Swelling Of A Leg After A Fracture - Causes Of Edema, How To Remove It?

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-07 17:49

Swelling of the leg after a fracture

Edema is the accumulation of some fluid in the soft tissues of the body. Often, after a leg fracture, you can notice the appearance of swelling of the injured limb. This is due to the fact that the blood flow to this part of the body has been disrupted. Swelling most often occurs only with a leg injury. It can appear both immediately after receiving the primary injury, or develop after a significant period of time, despite the fact that all traces of the resulting fracture have healed long ago.

Usually, swelling resulting from a leg injury is long-term and does not go away. Often the cause of such consequences of an injury, in addition to poor blood flow, is damage or violation of the integrity of muscle tissue, muscles or ligaments, a violation of their normal functioning.

When swelling of the injured leg appears, the patient most often experiences severe aching pain at the fracture site. You can also notice a change in the color of the skin in this place. If the leg fracture was open, comminuted, displaced, or intra-articular, then the edema can cover not only the injured part of the limb, but all of it.

Sometimes patients with such injuries can lose the sensitivity of the skin at the site of the fracture, experience constant pain in this place, and the person's motor activity is often reduced. It is because of this that complications can develop and controversial situations arise among traumatologists when examining and prescribing treatment.

Content:

• Causes of edema after a broken leg
• How to relieve leg swelling after a fracture?
• Folk remedies

Causes of edema after a broken leg

Often there are cases when, after the application of plaster by medical workers, the bones heal well, and after removing the bandage, the skin and tissues remain without visible damage, however, after a certain period of time, during the rehabilitation of the patient, swelling of the previously injured limb occurs.

Such problems are generally considered lymphatic, which gave them the name "lymphostasis".

Lymphatic edema occurs as a result of disruption of the production and outflow of lymph. And as a result of a fracture, not only bones can be damaged, but also nearby tissues, blood vessels, muscles, ligaments, nerves, lymph nodes and more. As a result of the appearance of lymphostasis, complications can occur, which manifest themselves in the form of elephantiasis, cystosis, ulcers, fibrosis, and others. There are cases when, with tissue edema, not only its compaction occurs, but also in the place where the injury is received, thickening of the skin also occurs.

If the integrity of the ligaments is violated, movements in the joints are limited, or vice versa, excessive mobility appears in them. Because of this, the joints swell more, which is the cause of the growth of bone tissue and the development of the "ivory" disease.

If any symptoms of leg swelling appear after a fracture, you should immediately consult a doctor, ignoring them entails far from the most pleasant consequences.

How to relieve leg swelling after a fracture?

Modern drugs or procedures prescribed by a doctor may well relieve leg swelling after a serious injury. There are several methods of eliminating swelling of the extremities: folk, traditional and alternative.

Traditional methods include the use of various gels, creams and ointments that improve lymph flow, as well as blood flow. To apply this method of treatment, drugs containing heparin, anti-inflammatory substances and topical ketoprofen drugs are used.

In addition to drugs that are used only externally, various physiological procedures are also used, such as UV irradiation, electrophoresis, electrical stimulation, and so on. However, it should always be remembered that traditional methods of treatment do not always give the patient the opportunity to see the result in a short period of time.

Here are some examples of what a doctor can prescribe to relieve leg swelling after a fracture:

• Ketoprofen or ichthyol ointment, they have a warming effect, improve blood flow and lymph outflow. They should be applied no more than 2-3 times during the day, gently rubbing into the skin area until completely absorbed;

• Hydromassage or even a regular massage will also promote better blood supply to damaged tissues and improve lymph production and outflow. You can entrust the massage to a specialist, however, if you wish, you can do it yourself at home after you have been advised by an experienced massage therapist;
• Muscle electrical stimulation also has a beneficial effect on tissue and muscle after injury;
• Electrophoresis;
• UV irradiation of the fracture site;
• Phonophoresis.

On the subject: What to do if your legs are swollen?

Folk remedies

If traditional methods of treatment do not help, then it is worth turning to already proven traditional medicine. This will give faster results.

Treatment with this method involves rubbing a variety of special oils into the place where the fracture was received. Fir, cedar and other oils that have a warming effect and tissue regeneration can be used as oils for rubbing in. Compresses are also used using special clay or tinctures (some of them can be taken orally).

Here are some examples of alternative treatments that are most effective in relieving edema after a fracture of the lower extremities:

• Blue clay is used. A small cake is made from it, which should completely cover the damaged area. And it is applied to the injury site for 40-60 minutes. Such a compress is allowed to be done 2-3 times a day;
• Fir oil is carefully rubbed into the skin, where tissue edema is observed. The procedure should be done immediately after sleep and before it. This is the most commonly used and most effective recipe;
• Arnica infusion. A few tablespoons of the crushed plant are poured with boiling water, about 30 g of arnica are taken for 1 liter of liquid. They insist everything for about 60 minutes, filter through several layers of gauze. The resulting infusion is used for lotions and compresses, which are applied for 1/4 hour shortly before bedtime.

Author of the article: Lebedev Andrey Sergeevich | Urologist

Education: Diploma in the specialty "Andrology" received after completing residency at the Department of Endoscopic Urology of the Russian Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education in the urological center of the Central Clinical Hospital No. 1 of JSC Russian Railways (2007). Postgraduate studies were completed here by 2010.