What Are the Treatments for Partial Bone Fractures?

Partial bone fracture treatments vary with a patient's age and the presence of bone weakening diseases. Healing and recovery may take a few weeks or several months, depending on the partial fracture's location.

Types

• Stress fractures are small cracks in bones caused by overuse, disease or osteoporosis. They occur in the load-bearing limbs, spines and feet of adults.

  Children have softer, smaller bones that bend and splinter, like green twigs (greenstick fractures). Greenstick fractures heal quickly.

Immobilization

• Doctors immobilize partial fractures of the limbs, feet and hands with casts or splints.

  Rest, with or without a back brace, stabilizes stress fractures of the spine. Doctors may admit elderly adults who have stress fractures to a hospital or a nursing home to prevent further injury while they heal.

Surgery

• Surgically installing pins or metal plates stabilizes partial breaks if poor circulation, metabolic disorders or osteoporosis slow recovery.

  The doctor performs joint replacement surgery (arthroplasty) in older patients when a partial fracture involves the hip joint or the femur.

Physical Therapy

• Prescribed exercises begin while a cast or splint is in place, reducing muscle wasting. Stretching and strengthening exercises begin after cast or splint removal. Doctors allow a return to regular activities as muscle strength and stamina improves.

Warning

• According to the Merck Medical Library, fractures can injure nerves, veins and arteries. Debris from long bone fractures can block blood vessels or lodge in the lungs.