Can the plaster be removed for wrist fractures?

Wrist fracture is a common condition in daily life. There are many reasons for wrist fracture, which is generally caused by external trauma. After a wrist fracture, it needs to be fixed with plaster to achieve the treatment effect. The plaster needs to be worn for about 40-60 days after the fracture. During the period of fixing the plaster, you cannot do strenuous exercise, you need to rest and recuperate, and eat more nutritious food.

How long does it take to remove the cast after a wrist fracture?

It usually takes about 45 to 60 days for callus to form after a fracture, so the plaster fixation must be removed for at least one and a half months. After removing the plaster, you must also pay attention to the fact that the callus is not very firm yet, so you must reduce strenuous exercise to avoid further trauma, which may lead to nonunion of the broken ends in the future.

Overview

There are two types of treatment for wrist fractures: conservative treatment and surgical treatment. Conservative treatment mainly adopts manual reduction, small splint or plaster splint external fixation. Although conservative treatment can achieve early joint function training, conservative treatment has the concern of unstable fracture fixation, which may cause the fracture to displace again and lead to treatment failure. Surgical treatment mainly involves open reduction and internal fixation with plates. Open reduction surgery can provide strong internal fixation.

Rehabilitation

When the fracture is basically healed, you can start active wrist flexion and extension exercises and wrist flexion resistance exercises. Then, increase the intensity and difficulty of forearm and wrist exercises every 3-4 days. When training the range of motion of joints, avoid using force or violence to avoid causing new injuries. During the recovery period, patients should also add some hand application activity training, such as building blocks, weaving, etc.

Dietary precautions

During the recovery period, patients with fractures must ensure a balanced diet, eat less spicy or allergenic foods, and avoid smoking. Scientific research shows that some chemical components emitted by smoking can hinder the healing of fractures.

What should patients with fractures eat?

Fracture healing is generally divided into three stages: early, intermediate, and late. The diet should also be based on the progression of the disease, with different foods to promote hematoma absorption or callus formation.

Early stage of fracture. The injured area is swollen and congested, the meridians are blocked, and qi and blood are blocked. The treatment at this stage is mainly to promote blood circulation, remove blood stasis, and promote qi circulation and dissipate. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that if the blood stasis is not removed, bones cannot grow, and if the blood stasis is removed, new bones will grow. It can be seen that reducing swelling and dispersing blood stasis are the primary priorities for fracture healing. The dietary principle is to eat light food, such as vegetables, eggs, soy products, fruits, fish soup, lean meat juice, etc. Avoid eating sour, spicy, hot, and greasy food, especially avoid giving fatty and nourishing foods too early. Such as bone soup, stewed chicken, and stewed fish. Otherwise, blood stasis will accumulate and be difficult to dissipate, which will slow down the formation of bone callus and affect the recovery of joint function in the future.

Three to four weeks after injury. Most of the blood stasis has been absorbed and the fracture is in the middle stage of recovery. The treatment should be harmonious, focusing on harmonizing the blood circulation to relieve pain, removing blood stasis, promoting new blood, and connecting bones and tendons. The diet is changed from light to appropriate high-nutrition supplements to meet the needs of callus growth, supplementing vitamins A, D, calcium and protein.

Six to eight weeks after injury. The swelling caused by the fracture has been basically absorbed and callus has formed. Treatment should be tonic, by nourishing the liver and kidneys, qi and blood, to promote the formation of a firm callus, as well as relaxing the muscles and tendons to allow the adjacent joints to move freely and flexibly and restore their previous functions. Dietary restrictions can be lifted and high-nutrition food can be given as tonic. Those who can drink can be given Eucommia ulmoides and Drynaria fortunei wine, tiger bone and papaya wine.

Diet is only to cooperate with treatment. Grasping the principle that light food is suitable in the early stage of fracture, support in the middle stage, and tonic in the late stage, and choosing appropriate food will have a positive effect on promoting fracture healing.