Avulsions or Broken Bones

General or Other | Orthopaedics | Avulsions or Broken Bones (Disease)


Description

An avulsion fracture is a bone fracture arising as a result of physical trauma, when a fragment of bone tears away from the main mass of bone.

Causes and Risk factors

An avulsion can appear at the ligament caused by application forces external to the body such as a fall or pull or at the tendon because of a muscular contraction that is stronger than the forces holding the bone together.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Conservative treatment includes resting and icing the affected area, then doing controlled exercises to stretch the tendon and promote bone healing. This is usually all thats needed for an avulsion fracture to heal.

If the bone fragment and main bone are too far apart to fuse naturally, surgery may be necessary to reunite them, particularly for hamstring avulsion fractures. Surgery also may be necessary later to remove the painful, fibrous tissue (soft tissue union) that sometimes forms around unhealed fractures. In children, avulsion fractures that occur on a growth plate also may require surgery. s described previously, avulsion fractures in children usually occur in the area of a growth plate.

Because growth plates are important for normal skeletal development, these injuries must be carefully treated. If there is concern that a growth plate is not correctly positioned, surgery may be performed to align and stabilize the growth plate. ...