Everything Related to Orthopedics
Posts tagged childhood injuries
Avoid the Hospital This Summer
0284 days
Summer is a time when you want to spend all of your time outside by pool, grilling, on the beach and doing all the other fun “summer” things. What you don’t want to spend time doing is taking your kids to the hospital because of an injury. With all of the outdoor, physical activities that go on during the summer months, pediatric injuries increase dramatically.
One of the most common injuries during the summer comes from falls. Whether kids are jumping on a trampoline or playing on the playground, hospitals see a lot of kids come in with broken bones and deep cuts from falling. To avoid a trip to the hospital, make sure there is supervision while kids are on a trampoline or playground. Also, try to find a playground that has mulch or rubber tire instead of just blacktop. This can go a long way in avoiding serious injury from a fall.
Another frequent cause of injury for kids comes from riding their bicycle. During summer vacation kids tend to spend a lot of time outside on their bikes. While this is a great form of exercise, it is important to take some safety precautions to avoid serious injury. Most injuries from bicycles are to the arms and legs but the most serious are to the head. When your kids take their bikes out make sure they always wear a helmet. Also be sure that your kids know the proper hand signals and always walk their bikes across busy streets or intersections.
While the weather is hot, a lot of people will spend time by the pool or at the beach. Near-drownings become a serious problem during the summer. Many people may not realize that a person can drown in mere inches of water. To avoid injury, or even worse – death, it is important that parents always supervise their kids while they are in the water. A strong recommendation that could possibly save a child’s life is for all parents to become CPR certified. Also, be sure that children wear proper flotation devices while enjoying the water. A few steps in safety can go a long way in making sure you have a fun, injury free summer!
Fracture Forum – Part 4 of 5
0674 days
Another type of fracture, and often times a very serious one, is an impacted fracture. An impacted fracture occurs when one end of a bone is driven into the end of another bone. These fractures are also known as buckle fractures and are most common in children, mainly in the arms. Children are more susceptible to impacted fractures because they are more prone to falling and other impact-type accidents. An intense collision with something harder than the bone is necessary to cause this type of fracture.
When an impacted fracture occurs, the most obvious symptom is pain. This type of fracture is very painful, often excruciating. Depending on the severity of the fracture, the patient may not even be able to move the affected limb. There is also swelling and bruising, like with other types of fractures. Sometimes, with an impacted fracture you can hear a cracking in the bone which could cause the patient to become nauseous or dizzy, so careful attention needs to be paid to someone with this type of injury.
A visit to the hospital is needed immediately with this type of fracture. An x-ray will be able to determine the severity of the fracture and how many fragments may be floating about. If there are not too many fragments around the fracture site, the doctor may simply cast the bone to prevent movement of the sharp ends and promote healing. If the fracture contains too many fragments, more serious treatment may be necessary. Sometimes, surgery is the necessary course of action for an impacted fracture. In a case where the bone has fragmented into many pieces, surgical plates, screws and/or rods can be implanted in order to correct the broken bone and ensure that it heals properly. A fracture of this severity takes a long time to heal, especially if surgery is needed. Even after the cast is removed, limited usage and movement is required to ensure full healing of the bone.
