What are the fracture healing periods?

It is said that it takes a hundred days to heal a broken bone. In fact, there is some truth to this, because if there is a fracture, it takes a certain amount of time to recover. Moreover, it is divided into different stages according to the patient's recovery situation. The patient's physical manifestations will also be different in different stages. If you want to know more about this, you might as well learn about the fracture healing period here.

1. Impact period

The time from the moment the force is applied to the moment the energy is eliminated is short. The degree of injury to bones and surrounding soft tissues is closely related to the amount of energy absorbed. The higher the energy and the higher the speed of injury, the more severe the fracture.

(II) Induction period

The main manifestations are hematoma formation, necrosis of bone cells at the fracture ends, damaged periosteum and surrounding cells.

(III) Inflammatory phase

It begins early after injury and continues until chondrocytes and osteocytes appear. The local inflammatory response is manifested by vasodilation, plasma exudation, edema and infiltration of inflammatory cells, including neutrophils, mast cells and macrophages, and osteoclasts begin to clear dead bone.

(IV) Soft callus stage

The hematoma has become organized, the fracture ends are filled with cellular components, and there are obvious new blood vessels. Osteoclasts continue to clear the remaining dead bone. New bone is formed under the periosteum near the fracture ends, and chondrocytes begin to appear in the gap between the fracture ends, replacing the fibrovascular stroma with cartilage-like tissue.

(V) Hard callus stage

After a fracture, the periosteum and endosteum near the broken ends begin to proliferate and thicken. There is also blood vessel invasion, and bone is formed by intramembranous ossification. On the other hand, between the fracture ends and under the lifted periosteum, most of the fibrovascular granulation tissue formed by the organization of the hematoma is transformed into cartilage, and bone is formed by endochondral ossification. Chondrocytes form bone through proliferation, hypertrophy, degeneration, and ossification. The cartilage-like components have been replaced by cells that stain strongly positive for alkaline phosphatase.

6. Shaping and Reconstruction Period

Regenerated bone is constantly remodeled according to mechanical principles and the needs of the human body. That is, osteoclasts are constantly absorbing and osteoblasts are forming new bone.

The above six are the fracture healing periods. Each stage represents a different situation of fracture recovery. At each stage, patients can choose food supplements and exercise methods according to their own conditions. For example, during the cartilage callus period, eat more calcium-rich foods to speed up the recovery of cartilage. These are things that patients need to pay attention to. Only by paying attention to every stage can the fracture recover as soon as possible.