The clinical situation
Background Information
The clinical situation involved a complete fracture of the femur bone, and was experienced by a family member. A fracture is a condition that alters the shape of contour of the bone. A complete fracture refers to a complete fracture of a bone, making it split into pieces (Mirhadi, Ashwood, & Karagkevrekis, 2013). The breaking of femur took too long to heal, and the patient faced difficulty in carrying out daily tasks as the bone is one of the main bones enabling one to walk. The fracture was caused by a severe car accident.
Signs and Symptoms
The signs and symptoms of the complete femur fracture include:
- Immediate, severe pain
- Swelling
- Tenderness
- Bruising
- Inability/difficulty to walk
- Obvious deformity
- The injured leg seems to be crooked
- The injured leg seem to be shorter than the normal leg
- The patient cannot put weight on the injured leg
Healing Duration and Process
The fracture took up to five months to heal, even though the patient was able to attend to some daily chores after three months. Besides, the first stage, which takes a few days, is fracture and inflammatory, where the edges of fractured bone bleed and hematoma is developed, and vascular permeability occurs due to inflammation. The second phase is granulation tissue formation in which fibroblasts are attracted to the fractured area and vascular tissue grows as oxygen and nutrients are supplied. This stage takes 14 days. The third stage is callus formation, in which chondroblasts and osteoblasts are formed, and cells produce extracellular organic network of woven bone and cartilage, generating mineralized bone within 15 weeks. The fourth stage is lamellar bone accumulation, which is the strengthening stage in which ossification is mineralized (Mirhadi, Ashwood, & Karagkevrekis, 2013). The fifth stage is remodeling in which callus is eventually replaced by compact bone. This lasts for several months, which lead to regeneration of the normal bone structure.
One Factor that Impair Bone Healing
One factor that impede bone healing process is age. Children’s bone recollects more rapidly. The level of the healing reduces as skeletal maturity approaches. Further, children have a considerable potential for bone remodeling and their bone will return to normal contour when it heals (Mirhadi, Ashwood, & Karagkevrekis, 2013). Consequently, older age is a factor that can impair bone fracture healing.