Symptoms

Symptoms of bone fractures include:

• Pain.
• Swelling.
• Tenderness.
• Inability to move a part of your body like you usually can.
• Bruising or discoloration.
• A deformity or bump that’s not usually on your body.

Causes

Bone fractures are almost always caused by traumas. Anything that hits one of your bones with enough force can break it. Some of the most common causes include:

• Car accidents.
• Falls.
• Sports injuries.

Sometimes you can fracture a bone without experiencing a trauma. Repetitive forces — like running or practicing a sport — can cause stress fractures. Similarly, repeating one movement or motion constantly over a long period of time can lead to overuse syndrome in your hands and arms. If you play an instrument or use your hands in the same way every day at work you’re more likely to develop a stress fracture.

Treatments

How your fracture is treated depends on which type it is, what caused it and how damaged your bones are.

Immobilization

If your fracture is mild and your bones did not move far out of place (if it’s non-displaced), you might only need a splint or cast. Splinting usually lasts for three to five weeks. If you need a cast, it will likely be for longer, typically six to eight weeks. In both cases you’ll likely need follow up X-rays to make sure your bones are healing correctly.

Closed reduction

More severe breaks require a closed reduction to set (realign) your bones. During this non-surgical procedure, your provider will physically push and pull your body on the outside to line up your broken bones inside you. To prevent you from feeling pain during the procedure you’ll receive one of the following:

• Local anesthetic to numb the area around your fracture.
• Sedatives to relax your whole body.
• General anesthesia to make you sleep through the procedure.
• After the closed reduction, your provider will put you in a splint or cast.

Bone fracture surgery

Some bone fractures require surgery. Depending on which type of fracture you have — and how badly your bones are damaged — there are few techniques your surgeon might use.

Internal fixation

Your surgeon will realign (set) your bones to their correct position and then secure them in place so they can heal and grow back together. They usually perform what’s called an internal fixation, which means your surgeon inserts pieces of metal into your bone to hold it in place while it heals. You’ll need to limit how much you use that part of your body to make sure your bone can fully heal.

Internal fixation techniques include:

Rods: A rod inserted through the center of your bone that runs from top-to-bottom.
Plates and screws: Metal plates screwed into your bone to hold the pieces together in place.

Pins and wires: Pins and wires hold pieces of bone in place that are too small for other fasteners. They’re typically used at the same time as either rods or plates.
Some people live with these pieces inserted in them forever. You might need follow-up surgeries to remove them.

External fixation

You might need an external fixation. Your surgeon will put screws in your bone on either side of the fracture inside your body then connect them to a brace or bracket around the bone outside your body. This is usually a temporary way to stabilize your fracture and give it time to begin healing before you have an internal fixation.

Arthroplasty

If you fracture a joint (like your shoulder, elbow or knee) you might need an arthroplasty (joint replacement). Your surgeon will remove the damaged joint and replace it with an artificial joint. The artificial joint (prosthesis) can be metal, ceramic or heavy-duty plastic. The new joint will look like your natural joint and move in a similar way.

Bone grafting

You might need bone grafting if your fracture is severely displaced or if your bone isn’t healing back together as well as it should. Your surgeon will insert additional bone tissue to rejoin your fractured bone. After that, they’ll usually perform an internal fixation to hold the pieces together while your bone regrows. Bone grafts can come from a few sources:

• Internally from somewhere else in your body — usually the top of your hip bone.
• An external donor.
• An artificial replacement piece.

After your surgery, your bone will be immobilized. You’ll need some combination of a splint, cast, brace or sling before you can start using it like you did before your fracture.