Bone Fracture
(Broken Bone)
Benjamin Wedro, MD, FACEP, FAAEM
Dr. Ben Wedro practices emergency medicine at Gundersen Clinic, a regional trauma center in La Crosse, Wisconsin. His background includes undergraduate and medical studies at the University of Alberta, a Family Practice internship at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and residency training in Emergency Medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.
William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR
Dr. Shiel received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame. There he was involved in research in radiation biology and received the Huisking Scholarship. After graduating from St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.
- Bone fracture facts
- Introduction and definition of bone fracture
- What causes a bone fracture?
- What are the signs and symptoms of a bone fracture?
- What are common types of bone fractures?
- Broken wrist
- Broken hip
- Broken leg
- Broken shoulder
- Broken hand or fingers
- Open fracture
- Stress fracture
- Compression fracture
- Broken rib
- Skull fracture
- Other fractures
- Bone fracture in children
- How is a bone fracture diagnosed?
- What is the treatment for a bone fracture?
- Bone fracture surgery
- Patient Comments: Fracture - Causes
- Patient Comments: Fracture - Describe Your Experience
- Find a local Doctor in your town
Bone fracture facts
- Bone fracture, broken bone, bone crack all mean he same thing. The bone has been damaged such that. None of these terms indicate the severity of the bone damage.
- Bones are the body's storage place for calcium. Under hormone control, calcium content of bone is constantly increasing or decreasing.
- Bones break when they cannot withstand a force or trauma applied to them. Sometimes the bones are so weak that force may be just gravity, such as compression fractures of the back in the elderly.
- Fracture descriptions help explain how the breakage appears. For examples, whether or not the fragments are aligned (displaced fracture) and whether or not there is skin overlying the injury is damaged (compound fracture).
- Fractures may be complicated by damage to nearby blood vessels, nerves and muscles and joints.
- Fractures in children may be more difficult to diagnose because their bones lack enough calcium to be seen on X-ray, and because growth plates in the bones may disguise or hide the fracture.
- Diagnosis of a fracture includes a history and physical examination. X-rays are often taken. Occasionally, CT or MRI scans are ordered to find an occult or hidden fracture, or provide more information regarding the damage to the bone and adjacent tissues.
- Fractures of the skull, spine and ribs have their own unique diagnosis and treatment complications.
Introduction and definition to bone fracture
Bones form the skeleton of the body and allow the body to be supported against gravity to move and function in the world. Bones also protect some body parts, and bone marrow is the production center for blood products.
Bone is not a stagnant organ. It is the body's reservoir of calcium and is always undergoing change under the influence of hormones. Parathyroid hormone increases blood calcium levels by leeching calcium from bone, while calcitonin has the opposite effect, allowing bone to accept calcium from the blood.
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