Fractures

Physiotherapy can be used to treat the damage caused by fractures. Most fractures are caused by a sudden injury that places more pressure on a specific bone than it is meant to withstand. These types of injuries can lead to swelling, pain and incorrect healing if not treated appropriately. This injury can occur in different parts of the body by the most common areas are the ankle, leg and arm areas. Bones can fracture or break in different ways. Most bones will heal in six weeks with proper treatment, but the degree of the damage will determine what type of treatment you need to improve and how long it will take.

Classifications of bone fractures:

• Transverse: Often occurs as a result of a strong force. It is perpendicular to the bone’s axis.
• Oblique: This a common fracture where the bone breaks diagonally, curved or angled pattern to the fracture
• Comminuted: Bone fragments into several pieces or more than who fragments. These often happen due to a high-impact trauma like a car accident.
• Impacted: There is pressure to both ends of the bone, forcing the broken pieces to jam together.
• Stress: A small crack in a bone, or severe bruising within a bone caused by overuse or inactivity in the area, muscles become weak and unable to absorb shock.
• Greenstick: Typically affects young children. It is an incomplete fracture in which one side of the bone is broken and the other bent.

A bone fracture can affect an individual's mobility of the joint, quality of movement, weight-bearing ability, walking ability, and muscle strength.

Your physiotherapist can help you with your healing process by:

• Helping to improve or if possible, restore the range of movement of the joint.
• Improve any mobility issues through re-education.
• Increase strength by proBrisk percussion of the chest wallviding a progressive home exercise programme.
• Improve simple daily tasks with regular daily activities like walking up and down the stairs, getting in and out of bed, and getting dressed.
• Provide the essential Dos and Don'ts for each stage of your rehabilitation program.

Some typical symptoms of a bone fracture include swelling or bruising over a bone, a visible deformity of an arm or leg that did not exist before, pain in the injured area that worsens when the area is moved, or pressure is applied, and inability to use the limb which is a more evident sign that something is wrong.

If you have an injury and suspect that you have a fracture somewhere that is making your life difficult, contact us for a consultation.