Fracture is a complete or partial violation of the integrity of the bone resulting from excessive effort. Although with a number of diseases, a fracture can occur even from a normal movement or a light push. Such situations are caused by a violation of bone mineralization (severe osteoporosis), tumors, metastases, or congenital malformations. By the way, the famous impressionist painter Henri Toulouse-Lautrec suffered from congenital brittle bones.
A fracture of the arm bone usually occurs due to falling onto the exposed arm, twisting, or direct impact. Under the influence of a damaging factor or force, the integrity of the bone is violated, bleeding occurs, the periosteum is damaged, surrounding tissues can be additionally injured when fragments are displaced (up to the appearance of a second open fracture - a situation when bone fragments “pierce” the skin from the inside).
Most common fractures
Fending arm fractures - as their name implies - are the result of self-defense. Defending himself from a certain blow, a man substitutes his forearm. In this case, the ulnar and radius bones break, joints are damaged.
An arm fracture with an offset easily occurs due to unsuccessful arm wrestling. When practicing this sport, a person has a fixed elbow, and if you apply a certain force to the forearm, a lever is formed that instantly breaks the humerus. Instead of playing sports, you have to treat a screw-shaped fracture with an offset.
Well, the undisputed leader of this type of injury is “a fracture of the beam in a typical place,” that is, a fracture of the radius in the area of the wrist joint. Arm fractures in winter is a kind of epidemic that begins with the appearance of ice. The mechanism of injury is simple: falling on your back or side, a person instinctively puts his hand in an attempt to avoid a strong blow to the head or the whole body. The body reflexively "decides" to sacrifice a hand, but to save internal organs. At the same time, the weight of the whole body “hits” the radius very sharply, which leads to an almost inevitable fracture.
Symptoms and First Aid
Symptoms of the fracture are obvious: severe pain, impaired hand function (impossibility of active movements in large joints), pathological mobility is usually observed at the fracture site (that is, the arm can move “like rubber”), severe swelling, sometimes extensive hematoma, less often numbness of the fingers.
Hand fractures should be immediately immobilized (immobilized). To do this, an even thin thin board is bandaged to the shoulder or forearm, a piece of plywood, an impromptu splint can be made from crushed plastic bottles. In extreme cases, the hand can simply be bandaged to the body. In any case, the main thing is to bandage tightly, but not tight (so as not to transmit the vessels). With an open fracture, first you need to apply a bandage to the wound, without setting bone fragments inward. The victim can be given pain medication and taken to the hospital as soon as possible (do not forget to tell the doctor what medicine and in what dose you gave the victim).
How fractures are treated
There are many methods of helping a patient in a trauma center or hospital. Plaster treat fractures of the arm without displacement. Cellular, intraarticular, with displacement or open fractures operate. To fix the bones and their quickest fusion, you can “fasten” the fragments with a plate, an intraosseous shaft. For open fractures, the Ilizarov apparatus and its analogues (the so-called external osteosynthesis) are usually used. For faster fusion, calcium and physiotherapy are usually prescribed.
Any fracture is a serious injury. Caution both when walking and when playing sports can successfully avoid this extremely unpleasant problem.