A fracture results from damage to the bone as the result of an impact. While fractures have a simple definition, the consequences faced by a victim with a fractured bone can be varied and serious, depending on the victim’s age. The type of break also affects the consequences.
Types of breaks
• Complete: When a bone breaks into 2 parts
• Incomplete: A crack appears; there is no breakage.
• Compound: Part of the broken bone protrudes from skin.
• Closed: No wound to the skin
• Comminuted: Boney structure in body has splintered or cracked.
• Spiral: Twisting of the bone’s original shape.
Older people heal more slowly; that fact applies to all body parts, including the bones. Sometimes a fracture in an elderly victim pushes the doctors to use a surgical correction. Such a procedure may call for the introduction of metal rods or plates.
Concerns raised by utilization of a surgical treatment:
• Possibility of infection
• Loss of use of body part with broken bone
• Loss of strength in some body part
• Nerve damage
• Joint problems
• Anxiety or depression
Concerns raised during recovery from operation:
The patient must undergo physical therapy, in order to get the affected body part working again. If the patient has suffered a broken leg or a broken hip, the recovery must involve time spent exercising. That fact suggests the possibility of an added complication, if the recovering victim has a heart problem.
The victim’s lawyer should study the client’s medical history. If it contains mention of a heart problem, efforts must be made to monitor the heart during each exercise period. The physical therapist should make use of the latest mobile monitors.
At the same time, the client/patient should be cautioned against seeking to move rapidly. That can put a strain on the heart. On the other hand, the desire to move contrasts sharply with the way that some patients/victims object to leaving the bed.
Patients that remain in bed, do not recover fully. They never regain the ability to make the same movements that they did in the past. An effort should be made to place such a patient in a rehabilitation center where the staff members understand how to motivate a reluctant patient. Some patients do not appreciate the value in exercising. For instance, a woman that has always focused on feeding her family might think that eating healthful foods should allow her to recover. Someone needs to explain to such a individual that exercise forces the muscles to squeeze the blood vessels, thus pushing the nutrients through the body.
The assistance offered by family members can prove helpful. On the other hand, an insistence that the elderly patient should stay in bed can prove quite harmful. That is why personal injury lawyer in St. Albert stress on timely medical treatment for faster recovery.