What does old fracture mean

There are many types of fractures, and each type of fracture has its definition. Treatment needs to be selected according to the condition of the fracture. Simple treatment methods can be chosen for minor fractures, but it should be noted that you must actively cooperate with the doctor's approach to treat fractures to avoid bringing more impact to yourself. What does old fracture mean? Most of these fractures refer to malformed healing and non-healing. The following is a detailed introduction.

Malunion refers to the situation where the proximal and distal fracture ends of the fracture are not well aligned, or are angulated, rotated, or overlapped to form a malformed connection. The causes are mostly poor reduction, inadequate fixation, which causes the fracture ends to shift again after reduction, or premature unprotected weight bearing, which causes the fracture ends to shift. If these situations are not corrected in time, malunion will eventually occur.

The so-called slow healing means that although the fracture has been treated and fixed for a considerable period of time, the formed callus still cannot firmly connect the broken ends together. If the callus formed is sparse or absent, the fracture ends are atrophied and smooth, separated from each other, and false joint movement occurs, it is called nonunion of fracture. Delayed healing indicates that the fracture heals slowly, while nonunion reflects a dysfunction in the fracture healing function. There are many reasons for delayed healing and non-healing, such as old age, physical weakness, deficiency of Qi and blood, or extremely malnutrition in some patients, or poor blood supply to the injured area, or severe local injury, with more bone and soft tissue defects, or soft tissue interspersed between the broken ends, and the presence of infected lesions at the injured site.

However, for most patients, the main reason is improper treatment, unsatisfactory reduction of the fracture ends, or poor local fixation of the fracture, insufficient external fixation force, and failure to control certain activities of the fracture ends that are not conducive to fracture healing, such as torsion and angular shear force acting on the fracture ends for a long time to separate them, resulting in the formation of cartilage and fibrous tissue at the fracture ends, and the inability to achieve bone healing. Some patients suffer from the consequences of open reduction and internal fixation. Delayed healing is the most common clinical phenomenon.

Generally, fractures within three weeks are called fresh fractures, while those after three weeks are called old fractures.

The integrity or continuity of a bone is interrupted or destroyed. Those caused by trauma are traumatic old fractures; if the bones themselves are affected by certain diseases, such as tumors, inflammation, endocrine disorders, etc., and their strength is affected, even under very slight external force, it can cause old fractures. This type of old fracture is called pathological old fracture.

Once an old fracture occurs, the limb where the fracture is located will temporarily lose its function. It takes a long time for old fractures to heal, which may take several months or even more than a year. The condition of old fractures themselves is the basic factor affecting the healing process, and the treatment method also has a certain impact on the healing of old fractures.

Most old fractures can heal after proper treatment, but the healing of old fractures is only a basic condition for the restoration of function. To restore the function of the limbs, proper exercise is required during and after the healing process.