Osteoporosis Fracture Treatment | Osteoporosis Bone Surgery

Osteoporosis is always associated with women and old age. The reason for this is that when women are going through their menopausal stage, the degree of bone density decreases thus their bone structures tend to weaken as their ages advances. However, not all women develop osteoporosis because it depends largely on their lifestyle and health practices. The sad part of having osteoporosis is not having the condition itself but the complications the condition could bring to the person and one of these is osteoporosis fractures or better known as osteoporotic fractures.

The usual areas of fractures when someone has osteoporosis are the spine, the wrist, and the hip because the bones there are bearing the weight of our bodies and protecting our frames. However, every bone in the body can be prone to fracture including the shoulder, the pelvis and ribs. Men are not spared from developing osteoporosis so they are not 100 percent safe with osteoporotic fractures.

Types of Osteoporosis fractures

There are many different types of osteoporotic fractures depending on what part of the bone is affected. Here we will try to classify them according to which bone is affected.

• Femoral head fractures. These types of fractures are always associated with hip dislocations. Common among younger patients that encountered major trauma. These fractures are classified into two sub-types and these are:

Type 1– When one part of the bone is dislocated

Type 2 – When there is compound fracture on the bone

• Femoral neck fractures. This fracture is very common on older people but rare on young patients so it is considered secondary to osteoporosis. Bones that are most affected here are the femurial bones and other bones that are near it. Femoral neck fractures are delicate fractures because it can disrupt the flow of blood once there is a fracture on the neck of the femur. There are also different types that fall under this category.

Type 1 – this comes as a stress fracture or in severe case an incomplete fracture

Type 2 – this is an impacted fracture

Type 3 – not totally displaced fracture

Type 4 – a comminuted fracture or completely displaced fracture

• Trochanteric fractures. Most often, this type of fracture occurs due to avulsion fractures on the foot.

• Intertrochanteric fractures. These are types of extracapsular fractures that occur between the trochanters.

• Subtrochanteric fractures. These are fractures on the femur or thighbone and caused by high energy trauma and falls wherein the bones are already osteoporotic.

Diagnosis

Since the doctors know that the patient is osteoporotic by means of checking the medical history, the diagnosis will be conducted in two parts. First is the clinical diagnosis. The doctors will analyze the patient’s condition based from his symptoms. When the osteoporotic person still does not show any sign of fracture but there is a strong possibility he is suffering from a fracture the second option is the use of radiograph, which will show the real condition of the injury.  For more clarity, further examinations such as bone scintigraphy, MRI or CT scan could also be conducted.

Causes

Osteoporosis fractures are usually the result when the bones of the osteporotic person are put under stress. For hip fractures, almost all cases are the result of falls. The severity of the fracture is often influenced by the direction of the fall. Because people with osteoporosis are normally lacking in Vitamin D, they also have neuromascular impairment, which always put them at risk from falling. Osteoporosis spinal fractures are also common because the condition can also decrease the bone mass in the spine thus the interconnectivity in the internal scaffolding of the spine also decreases. When spine fracture happens, this can compress the vertebrae and the spinal cord is put in danger.

Osteoporosis Fracture Symptoms

People who have osteoporosis can have any kind of bone fractures, which are called osteoporotic fractures. However, the bones that are most likely to suffer are the vertebrae, which may collapse once there is even a slight injury to the spine. If there is numbness or paralysis in the lower part of the body then the spinal column is already showing its stress symptoms. Some of the symptoms that can manifest during osteoporosis fracture are the following:

• There would be sudden pain that will be felt particularly on the injured part

• The pain will become worse when the person tries to stand, move or walk depending on the area of the injury

• The fractured area can become tender.

• Abnormal curvature of the spine may result if there is a broken spine

Osteoporosis Fracture Treatment

When there is a fracture that is the result of osteoporosis, this must be treated immediately. Because the bone conditions of the osteoporotic people are not normal, sometimes replacement of some bones may be necessary than fixing it. This is especially true for osteoporosis hip fractures. For wrist fracture, this can still be put in cast and medications to eliminate pain. The crush resulting from an osteoporosis vertebral fracture can be supported by back braces. Medications such as Calcitonin and Miacalcin can minimize the pain that is caused by spine fractures.

In most cases, collapsed vertebrae can be repaired by a method called vertebroplasty. This procedure is very delicate as each collapsed vertebra will be cemented using acrylic bone cement. This special cement is called the polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA). This will be injected into the collapsed vertebrae to reduce deformity and relieve the pain. Sometimes Kyphoplasty will be used for deformed vertebrae and this method requires the use of orthopedic balloon to expand the back of the vertebra so that the spine can be pushed back to its natural shape and then PMMA will be used. With the use of kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty, deformed and collapsed vertebrae can now be corrected but there are also some risks involved. One of these is the risk of having rib fractures because of the pressure brought about by pushing the spine forward and there could be cement leakage, which can possibly damage the lungs or the heart.

Prevention

With osteoporosis fractures, prevention always outweighs treatment because it would be easier to prevent bone loss density than to bring back lost bone density. So the best prevention, whether osteoporotic or not, is to maintain our bone density by taking enough amounts of vitamin D and calcium for our bones. We also have to engage ourselves with weight-bearing exercises to strengthen our muscles so that our bones are well protected. Doctors can also recommend medications if calcium intake would not be enough for an osteoporotic person.

When to Call A Doctor

Remember that osteoporotic people always have a special case of bone condition so if you see someone who is suffering from osteoporosis and has suffered a fall and complaining of pain and cannot move, you should call the emergency hotline immediately.