LIFESTYLE NEWS - Exercise is one of the ways to improve your physical wellbeing and it aids in great measure to get rid of ailments, aches and pains. Follow the exercise programme provided by the biokineticists at Anine van der Westhuizen Biokineticist in George and feel the difference.
This week biokineticist Megan van Huyssteen continues the series on lower leg injuries.
Broken bones are no laughing matter. This week I'll be discussing fractures of the leg. The femur is a very strong bone and doesn't fracture that easily. The lower leg is made up of two bones, the tibia and fibula.
The tibia is the larger of the two bones. It supports most of your weight and is an important part of both the knee joint and ankle joint. The fibula bone is the smaller of the two leg bones.
Fractures vary greatly, depending on the force that causes the break. Fractures are often caused by some form of high-energy collision, such as a motor vehicle accident, sport injuries, typically caused by a twisting force, awkward landing, a fall, or a direct blow to the lower leg or ankle.
Signs and symptoms:
- Pain and swelling are the most common symptoms;
- Deformity or instability of the leg;
- Inability to bear weight on the injured leg;
- Bleeding and bruising in the leg;
- Visible deformity;
- Numbness and coldness in the foot;
- Tenderness to the touch.
The most common types of fractures include:
- Transverse fracture: the break is a straight horizontal line going across the bone shaft.
- Oblique fracture: has an angled line across the shaft.
- Spiral fracture: the fracture line encircles the shaft like the stripes on a candy cane. This type of fracture is caused by a twisting force.
- Comminuted fracture: the bone breaks into three or more pieces.
- Open fracture: if a bone breaks in such a way that bone fragments stick out through the skin or a wound penetrates down to the broken bone. Open fractures often involve much more damage to the surrounding muscles, tendons, and ligaments.
- Avulsion fracture: happens when a small chunk of bone that is attached to a tendon or ligament is pulled away from the main part of the bone.
- Torus fracture: also known as a buckle fracture, is an incomplete fracture of the shaft of a long bone that is characterised by bulging of the bone.
- Greenstick fracture: a fracture in a young, soft bone in which the bone bends and breaks.
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