Activity

What Are Breaks And Fractures?

Break and fracture mean exactly the same thing – where the bone snaps inside your body (yuk!). Breaks are very painful so it’s lucky that our bones are so strong.  Kids break bones a lot because they are so active – and many will break a bone during their childhood.

What Causes Fractures?

Bones are mostly made up of minerals like calcium and phosphate, plus lots of fibrous tissue, which makes them very strong.  However, if they get stressed in the wrong way, like falling the wrong way, they can fracture or break.

If your bones are unhealthy, they become weak and are more likely to break.  This is called osteoporosis, which means thin bones.

How Do Fractures Heal?

The good news is that breaks heal very quickly – particularly in young people. When the bone breaks, a blood clot forms between the broken ends.  The body quickly turns this into a gluey seal across the bone ends called a callus.  This seal then solidifies into new bone and then the unneeded bits dissolve away to leave the bone just like before.

How Do You Treat Fractures?

The healing of a break can only occur if the broken ends are held tightly together – this is why we put plaster or fibreglass casts on most broken bones.  The bone must also heal straight – which is why “setting” the bone straight is important before you put the cast on.

In the old days, casts were always made from plaster of Paris – which went soggy when you got them wet.  Nowadays we use fibreglass casts – so you can shower or swim in them!

Different Types Of Breaks And Fractures

You could break every bone in your body if you tried hard enough – although breaking them all at the same time would probably be fatal!  The following breaks are really common.

·        Greenstick fractures

·        Greenstick fractures are fractures where only one side of the bone breaks like when you bend a piece of green wood.  They only happen in children and young people because they have much more flexible bones than adults.

·        Fractured collarbone

·        (clavicle) – due to falling onto the outstretched hand.

Treatment – a sling or a collar-and-cuff for 3 weeks.  No plaster.

·        Stress fractures

·        Stress fractures are a strange form of fracture that happen from overuse – An example of this is the small bones of the feet in runners.  They don’t heal because of the constant use.

·        Treatment – a plaster cast like for normal fractures.

·        Fractured leg

·        (tibia and fibula bones) – from car accidents and sporting accidents.

·        Treatment – plaster the leg up to mid thigh for 12 weeks.

·        Fractured forearm

·        (radius and ulna bones) – from a fall onto the wrist.

·        Treatment – plaster of forearm for 6 weeks.

Healthy Bones

To grow healthy bones, you need lots of dairy products like milk and cheese, which are rich in calcium.  Calcium alone is not enough, as Vitamin D is needed to get the calcium into the bones. You get Vitamin D mostly from sunlight, although many countries put extra Vitamin D into the milk.  Having enough calcium and Vitamin D is important all through childhood, but particularly during the puberty growth spurt when the bones also grow.

Yukky Bits

·        Why do plaster casts stink so much?  Because they stay on for weeks and body odours build up inside – just like old trainers! YUK!

·        What is bone marrow? It’s the soft gooey stuff in the middle of bones – some people love to eat it in a roast dinner but others can’t stand it.