Broken bones often take a long time to heal and frequently get in the way of normal activities, since the limb has to be immobilized while it heals. Common causes of broken bones include falls and traffic accidents. However it happens, breaking a bone can be debilitating. In older people, a broken bone can lead to weeks of bed rest and often the total loss of mobility. If not treated correctly, it can even lead to premature death for someone elderly.
It is important to get a comprehensive assessment as soon as possible and start the right type of rehabilitation immediately. AlaMed Injury Clinics can help with your broken bone treatment in Birmingham. Our skilled medical team has assisted countless patients in making a full recovery and returning to work safely and also helped many elderly people return to a pre-injury lifestyle.
If you or a loved one broke a bone in a fall, a car crash, or other accident, contact our Birmingham injury clinic, AlaMed Injury Clinics, and get the expert care you need and deserve.
Treatments for Broken Bones
The treatment for a broken bone depends on the location and severity. Common treatments include:
Broken Leg
There are three long bones in the leg: the femur, tibia, and fibula. If you have a broken leg, you won't be able to put weight on it initially and the injury can take a long time to heal. It is essential to restrict the broken bone from moving and rest to allow healing to take place. You may need to wear a splint or a cast and use crutches to keep weight off your injured leg.
The healing process can take six to eight weeks or longer. If you come to our injury clinic, we have a multidisciplinary team of doctors, nurses, and therapists to help you regain optimal health while keeping you out of pain as much as possible. The multidisciplinary approach is a great way of handling your fracture, as all the experts work together in one clinic.
The femur is the largest bone in the leg. Located in the thigh, it is actually the hardest bone in the body, requiring a lot of force to break. You could break your femur if you fall out of a tree or are in a bad car accident. Treating a broken femur can be complicated and you may need hospitalization for surgery and to avoid complications like pulmonary embolism. The recovery time for a broken femur is usually very long.
Broken Arm
Usually, a broken arm does not require hospital admission. The bones in the arm are called the humerus, radius, and ulna. When we fall, any of these bones can be broken. Children running around or playing sports often get these fractures. An arm fracture can happen quite easily when someone stretches out their arm while falling.
If your arm is broken, moving it will be painful and you'll experience swelling and loss of function. It is important to see a doctor. An x-ray is usually carried out to make a definitive diagnosis of the break. To treat the injury, the arm is immobilized in a sling or cast which should be left in place for healing to occur. This generally takes about six to eight weeks.
Serious Broken Bones
If you sustain a serious fracture like a broken pelvis or skull, you should expect to be admitted to the hospital. These types of fractures are often caused by motor vehicle accidents. If you are an older person who has had a hip pin and plate inserted after a fall, it is critical to get an assessment at our injury clinic, as your future mobility depends on it.
Once your leg is out of the splint or the cast, the physiotherapist will set out a suitable exercise program, and supervise it, designed to facilitate full mobility at the end of the healing process. Following a hip operation, physiotherapy and rehabilitation start very early, usually 1 to 2 days after surgery, often using resistance bands to start off with.
Our staff will ensure that you have professional care ranging from physiotherapy to pain management. We will help to motivate you to get back on your feet soon and will monitor your walking and recovery. Our team of health professionals will help you to regain strength and mobility and give you the encouragement and support to keep moving forward in the rehabilitation process.
What Type of Rehabilitation Is Required for a Broken Bone?
Initially, the affected area will be immobilized to stabilize the fracture and allow it to begin healing. Depending on what bone was broken and how serious the fracture is, this could involve a brace, a cast, or even surgery to insert metal pins and plates.
While you're healing, it's important to move joints that aren't immobilized. Not moving can increase the risk of thrombosis. Listen to your doctor's advice about what type of activities you should do and what to avoid. Make sure you eat a good diet, including increased calcium to help mend the bone. It's important to get vitamin D and iron along with calcium.
Healing can be assessed with a second x-ray at around six weeks, if it is an older person healing will usually take a bit longer.
Here are some of the therapies we offer to help you recover after a broken bone:
Hydrotherapy
This is often used in the rehabilitation of sports injuries, including broken bones. Water-based activities assist in recovery over a period of time, because, once up to your neck, the water helps to support your body. This helps you to perform prescribed exercises that you would be unable to do on land due to the pain from the injury. It is a good way of exercising weight-bearing joints, lower limbs, hips, knees, and back since it allows them to move more freely.
You can also create resistance by using flotation equipment, working muscles in a different way. Hydrotherapy offers many benefits, and most people really love it once they get used to the exercises and they find that it helps their recovery, especially in cases of osteoporosis.
Massage to Help Lymphatic Drainage Following a Fracture
When you are in a sling for a broken arm, you may have swelling in the hand and fingers due to problems. While this is not uncommon, it will require massage. Lymphatic drainage is not occurring because the bone is broken and the muscles are unable to contract, causing the hand to swell. This can be very evident after shoulder surgery and will require some massage to get the lymphatic flow to resume.
You can massage your armpit area 10 times using your good hand, and do this two or three times a day. However, it is better if you have regular physiotherapy at the injury clinic to guide the process. Swelling is common following shoulder and arm surgery, and getting rid of it will take specialist physiotherapy.
Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a decrease in the mineral density of the bone and makes a fracture much more likely. It mostly affects older people and can result in spontaneous fractures. This can happen virtually anywhere in the body and will require rehabilitation and extensive physiotherapy to get the person mobile again. It is hard when fractures occur in the spine as it can limit the potential for full mobility to be achieved.
Symptoms of a fracture in a limb include:
- Pain
- Bruising and swelling
- Deformity of the limb
- Mobility or inability to use the limb.
- A compound fracture may lead to blood loss
Sports Injuries
Sports injuries, especially football can lead to bone fractures, and there are a lot of different types of fractures that can occur. If you have surgery to mend a fractured bone and are hospitalized, problems like infection or poor limb alignment can happen. When playing a contact sport, a break or fracture can sometimes reoccur in the same place. It is essential to try to prevent this from happening, and you should come to AlaMed Injury Clinics to get help with strengthening exercises.
It is important that you get the best care to aid a full recovery and are not pressured by your team manager to return to the field too soon. When playing contact sports always wear protective headgear to avoid any head and face fractures. If you are severely bruised and have swelling, you may need to have some pressure bandages. This will help the area to recover naturally, and our clinic staff will want to do an x-ray to make sure that there is no other damage.
Once the possibility of a fracture has been ruled out, it is a good idea to rest and recover for a few days before having a remedial massage. Bruising is caused by damage to the blood vessels under the skin and will heal. When bruising first occurs, wrap the affected limb in an ice pack and leave it on for around 10 minutes. If you have a sprain from playing a contact sport, this will also need to be bandaged until the swelling goes down.
We Are Here To Help Your Broken Bone Treatment in Birmingham
Broken bones are a frightening proposition to many of us, but with the right immediate intervention and the best care, you are likely to recover quite quickly. You can be confident that you will get the best care if you take the multidisciplinary approach offered by AlaMed Injury Clinics in Birmingham, as our experts understand what you are going through and will help you back to good health. Contact us today.