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Recent News and Articles on the Keywords: hand fractures + hand + fractures  Related to the article below (Last Update: 8/4/2008)

TSN.ca Greene fractures hand, may be out for season San Diego Union Tribune, United States - Aug 1, 2008 SAN DIEGO ? As the Padres feared, shortstop Khalil Greene fractured his left hand on Wednesday night when he slammed a storage chest at Petco Park in ... NL inside pitch Arizona Daily Star PADRES NOTES: Greene not sure if he will return in '08 North County Times Padres place Greene on DL; Iguchi reinstated MadFriars.com all 115 news articles » Greene sent to storage; shortstop fractures bone in left hand Sports Network - Jul 31, 2008 ... a storage chest outside the home dugout during Wednesday's 7-3 loss to Arizona, resulting in a fracture of the fifth metacarpal bone on his left hand. ... Greene fractures hand, could miss season Rotoworld.com - Jul 31, 2008 Khalil Greene's return to the Padres this season is doubtful after he fractured his hand punching a storage chest on Wednesday night. ... SuperSport Paula Radcliffe en route as she aims to complete Mission Impossible Times Online, UK - Aug 3, 2008 She had expected an MRI scan to give her the all-clear after a niggling hip problem, but, instead, found she had suffered a low-grade stress fracture of her ... Sports scan - August 5, 2008 The Mercury (subscription) Olympics notes: Morgan Hamm cleared for Beijing Salt Lake Tribune all 707 news articles » 5 Things You Didn't Know About ... Carpal Tunnel Syndrome RedOrbit, TX - ... or fracture, hypothyroidism, rheumatoid arthritis and work stress. Many people have no identifiable causes. Treatment: In early stages, shaking the hand ... BYU football: Camp opens with Collie out Salt Lake Tribune, United States - Aug 3, 2008 ... his helmet in one hand and tossing a football with the other. As reported in Saturday's Salt Lake Tribune, Collie was diagnosed with a stress fracture ... San Diego Union Tribune Hundley already making life tougher for opposing base-stealers San Diego Union Tribune, United States - 58 minutes ago Five days after shortstop Khalil Greene's self-inflicted hand fracture, Padres CEO Sandy Alderson was asked if the club will try to avoid paying Greene's ... Opening statements made at deputy's wrongful death trial Ocala, FL - Hitchcock suffered skull fractures, brain damage, and lost his left eye. He died the following day. A medical examiner's report ruled that Hitchcock died ... Comparison of External and Percutaneous Pin Fixation with Plate ... Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (subscription) - Aug 1, 2008 Low-profile dorsal plating for dorsally angulated distal radius fractures: an outcomes study. J Hand Surg [Am]. 2006;31:1061-7.[CrossRef][Medline] Ruch DS, ... Comparison of External and Percutaneous Pin Fixation with Plate ... Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (subscription) all 2 news articles » Alphatec Holdings Inc. Q2 2008 Earnings Call Transcript Seeking Alpha, NY - OsseoFix can be implanted percutaneously to treat vertebral compression fractures. According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, ...ATEC

Hand Fractures

What Is a Fracture?

The hand is made up of many bones that form its supporting framework. This frame acts as a point of attachment for the muscles that make the wrist and fingers move. A fracture occurs when enough force is applied to a bone to break it. When this happens, there is pain, swelling and decreased use of the injured part. Many people think that a fracture is different from a break, but they are the same (see Figure 1). Fractures may be simple with the bone pieces aligned and stable. Other fractures are unstable and the bone fragments tend to displace or shift. Some fractures occur in the shaft (main body) of the bone, others break the joint surface. Comminuted fractures (bone is shattered into many pieces) usually occur from a high-energy force and are often unstable. An open (compound) fracture occurs when a bone fragment breaks through the skin. There is some risk of infection with compound fractures.

How Does It Affect the Hand?

Fractures often take place in the hand. A fracture may cause pain, stiffness and loss of movement. Some fractures will cause an obvious deformity, such as a crooked finger, but many fractures do not. Because of the close relationship of bones to ligaments and tendons, the hand may be stiff and weak after the fracture heals. Fractures that involve joint surfaces may lead to early arthritis in those involved joints.

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How Are They Treated?

Medical evaluation and X-rays are usually needed so that your doctor can tell if there is a fracture and to help determine the treatment. Depending upon the type of fracture, your hand surgeon may recommend one of several treatment methods.

A splint or cast may be used to treat a fracture that is not displaced, or to protect a fracture that has been set. Some displaced fractures may need to be set and then held in place with wires or pins without making an incision. This is called closed reduction and internal fixation.

Other fractures may need surgery to set the bone (open reduction). Once the bone fragments are set, they are held together with pins, plates or screws (see Figure 2). Fractures that disrupt the joint surface (articular fractures) usually need to be set more precisely to restore the joint surface as smooth as possible. On occasion, bone may be missing or be so severely crushed that it cannot be repaired. In such cases, a bone graft may be necessary. In this procedure, bone is taken from another part of the body to help provide more stability.

Fractures that have been set may be held in place by an "external fixator," a set of metal bars outside the body attached to pins which are placed in the bone above and below the fracture site, in effect keeping it in traction until the bone heals.

Once the fracture has enough stability, motion exercises may be started to try to avoid stiffness. Your hand surgeon may determine when the fracture is sufficiently stable.

What Types of Results Can I Expect?

Perfect alignment of the bone on X-ray is not always necessary to get good function. A bony lump may appear at the fracture site as the bone heals and is known as a "fracture callus." This functions as a "spot weld." This is a normal healing process and the lump usually gets smaller over time. Problems with fracture healing include stiffness, shift in position, infection, slow healing or complete failure to heal. Smoking has been shown to slow fracture healing. Fractures in children occasionally affect future growth of that bone. You can lessen the chances of complication by carefully following your hand surgeon's advice during the healing process and before returning to work or sports activities. A hand therapy program with splints and exercises may be recommended by your physician to speed and improve the recovery process.

Figure 1: Examples of fractures in fingers.

Figure 2: Examples of plates, pins, and screws used to join fractures while they heal.

© 2005 American Society for Surgery of the Hand