Question 1

What Is an Orthopedic Injury?

Accepted Answer

Orthopedic (or orthopaedic) medicine deals with the bones, muscles, and connective tissue - joints, ligaments, tendons. Whether your problem stems from a disorder or blunt force trauma, orthopedic surgeons diagnose and treat it. There are specialists for the hip and knee, foot and ankle, shoulder and elbow, hand, and spine due to the complexity of these body parts.

Orthopedic injuries are commonly seen in the emergency room, and include:

Compartment syndrome: Usually seen after a fracture, compartment syndrome involves bleeding and swelling in a section of the body with “compartment walls,” like the arm, leg, or abdomen. The increase of pressure in the area cuts off blood flow, and tissue begins to die. This is a medical emergency and must be treated immediately, at risk of amputation.
Neurovascular injuries: Includes damage to the major blood vessels supplying the brain, brainstem, and upper spinal cord, such as the vertebral, basilar, and carotid arteries. Neurovascular injuries can be caused by blunt force trauma directly or due to another problem, such as compartment syndrome or a fracture. Also a medical emergency.
Dislocations: When a bone slips out of a joint at the point where two bones connect. Shoulders and fingers tend to be dislocated the most, but hips and knees can be forced out of position in a car crash. These areas may not heal properly, and carry a risk of future dislocations.
Joint infections: A bacterial infection in the joint, causing inflammation, pain, loss of mobility, and potential loss of cartilage if not treated in time. Can be caused by bacteria spread from an open wound or surgery.
Bone fractures: Ranging from mild to catastrophic, breaks in the bones require medical treatment, and take months to mend. They create the risk for several other dangers, as seen above. We’ll discuss them in more detail below.

Question 2

What Are Some Types of Bone Fractures?

Accepted Answer

Any force that is stronger than bone will break it – being hit by a car, having your body weight come down wrong on a limb. Children’s bones may be soft enough to bend (greenstick fracture), but adults’ are brittle and do not. Here are the major types of fractures:

Displaced or non-displaced: Do the broken edges of the bone line up? Or are they out of alignment? The first is a non-displaced fracture (also called a stable fracture); the second is displaced.
Open or closed: Does the bone protrude through the skin, or open up the skin and recede, leaving an open wound? Then it is an open fracture. Otherwise, a break that stays internal is a closed fracture.
Buckle: The edges of the bone are driven into each other.
Compound: The bone completely snaps into at least two separate pieces.
Transverse: The fracture line runs perpendicular to the bone.
Oblique: The fracture line is at an angle to the bone.
Comminuted: Also known as “shattered bone,” a comminuted fracture means the bone has broken into at least three pieces.

Depending on the location and severity of the break, there may be damage to nearby blood vessels, nerves, and the potential for osteomyelitis – infection of the bone itself.

Healing may require nothing more than sustained rest and immobilization, through a cast, splint, brace, or sling– or multiple major surgeries and assistive equipment, even in-home care. The victim may require surgery to reset the bone; traction to pull the bones back in place slowly; pins when a cast isn’t enough to keep the bone in place; or metal rods inside the bone itself (intramedullary rodding) for larger breaks away from the joints. For example, when both radius and ulna are snapped, as in many sports injuries, the metal plates are required to hold them together.

Question 3

How Do Orthopedic Injuries Happen?

Accepted Answer

As the bones’ role in the body is to provide support, they must be strong enough to take the body’s weight. However, any accident that inflicts enough force could easily result in a serious orthopedic injury. Some of the more common causes of these injuries include:

After your arm has been shattered or your knee wrenched out of joint, you are in a dire financial situation. Broken bones can require surgery and leave someone out of a job for weeks on end. Few can afford to drop work due to an injury. But if your orthopedic injury was caused by someone else’s negligence, you don’t have to bear the financial weight on your own.

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