fractured bone treatment

my name is uma srikumaran. i'm an orthopedic surgeon with johns hopkins and howard county general hospital. i specialize in shoulder surgery. a fracture involving a shoulder usuallyinvolves a significant trauma such as falling onto your outstretched arm or maybe being involved in a caraccident. these injuries are extremely painful and canlimit your function immediately after the injury and can be confirmed with an x-ray. if you're diagnosed with a fracture byan emergency room on an urgent care center,

you should see an orthopedic specialist as soon as possible so the appropriate treatment can bestarted in a timely fashion. some fractures may only require a slingand physical therapy while others may require surgical intervention. fractures can involve different portions ofthe shoulder. fractures can involve the proximal part of your arm or your proximal humerus or can involve the socket of the shoulder,called the glenoid. fractures can also vary in severity.some are simple breaks where the two bone pieces do not move relative toeach other - these are called

minimally displaced or non-displaced fractures. other fractures can be more severe and the bone can be broken into severalpieces. to ensure the best possible recoveryafter a shoulder fracture you should see an orthopedic specialist to be evaluated. they'll perform a physical examination andorder the necessary imaging studies to confirm the diagnosis and determine thefracture severity. after diagnosis has been made you canhave a discussion with your orthopedic surgeon

regarding treatment options and discuss the relative risks and benefitsof each approach. the surgical repair for a shoulderfracture involves an open surgery generally under general anesthesia, also with the nerve block. the surgery is an open surgery and is a ten to twelve centimeter incision in the front of your shoulder. the pieces ofbone are carefully realigned and fixed with a metal plate and screws.in some cases the fracture may be so severe or the bone quality so poor that

the metal fixation can not hold. in thesecases a metal prosthesis will be used to reconstruct the shoulder. recovery from surgery for a shoulder fracture involves a 1-2 day hospital admission followed byoutpatient physical therapy. depending on the type of surgery you've had,physical therapy will start with gentle range of motion exercises initiallyperformed by the therapist, or passive range of motion, followed by active range of motion exercisesperformed by the patient. when range of motion is restored, strengtheningexercises will begin.

this typically occurs after the bone hashealed in three to four months.