is a result of overuse of bones or stressing the bones. The repeated stress on the bones may lead to cracks on it, which eventually causes it to get fractured. It takes place near the ankle, legs or wrist.  It occurs commonly in the weight bearing bones. Bones of lower leg and bones of the foot are the major victims of the stress fracture.

This special type of fracture may happen to any part of the body though. The duration of the healing process for fractured bones depends upon the location of the fractured bone. It also depends on the body’s healing power and the severity of the injury. The process of fracture healing can depend upon the dietary intake of the individual.

Sometimes, it can be very easy to find this where the affected area is It can be determined by pain and tenderness near the injury site. It may cause a little pain initially but in the long run results may be dangerous. Therefore, necessary steps should be taken to prevent stress injury.

Stress fracture can be detected easily but it cannot be determined well in an X-ray. So a MRI or CT scan is used to detect it. A three-phase bone scan is another option to find the evidences of the fractured area. The scanning result may show a small crack in the bone. It is also called as the hairline type of fractured injury.

Have You Heard About Stress Fracture?

Stress fracture is commonly associated with sports. If you follow sports and the famous athletes, you must know the popular tennis elbow problem of Sachin Tendulakar, an Indian cricketer. Tennis elbow is a type of stress injury, which occurs due to over working and a lot of stress on the bone.

Nowadays, cricket is very popular among all the people countrywide. We must have heard about the injuries related to players. If they have an injury, selectors don’t include them in their team while playing in a big game.

Stress fracture is not only related to cricket because it is also associated with all types of sports that use a single part of the body repeatedly. For instance, during pedal racing, the foot or legs may get a stress injury. There can be slow pain at the start but at the end of the race, it would become almost insufferable. These injuries create big problems to the athlete’s career, especially if not treated well.

Necessary steps must be taken to prevent the fracture due to overuse of bones. Stress fractures may take a long time to recover. Due to this reason, players are not allowed to play if they have a minor injury. There may be an associated injury with the fractured bone. The ligaments near the bone may break.

Athletes can have a fractured foot, which is another type of fracture. These fractures take a long time to heal in comparison to other fractured ones because these bones bear the whole body weight. So a complete rest is required in this case to encounter the post treatment problems.

Causes of Stress Fracture

Stress fracture is one the types which cannot be referred to as a complete fractured bone hence it is considered an incomplete injury. It is a result of the overuse or abuse of the bones. The repeated stress on the bones may cause this condition. It takes place near the ankle, legs or wrist.  It occurs commonly in the weight bearing bones. Bones of lower leg and bones of the foot are the major victims of this problem.

As the stress fracture occurs in the weight bearing bone the healing process also takes more time. The duration of the healing process depends upon the location of this medical condition. It also depends on the body’s healing power and the severity of the condition. The process of healing can depend upon the dietary intake of the individual as well.

Stress fracture has limited symptoms. It can be determined by pain and tenderness near the injury site. It may cause a little pain initially but in the long run, the results may be dangerous. Therefore, necessary steps should be taken to prevent the stress injury.

Diagnosis of the stress fractured bone cannot be determined well in an X-ray. So a MRI or CT scan is used to detect it. A three-phase bone scan is another option to find the evidences of the fractured bones.

The scanning result may show a small crack in the bone. It is also called as the hairline fracture. The usual bones which are affected with the stress fracture are tibia and metatarsals.

All About Fracture Diagnosis and Healing

Stress fracture occurs in weight bearing bones of your body. As a result for better recovery your activities related to the movement of these bones are restricted. Rest is the only remedy for stress fracture. It is done to prevent further injury and fast recovery.

When you are trying to heal a fracture using a cast, the bone inside it remains swollen for many days; a pressure can build inside causing more pain. It can also damage some tissues due to the pressure inside the cast. So splinting has to applied over the fractured area first. After a week or two, splinting is removed and casting is applied. The casting remains intact until the healing process is complete.

Another type of treatment for fractured bones is surgery. However, it inhibits the blood circulation partially. Hence, necessary nutrients do not reach to the destination of fractured bone.  Thus surgery slows down the procedure of fracture healing. This is why surgery is done only if the injured bone needed support. It is only recommended in some cases. 

But before the doctor recommends some treatment, a diagnosis has to be done first. X-ray is the most common form of diagnosis for fractured bones. It will show only the swelled tissues near the fractured site. In instances such as in Toddlers fracture, the break in the bone might be very suspicious and not evident sometimes in radiographs and X-rays.

To avoid any problem, the radiograph has to be done again and the previous result is matched with the new film. The injury would likely be detected and the treatment begins.