Bone fractures can result from a variety of different activities, frequently resulting from a car crash, bicycle accident, childhood fall or sports injury. Dealing with fractures as soon as they happen is a necessary to get appropriate treatment and promote future healing.
There are more than 200 bones in the body, so the diagnosis and treatment of a fracture will depend upon the individual’s circumstances. The most common kinds of fractures, however, involve resetting the bone and stabilizing it with a cast or an interior rod in order to keep the bone in place for healing.
There are certain types of fractures, however, that are unlikely to stay in place, which makes using a cast inefficient. An operation performed by an orthopedic surgeon in Austin in these instances is often recommended. There are other occasions when bones in a cast do not heal properly and are also in need of an orthopedic surgeon. Austin facilities have numerous qualified and experienced surgeons who specialize in many different kinds of surgery relevant to degenerative diseases associated with aging, as well as sports injuries and trauma to the bone tissue, ligaments, and tendons brought on by some other factor.
One of the more common operations performed by an orthopedic surgeon in Austin involves stabilizing bone fragments beneath the skin. In such situations, a surgeon will cut an incision near the location of the breakage or fragment, align the bones so that they are in their appropriate places, and affix hardware to the bone underneath the skin in order to stabilize it and keep it in place. The use of rods, metal plates, and other hardware to connect bone fragments is more efficient than an exterior cast in these situations. After the bone has healed, the orthopedic surgeon in Austin will usually perform another operation to remove the hardware from the patient’s body.
Another procedure to hold bones in place for healing involves making an incision near the location to properly rearrange and align the bones, then secure them together using pins outside the body that are attached to a metal frame.
Activity during the healing process is, of course, limited in order to prevent the bones from shifting out of alignment or fracturing again before they are completely healed. Pain usually recedes before healing is complete, so patients must exercise patience and continue to limit activity until the surgeon has cleared the patient. Some physical or occupational therapy may be prescribed to bring healed bones back to their normal functioning capacity.