Fracture repair process

Lya Böger

The stages of fracture healing

Causes of Fractures

causes of fractures

Why do bones break?

• Bones are very strong
• Bone runs into stronger force (e.g. thrown forward in car crash), which leads to a traumatic fracture
• Bone runs into repetitive force (e.g. running), which leads to a stress fracture
• Bone diseases, which weaken your bones (e.g. osteoporosis) and leads to a spontaneous/pathologic fracture

the stages of bone healing

1. The inflammatory phase

• Also called Hematoma Formation
• Starts immediately after the fraction occurs
• blood vessels that were torn by the fracture release blood (about 48 hours after injury)
• blood clots and forms fracture Hematoma
• Immune system gets active (kills germs and gets rid of small bone pieces)
• stage ends approximately 1 week after injury

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2020.592008/full

2. The repairing phase

• Starts a few days after bone fracture
• Lasts for about 2-3 weeks
• Body develops cartilage and tissue in/around fracture site

• Cartilage forms a soft collar at broken ends (replaces blood clot)
• Cartilage parts eventually meet each other and form a callus (stabalize structure)
• Osteoblasts from the periosteum invade hematoma
• Trabecular bone (spongy bone) replaces tissue and forms a bony callus over the next weeks

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2020.592008/full

3. The bone remodeling phase

• Final phase in fracture repair process
• Osteoblasts form new bone
• Solid bone replaces the spongy bone

• After completion, osteoclasts remove excessive bone tissue and restore bone shape

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2020.592008/full

How long does a fracture take to heal?

• Average healing time is 6 to 8 weeks
• Time varies from person to person and depends on severity of injury and bone (some bones heal faster than others)

• Doctors can support healing process (casts, screws & plates, rods, wires, nails)

https://diamondortho.com/index.php/news-blogs/our-blogs/86-blogs-sourced/79-internal-fixation-for-fractures-what-you-should-know

Sources

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