With age, the human body becomes weaker. Physical activity in a large volume can cause serious consequences, one of which is a fatigue fracture. Most often, these types of fractures occur in athletes. Due to strong tension and heavy loads, the body begins to get tired, and if proper rest is not given in time, microscopic cracks can form on the bones, which in medicine are called stress or fatigue fractures.
Healing of microcracks
Bones tend to regenerate. But when microtraumas are repeated regularly, the bone tissues do not have time to grow together, which subsequently becomes the cause of a fatigue fracture. In more cases, this type of fracture occurs in the bones, which have a large load. In rare cases, it is observed on the sacrum and hip bones.
Self-diagnosis of fractures
People whose activities are associated with high physical exertion often injure limbs. It is not difficult to determine whether it is a sprain or a fracture, but it is worth knowing how to do it correctly, because in a timely mannera correct diagnosis is the cause of rapid bone healing.
Main symptoms of a broken bone
- Severe pain.
- Appearance of puffiness in the damaged area.
- Deteriorating limb mobility.
- In some cases, you can hear a crunch when pressing on the damaged area.
A fracture should seek medical attention immediately. With stress fractures, it is more difficult to make a diagnosis on your own, since the integrity of the bone is only partially broken. In most cases, self-diagnosis is not possible.
Reasons
Any tissue of the human body is able to regenerate, but it takes a certain period of time. But since more athletes are accustomed to overload, and for them this is the norm, accordingly, they try not to notice minor damage (in their opinion). Constant overloads are accompanied by microtraumas that do not have time to heal, and subsequently fatigue fractures appear.
Most at risk:
- gymnasts;
- tennis players;
- dancers;
- runners.
Frequently, beginners and professional athletes with more experience face such fractures. In the first case, due to the overestimation of their physical capabilities, in the second - frequent competitions, a large number of training sessions and no time to rest.
Experienced coaches do not allow athletes to overload the body, realizing thattraining should be alternated with proper rest. But properly organized training is not a guarantee of safety. Injuries are often caused by improperly fitting shoes or poor coverage on the training ground.
Another stress fracture of the foot can be the result of a weakening of the bone tissue. Often this manifests itself as a consequence of other diseases, taking a large number of drugs for a long time, in professional athletes - as a side effect of heavy loads.
Symptoms
An in-development metatarsal stress fracture is difficult to detect even with fluoroscopy, as damage occurs first in the inner part of the bone tissue. The surface of the bone remains unchanged. In order to detect the presence of a fracture, it takes 4-5 weeks. You can identify the injury by the corresponding symptoms:
- sharp pain when pressing on the foot;
- hematoma in the area of injury;
- pain when trying to step on a limb;
- puffiness.
Complications
At the initial stage, the symptoms of injury are mild, but if timely treatment is not started, then the symptoms begin to manifest rapidly. For this reason, it is very important to start treatment when the symptoms are still mild and the therapy will take a short time. At the first manifestations of symptoms of a fatigue fracture of the metatarsal bone, it is necessary to undergo diagnostics in order to make a correct diagnosis and in order to avoid complications, to whichinclude:
- The musculo-ligamentous complex of the foot is weakening.
- Vaults are flattening.
- Depreciation properties decrease.
These complications cause an increase in the load on the spine and other parts of the musculoskeletal system.
Diagnosis
At the initial stage of development, a fatigue march fracture is difficult to determine even from an x-ray. The callus begins to form only two weeks after the injury, respectively, then you can see the injury in the picture. In a large number of cases, patients do not remember the day when pain appeared in the damaged area.
The most difficult thing is to identify a new fracture in the hip area. For accurate diagnosis, it is necessary to take an x-ray in different projections. For more accurate diagnosis, MRI and scintigraphy are recommended.
You can also do a test to make a correct diagnosis. Pain when squeezing the muscles of the hip joint indicates a fatigue fracture of the femur or neck. The presence of pain in the knee and hip joint when bending the leg may indicate the presence of a fracture in the sacrum.
Treatment
The main way to treat a stress fracture is to rest and rest the injured bone. If the symptoms that accompany this diagnosis are ignored, then there is a high probability of getting moreserious injury.
When the first symptoms appear, the following measures should be taken:
- ensure absolute rest of the injured limb;
- do ice packs.
After a stress fracture is diagnosed by specialists, treatment can be of 2 types: surgical or conservative. With traditional therapy, it is prescribed:
- Rest for the injured limb, respectively, you need to fix it in a fixed position until the crack heals.
- If doctors are allowed to walk, then you need to use orthopedic shoes or insoles, which significantly reduce the load on the damaged bone.
- When the crack is large, a plaster cast is being adjusted.
- Doctors often prescribe painkillers.
If surgery is necessary, then needles or plates are installed during the operation to fix the damaged area.
During the rehabilitation period, the patient is prescribed drugs with anti-inflammatory and healing effects, exercise therapy, physiotherapy, compresses and ointments with a warming effect. You can return to physical activity only after recovery. Their number per limb in the early days should be minimal and supervised by a specialist.
Preventive measures
In order to avoid the occurrence of fatigue and other fractures, you must always follow safety measures, properly plan loads, workouts and their duration. The key to preventing fatigue fractures isconstant monitoring of the number of loads, especially when a person begins to engage in a new sport. For example, if this is a run, then you should start with a distance of no more than 1 kilometer per day, then you can increase it to 3-5 km.
If we are talking about professional athletes, then in most cases their training should be combined and contain several different exercises. In this case, it is recommended to alternate the load, which is aimed at strengthening certain muscles. For example, on the first day, running, and the next day, you can replace cycling. Strength training works well with flexibility exercises such as yoga.
The appearance of a fatigue fracture is also greatly influenced by clothing. For this reason, experts strongly recommend buying quality items and shoes for sports. You should also always have elastic bandages and other useful items that can come in handy in case of damage to the limbs.
If during training or other power loads pain in the limbs or swelling appeared, then it is necessary to immediately stop the load. Contact a traumatologist for diagnosis. If a fatigue fracture has not been identified, then the training should nevertheless be postponed for 14 days, since the crack may not always be detected immediately. Then it is recommended to undergo a second examination and only afterto return to training, physical activity.
