The most famous medical term in traumatology for ossification is osteogenesis. The disease is characterized by abnormal bone structure or abnormal tissue ossification due to trauma. Ossification is also found in soft tissues.
Nature of the problem
Ossifiers - pathological neoplasms of the bone species. They occur in tissues prone to damage. It can be muscles, ligaments or tendons.
Often, such bone formations occur with damage to the spinal cord in the tissues after an injury. Moreover, they can occur in neurological disorders due to stroke. Typically, such growths are concentrated in the hip joint, elbows and in the patella.
The standard location for ossifiers is the area located just below the level of the tissue site that is injured. Fact: the larger the size of the injured joint itself, the higher the risk that ossification will be chronic.
Ossification of the joints
If the joints were seriously injured, and the patient did not consider it necessary to visit a specialist, then the risk of pathological ossification of joints increases at times. With this formation, the movement of the joint is sometimes completely blocked, which seriously complicates the daily life of a person.
The most famous type of ossification is ossification of the hip joints. It develops in childhood or in early infancy. There is a high probability of development of ossifiers in utero. Regardless of the moment the first signs of the disease appear, at the age of twenty years it becomes chronic. In addition to the stiffness of the joint movement, their fusion is not excluded. In this case, the joints are completely immobilized, while ankylosis begins to develop. Another factor in this disease is the formation of blood clots in the nerve trunks, while the patient has severe pain.
It is necessary to take into account certain norms in the development of hip joints. So, at about the eighth month of pregnancy, the fetus develops a joint structure. For each child, the ossification of the hip area occurs at its proper time, that is, the development of this process occurs completely individually. However, sample statistics are still available:
- At the initial stage, the child shows only the structure of the hip joint. This process lasts until the first three months after the birth of the baby. Ossification of the femoral heads has not yet begun.
- The second period covers up to six months. Ossification occurs, but not yet completely. The female sex in this process develops much faster than the male.
- The third stage includes development up to the age of five. Over this period, bone tissue increases significantly.
- The final period covers the age of 12 to 20 years, when the bone tissue is fully formed.
If during these periods any deviations were observed, then after the final stage they will be of a permanent nature, and the treatment of the disease can be very difficult.
Extra skeletal form
Heterotopic ossification is a disease in which ossification of the soft tissues occurs. People are more prone to this pathology if they have suffered an injury to their back, spinal cord, or brain.
Despite the prevalence of this disease, its origins have not yet been fully studied. What is the true impetus for the development of growths is unknown, there are only a number of hypotheses.
The risk group includes people:
- with increased muscle tone;
- having suffered injuries of the tubular bones;
- staying for a long time in a state of coma or clinical death (more than two weeks).
Usually this ailment develops in large joints such as elbow or shoulder. Heterotopic ossification does not take long, manifesting itself within 2-3 months after receiving the main injury. Accompanying her are hematomas.
Symptomatic manifestations
The clinical picture includes several obvious symptoms peculiar exclusively to this disease:
- Pain in an injured area.
- Swelling in the field of development of growth.
- Hardening and redness.
- With heterotopic ossification, difficulty in joint movements or their complete absence in connection with the pain accompanying the movement is observed.
- Disturbances in the structure of nerve fibers such as blood clots or pressure sores.
- Bruising.
An equally important factor in this disease is that the nerve endings are impaired, which, of course, is accompanied by pain. This is due to the fact that bone growths are formed in areas in which their presence is not provided for in the body initially.
If such symptoms are found, it is necessary to immediately consult a specialist until the disease has become chronic and has caused serious damage not only to the health, but also to the life of the person as a whole.
What is the danger
Without treatment, ossification can be complicated by the following pathologies and processes:
- joint fusion;
- thrombosis and compression of nerve endings;
- the development of malignant neoplasms;
- ossification of ligaments, articular apparatus.
All these processes lead to disability of the patient, so the treatment of pathology is a prerequisite for a full life in the future.
Diagnostic measures
With ossification of bones, a radiography is prescribed, thanks to which a specialist can easily determine the site of neoplasm. An x-ray will reveal a similar pathology a week after the start of its development. In addition, a general blood test is prescribed to the patient, which in the case of an unambiguous fact of the disease will reveal an increased content of alkaline phosphatase. With the development of medical technology, a new improved method for diagnosing this disease was introduced - three-dimensional scanning.
The basic principles of treatment
The treatment of ossifiers is sometimes very painful, as it consists in developing an immobilized joint. For this, the patient is prescribed special procedures and drugs, which include the following activities:
- Taking drugs with vitamin D or insolation (in case of childhood rickets).
- Electrophoresis
- Exercise therapy (mainly for pediatric patients).
- Massage.
- Use of sea salt when taking a bath.
- Physiotherapy.
Such therapy is carried out for nine months. However, if she did not give the desired result, then surgical intervention is no longer necessary. Such a treatment technique always gives the expected effect, however, various complications can arise here. The development of sepsis or hemorrhage is not ruled out. For the speedy recovery, the patient is prescribed the necessary medications that are aimed at healing damaged tissues.
Rehabilitation period
The most important stage on the path to full recovery is the tactics of gradual recovery of the body. The basic rule is to protect the injured area of the body, smoothness is important. Do not overwork the body with excessive loads. Physiotherapy exercises should be selected exclusively by a specialist.
In case of severe pain, the doctor prescribes the necessary complex of drugs and painkillers. At the end of treatment and the rehabilitation period, the duration of which is individual for each patient, it is necessary to conduct a verification ultrasound examination.
Conclusion and Conclusions
Ossification is not a sentence for a patient at all. Even with a complete loss of movement of the injured joint, the chances of recovery are very high. For speedy rehabilitation, it is necessary to adhere to all the recommendations of a specialist, cross out the fear of pain when conducting specially selected measures.