Leg Fracture - Symptoms, Swelling And Treatment Of Open And Closed Leg Fractures. How To Develop A Leg?

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 21:43

Symptoms, swelling and treatment of a broken leg

Content:

• What is a broken leg?
• Leg fracture symptoms
• Swelling of the leg after a fracture
• Types of leg fractures
• How to develop a leg after a fracture?
• Leg fracture treatment

What is a broken leg?

A leg fracture is an injury to one or more bones of the lower limb, with a violation of their integrity. Such injuries are very common, their prevalence among the total mass of fractures is 45%.

The reasons are:

• First of all, trauma is the result of careless movement on the street or around the house.
• The second most common cause of damage to the lower extremities is road traffic accidents and falls from a height.
• Industrial accidents and criminal incidents remain in third place.
• The cause can also be diseases that a person already has, and a fracture can occur as a result of even a slight load on the limb. For example, people with osteoporosis are at increased risk of injury.

The risk of injury increases in the following category of people: in athletes, due to their professional activities, in children, due to their high mobility and carelessness, in pensioners, due to age-related changes in the structure of bones.

Leg fracture symptoms

The severity of symptoms will depend on the nature of the injury and its severity.

The most common signs include:

• Feeling of pain. If the leg is immobilized, then it is dull and aching. When you try to move a limb or lean on it, the pain becomes sharp, throbbing.
• Limb mobility is limited.
• After a short time, edema and hematoma will appear near the injury site.
• Crepitation, which occurs due to the friction of fragments against each other.
• Crunch that occurs immediately at the time of damage.
• Sometimes the leg is mobile where there are no joints. But this symptom may not manifest itself. More often it is observed with trauma to the tubular bones.
• If the fracture is open, then the bone will be visible, which has broken through the soft tissues, muscles and skin.
• If there is a displacement of the bones, then it will be possible to feel the bone fragments.
• Unnatural position of the leg.

• Shortening of the limb due to the muscles "pulled up" to the site of the tragedy.
• If the patella is broken, then the swelling is formed almost instantly, it will be impossible to bend and straighten the leg. At the same time, if the fragments did not disperse, more than half a centimeter, then the function of support on the leg will not be lost.
• If the foot is injured, then it will not be possible to stand on the leg, puffiness will appear, but, as a rule, it is not as pronounced as in the patella area.

Swelling of the leg after a fracture

Swelling after a leg injury is quite natural. Sometimes the swelling occurs immediately, sometimes over time, but there are no fractures without edema. Its formation occurs due to the fact that the normal blood flow in the injured area is sharply disrupted.

Sometimes the swelling does not go away for a long time period, it can be accompanied by painful sensations. Often, this prolonged swelling is caused by injury to the ligaments, muscle tissue, and tendons.

Edema may persist even when the cast has already been removed and the bone has been completely fusion. This is often due to stagnation of lymph, so this phenomenon is called lymphostasis. This is a rather serious complication that can lead to the development of a number of diseases: tissue fibrosis, cysts, and ulcers. If the patient has noticed a persistent edema for a long time, then it is necessary to consult a doctor.

Modern methods of treatment, with the use of various drugs and with a variety of procedures, perfectly help to get rid of congestion in the limb. UV irradiation, hydro massage, electrical muscle stimulation, phonophoresis and electrophoresis will help.

Types of leg fractures

There is no single classification, since there are certain indicators on which this or that type of fracture depends.

Therefore, depending on the severity of the injury, the following injuries are distinguished:

• Complete and incomplete fractures. In this case, complete ones are with displacement of fragments and without displacement.
• Open injuries of the lower limb. They are characterized by damage to the skin, with the release of the bone into the external environment.
• Closed leg injuries. They are localized inside soft tissues.
• With complications in the form of fat embolism, infection, traumatic shock or trauma to other organs.
• Uncomplicated, proceeding relatively easily.

Depending on the location of the injury, one can distinguish:

• Injuries to the femoral bone, which include proximal end injuries, diaphyseal fractures, and fractures of the femoral condyles. The latter are called fracture of the distal end of the bone.
• Injuries to the lower leg, which include injuries to the condyles of the tibial bone, distal injuries, with a fracture of both bones of the lower leg and injuries of the ankles.
• Damage to the foot, while the tarsus, metatarsal bones and phalanges of the fingers are affected.

From what features the fracture line has, the following injuries are distinguished:

• If the line is located transversely to the bone - transverse fractures.
• If the line is at an angle to the bone - oblique fractures.
• If the line runs along the bone - longitudinal fractures.
• If the line goes in a spiral - helical fractures.

When fractures are with fragments, then they can be classified as follows:

• Detachable trauma, we are talking about it in the case when a fragment of a small size departs from the bone.
• Polyfocal injury - two or more large fragments came off the bone.
• Impact trauma. In this case, the entry of one fragment into another is meant.
• Shrapnel trauma, with fragments.
• Crushed injury, when there are many fragments and they are small.
• Compression injury occurs as a result of compression of the limb.

Closed leg fracture

A closed fracture can be either with displacement of fragments or without displacement. It is much easier to determine the latter than the first, because if there was a movement of the fragments, then most often this is evident from the non-standard shape of the leg, which has a deformation.

Symptoms of closed fractures are sometimes similar to those of severe bruises, but the following signs will help to suspect a fracture:

• Severe leg deformity has occurred.
• During palpation, a crunch is heard, even without using an additional device.
• The bone is mobile where the joint is missing.

The final diagnosis will be made only by a doctor, after an X-ray examination. Moreover, each person needs to have certain knowledge of how to help a victim with a closed fracture. He needs to be given an anesthetic, then fix his leg. This can be done correctly even without the presence of specialized tires at hand, for example, Kramer or Dieterichs. It is enough to find a stick, umbrella, thick cardboard or other means suitable in length and strength and tie it to your leg. The fixation should be firm and secure, but not tight. After taking this kind of measures, the victim should be taken to the hospital.

Open leg fracture

An open injury is always much more dangerous than a closed one. It is accompanied by serious damage not only to bones, but also to tissues. It is not difficult to distinguish an open fracture. Indeed, in addition to constant companions in the form of swelling, hemorrhage and pain, a bright sign is added - the bone will show through.

Such an injury requires immediate treatment, because it can even lead to death. An important point is the provision of competent first aid. First you need to try to reduce the suffering of the patient, for this he needs to be given any pain reliever available. Then the leg must be immobilized. For this, use a long and stiff stick or board. The fixation must be secure so that the bone does not move during transportation. For fastening, it is highly desirable to use, if not sterile, then at least just clean material so as not to infect the wound. It should be treated around with any antiseptic. The bone cannot be set on its own - this is the prerogative of professionals.

Bleeding is a constant companion of open trauma. If it is arterial, when the blood has a bright scarlet color and comes out intensively, then a tight tourniquet must be applied over the damaged artery. When the bleeding is venous, it can be limited to the usual overtightening with a bandage, which should be located below the damaged area. The venous blood is darker, and the stream does not pulsate. After that. Once all relief activities have been completed, the injured person should seek qualified assistance.

How to develop a leg after a fracture?

After getting injured, undergoing treatment and removing the cast, the leg often refuses to function normally. Therefore, it is necessary to perform certain activities aimed at its development.

She pursues such goals as:

• Help eliminate muscle atrophy, start recovery processes in damaged and altered vessels.
• Help your joints work better, become more mobile.
• Reduce or completely eliminate puffiness.
• Restore muscle tone and former elasticity.
• Resume driving.

The rehabilitation program in each case is compiled individually, but it necessarily includes a set of exercises, diet, a visit to the massage room and water treatments, for example, baths with additives.

Exercises after a broken leg

As simple exercises aimed at restoring limbs, you can choose the following:

• Sitting on a chair, you need to rotate your leg in a circle. Movements should be carried out in both the knee and the ankle joint. You can start practicing after a week after removing the plaster.
• The simplest thing to do is to increase your walking time. Hiking will help not only develop a limb, but also saturate the body with oxygen.
• Leg swings, for this you need to find support for yourself. The back of a chair or just a wall will do. You need to repeat at least 10 times.
• Raising to toes followed by rolling onto the heels.
• In the prone position, cross swings with raised legs. Limbs should not be raised too high.

These exercises must be performed regularly, and within a month the person will feel a significant improvement. The leg will become obedient, capable of taking even greater loads. Therefore, you can start exercising in the gym. Spin the bicycle pedals, for a start it is shown no more than 10 minutes. As the muscles strengthen, the duration of the exercise can be increased.

Leg fracture treatment

Treatment measures include several sequential stages. After the patient is taken to the hospital and the doctor makes an accurate diagnosis, you can start therapy. The course of further medical actions depends on how complex the injury is. Perhaps a plaster cast will be immediately applied, and it is possible that first a surgical intervention is required, with the implantation of metal structures.

No drug therapy is performed. The patient receives painkillers during the main manipulations. Sometimes it is shown taking calcium supplements to accelerate the healing of the leg bones.

Modern methods of therapy are reduced to:

• Closed reduction of bones.
• Osteosynthesis with minimal incisions.
• Plaster cast.

Further activities will already be aimed at restoring leg function and accelerating the processes of bone fusion.

On the subject: 12 popular ways for home treatment

How long does it take to wear a cast?

Plaster cast after a leg fracture is applied in almost 100% of cases.

The timing of wearing it varies and depends on the severity and location of the injury:

• If the ankle was broken, but there was no displacement, then the cast will have to be worn from 3.5 to 7 weeks. The term will be longer if the inner part of the ankle suffers. If there is a displacement, then up to 3 months can be spent in the cast. When the tibia is included in the fracture, the leg will be immobilized for almost 4 months.
• If the lower leg was broken, but there was no displacement, then the plaster cast will remain on the victim for 3 months. If there is displacement, then you can be in a state of immobility for a month more.
• When the foot is fractured without displacement, the cast will be applied for 1.5 months, if there is a displacement of 12 weeks.
• The phalanges of the fingers heal faster than the rest of the bones of the leg, so they will be plastered for about 2 weeks.

These terms are very conditional and can vary with a deviation upward or downward.

Author of the article: Kaplan Alexander Sergeevich | Orthopedist

Education: diploma in the specialty "General Medicine" received in 2009 at the Medical Academy. I. M. Sechenov. In 2012 completed postgraduate studies in Traumatology and Orthopedics at the City Clinical Hospital named after Botkin at the Department of Traumatology, Orthopedics and Disaster Surgery.