Dr. Ben Wedro practices emergency medicine at Gundersen Clinic, a regional trauma center in La Crosse, Wisconsin. His background includes undergraduate and medical studies at the University of Alberta, a Family Practice internship at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and residency training in Emergency Medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.
Dr. Shiel received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame. There he was involved in research in radiation biology and received the Huisking Scholarship. After graduating from St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.
Bone fracture, broken bone, bone crack all mean he same thing. The bone has
been damaged such that. None of these terms indicate the severity of the bone
damage.
Bones are the body's storage place for calcium. Under hormone control,
calcium content of bone is constantly increasing or decreasing.
Bones break when they cannot withstand a force or trauma applied to them.
Sometimes the bones are so weak that force may be just gravity, such as compression
fractures of the back in the elderly.
Fracture descriptions help explain how the breakage appears. For examples,
whether or not the fragments are aligned (displaced fracture) and whether or not
there is skin overlying the injury is damaged (compound fracture).
Fractures may be complicated by damage to nearby blood vessels, nerves and
muscles and joints.
Fractures in children may be more difficult to diagnose because their bones
lack enough calcium to be seen on X-ray, and because growth plates in the bones
may disguise or hide the fracture.
Diagnosis of a fracture includes a history and physical examination. X-rays
are often taken. Occasionally, CT or
MRI
scans are ordered to find an occult or hidden
fracture, or provide more information regarding the damage to the bone and
adjacent tissues.
Fractures of the skull, spine and ribs have their own unique diagnosis and
treatment complications.
Introduction
and definition to bone fracture
Bones form the skeleton of the body and allow the body to be supported
against gravity to move and function in the world. Bones also protect some
body parts, and bone marrow is the production center for blood products.
Bone is not a stagnant organ. It is the body's reservoir of calcium and is
always undergoing change under the influence of hormones.
Parathyroid hormone
increases blood calcium levels by leeching calcium from bone, while
calcitonin
has the opposite effect, allowing bone to accept calcium from the blood.
Reviewed by William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR on 4/9/2013
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