Navicular Fracture Treatment | Navicular Bone Fracture Surgery

The bones are essential to the body because they lend protection, support, and ability to move. Thus, they make sitting, running, walking, and almost any action possible. These movements might be seen as trivial when one can still do them. However, actions will be viewed in a different way when one is already inhibited in movement. Walking would be missed deeply when a person is already immobilized by injury. There are several ways by which a fracture injury can happen. The foot is prone to bone fracture because it is used in basically every move that a person has to make. There are hundreds of bones in the body which are vulnerable to fractures every time a person falls or get into a vehicular accident or just about any accident that will make a high force impact any part of the body. These bones need calcium phosphate to be strong against external forces. However, some impacts are too strong to be resisted by these bone structures. Some diseases would even result to the depletion of the supply of calcium phosphate in the bones, which also collect other minerals for the rest of the body. Weakened bones do not need too much force to break them and hence make them fractured bones.

In adults, there are 206 bones in the body, a decrease in number from 270 bones that are found in infants. There are certain fractures that target mostly infants, children, adults or elderly adults. This is based on the causes of the fracture. There are also certain groups of people that are prone to particular types of fractures. For instance, Monteggia fracture is more common among children and adolescents. This is a fracture of arm that usually happens when someone attempts to break a fall due to with an outstretched arm. In the case of Maisonneuve ankle fracture, the foot will be affected. It will be temporarily immobilized in order for the proper Maisonneuve fracture treatment to happen. If the broken bone happens to be nondisplaced fracture, this will help reduce the risk of having deformed bones. Bone deformity happens when a fractured arm, leg, foot, or any bone of the body is completely broken or displaced. When it is not treated well and rehabilitation is not even done properly, a deformed is likely to be obtained by the patient. It would take a lot of medical effort to put back a bone into good shape. Even if the patient would have liked to know how to heal a fracture quickly, this would prove impossible if the surgeon who is consulted is not an orthopedist or specialist on bone problems and other defects.

Navicular Bone Defined

This bone is found on top of the calceneus bone, which is a major heel bone in the ankle that is on the back part of the foot. This is the bone that has its length up to the middle of the foot with its base near the calceneus bone. From that base, it can be traced upwards. A navicular fracture is usually caused by stress, which is when the muscles on the foot would pass on the stress to the bone. Navicular stress fracture should be consulted with the doctor to know the answers to the question about how to treat navicular fracture quick. Aside from a fractured navicular bone on the foot, there is also a navicular fracture wrist. If you used your hand in doing repetitive activities, such as typing, this can lead to wrist sprain.

Risk Factors

Navicular avulsion fracture and other types of navicular fracture have increased probability of happening when a person is exposed to certain risk factors. These risks are in the same level as fracture complications that patients also need to face while they are on surgery and when they are trying to recover from their injury. These risk factors to a foot or wrist fracture would include:

• trauma
• being an adolescent
• osteoporosis and other diseases that damage the bone
• high impact sports
• military recruits
• absent or abnormal menstrual cycles

Symptoms

Pain can be felt by the injured person, particularly midway along the upper part of the foot. This is because the navicular bone fracture is found in this area. When this is continually used in moving and walking, the intensity of the pain will only make things worse. When the patient rests the foot, that pain from a fractured navicular will be reduced to a dull or vague pain that will begin to fade away. However, a simple foot activity will just invite the pain back in. This is one of the fracture symptoms that are also present in the other classification of fractures. The pain can be felt as well when the broken navicular bones are touched. Medicines for pain relief are necessary in order to make the patient feel more comfortable even if pain is endured. In navicular fracture foot, swelling and tenderness can be felt on the area of the injury. Altered gait is another sign of the occurrence of a navicular bone fracture. These are the navicular stress fracture symptoms that should be carefully taken note of so that immediate medical attention can be sought when they surface after navicular injury.

Causes

The most common cause of tarsal navicular fracture would be repetitive strain that causes stress fracture. When the muscles on the foot that is abused in use lost their shock resistance against repeated impact on the ground, they would pass the stress on to the bones. This would result to navicular fractures or cracks on the bone. Repetitive strain would take its toll on the affected bone on the overused foot. This kind navicular fractures is usually felt by athletes who play tennis, gymnastics, football, and basketball because they use their feet for long hours of practice. Some tips on prevention would be proper warm up and stretching exercises. Another cause of this particular navicular disease would be a single strong blow from an incident, such a as a hard collision, a fall, or a wrong landing that caused a major twisting of the foot and the ankle. Sprinters, jumpers, and hurdlers are the athletes that are prone to scaphoid navicular fracture due to foot and ankle twisting incidents. Certain medical conditions can also lead to a fractured navicular bone, such as osteoporosis.

Diagnosis

X-ray is necessary for fracture diagnosis. This will help the doctor see the fracture more clearly to determine the right navicular fracture treatment to recommend. With carpal navicular fracture, or any other types of fracture, the MRI scan and CT scan are also necessary to get more images of the structures of the bone inside the body. A wrong way to treat navicular fracture will only make the fracture healing time even longer. This is not good because even if rehabilitation is done but the bones are not properly put together, some side effects will still happen.

Treatment

There are two types of navicular fracture treatment – nonsurgical and surgical procedures. The nonsurgical method for treating carpal navicular fracture would include the use of a fracture cast. This also goes the same for the treatment of navicular wrist fracture. To keep the injured parts immobile, crutches will be used in walking. A rehab program will likely be recommended by the doctor once the cast or brace is removed. Emedicine that can be purchased online can be taken for anti-inflammatory purposes as well.

Navicular fracture surgery is another option for treating the injury. This will help realign the bone to make the navicular fracture treatment complete. In realignment, metal plate and screws will be used to immobilize the fracture. A cast will be worn for support after the fracture surgery. The navicular fracture recovery time would take a few weeks.

Prevention

Navicular sprain or injury can be prevented by wearing comfortable and supportive shoes when doing certain activities. Eat a healthy diet that has lots of vitamin D and calcium for stronger bones. Balancing and weight bearing exercises can be done as well to avoid lots of falling incidences and to strengthen the muscles, respectively.