Treatment of a fracture consists in comparing bone fragments and immobilization( ensuring immobility) of the bone in at least two adjacent joints. Immobilization is carried out by imposing gypsum on the injured limb.
There are 27 bones in the brush. The most common of these are wrist bones( semilunar and navicular), falling on the wrist or hitting it.
Immobilization lasts from several weeks to several months, depending on the type and location of the fracture. Usually, after 10 days, the bone fragments are "softly" connected to each other, after 30 days - a callus is formed, and only after 90 days the bone is fully healed and organized.
With prolonged immobility of the joint, a number of adverse events occur in the limb.
- Joints are needed for the limb to move. If the limb does not move, then the joints are not needed. So our body thinks, and he is right. With long limb immobility in the joints, changes can occur and the volume of movements in them may decrease up to the ankylosis ( fusion of the joint ends and complete immobility of the joint).
- Muscles with prolonged immobilization are atrophied, their tone is reduced .Reduced blood supply to muscle tissue, their volume and strength.
Therefore, during immobilization and after the removal of gypsum, it is necessary to start rehabilitation measures in order to restore the limbs to all of its lost functions and strength.
Rehabilitation after a fracture of the brush
Rehabilitation of the brush after a fracture must begin before the removal of the plaster bandage. These measures will allow:
- to reduce the puffiness of the brush
- to improve the metabolic( trophic) processes in it
- to strengthen the regeneration processes
- to reduce the possibility of contractions( decrease in the amplitude in the joints)
- will reduce the severity of the inflammatory reaction in the damaged zone
Rehabilitation gymnastics before the castingin itself the following exercises:
- If it is possible to make movements with your fingers, then you can make the bending and unbending are not fixedfingers in a fist.
- Sequential joining of the thumb with the rest in the ring
- Flexion and extension of the fingers in all possible joints.
- Flexion of the nail phalanx of each finger, while fixing the rest of the phalanx of this finger with the help of a healthy arm.
Also. During immobilization, the following physiotherapeutic procedures are possible:
- Ultraviolet irradiation above the fracture site
- Ultrasonic irradiation of the fracture site 2 weeks after injury.
After the removal of the cast bandage
After the removal of the bandage, the rehabilitation of the hand can be continued with:
- Manual therapy
- Acupuncture
- Physiotherapy
Manual therapy
Manual therapy is performed by a massage therapist who works all the joints in the hand, kneads the muscles .As a result, the blood flow is restored in the tissues of the hand, the muscles get the necessary innervation, the joints - movement. Manual therapy is carried out for several days.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture consists in influencing certain richly innervated points with special needles. As a result of reflex effects, the hand gets the necessary innervation, blood flow improves, trophic processes improve, muscle tone rises.
Therapeutic physical training
Therapeutic physical training helps:
- To remove puffiness from the affected limb to improve regeneration processes
- To restore the lost amplitude of movements in the joints of the hand
- Strengthen the muscular-ligament apparatus of the brush
Some exercises in the cyst may occasionally cause mild tenderness. This is normal and will eventually pass. But if there is acute unbearable pain, then such exercises must be stopped immediately.
Therapeutic physical training after removal of the plaster bandage includes two stages:
- Stretching muscles and ligaments with the help of an instructor or independently with the help of a healthy hand or special devices.
- Strengthening of muscles and ligaments with the help of exercises and special simulators.
The first stage. Stretching muscles and ligaments.
The stretching time should be about one month. For example, we can suggest the following scheme of exercises :
- Soft massage of the patient's entire brush.
- Performing circular movements with the patient's brush
- Performing back flexions with the patient's brush
- Performing back extensions with the patient's brush
- Performing alternate flexing of the fingers with pressure.
- Instead of an instructor, you can use your own healthy hand.
The second stage. Strengthening of muscles and ligaments.
The second stage lasts until the functions and strength of the affected brush are fully restored. For this, the following set of exercises is proposed:
- Performing dilutions and finger information
- Compression of the hand into the fist
- Flexion and extension of the wrist in the wrist joint
- Performing the dilutions and finger information
- Performing right and left inclinations with the
- brush Circular movements with the
brush Physiotherapy is also possible withusing special wrist training machines - expanders. When using expanders, the load is created on the joints, muscles and bones. Since the density, and, consequently, the strength of bone tissue is caused by the load on the bone, this technique also strengthens the fracture site.
Recently, there were special simulators that develop all the muscles of the hands. These are the simulators "Powerball" .It looks like a simulator like a plastic ball, inside of which there is a rotating inertial element. When the latter is untwisted, an eccentric load is transferred to the plastic ball. It is necessary to make efforts to hold such a rotating simulator in the hand.
During the second stage, heated paraffin or mud applications, common baths with iodine bromide, sea salt, sage, turpentine and other substances can be used.
Video: LFK after a fracture of the hand
Fracture of the hand bones is not a rare phenomenon, and many people have experienced it on their own.
