Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Bogle bomb here. If you experience
Speaker 1: engine trouble, you take your car to or mechanic. If
Speaker 1: your pipes leak, you call a plumber. And if you
Speaker 1: fracture a leg, the usual course of action is to
Speaker 1: visit a doctor. But unlike other things that may break
Speaker 1: in life, bones begin healing on their own before you
Speaker 1: even set foot in a waiting room. Doctors often play
Speaker 1: a vital, sometimes life saving roll in a bones healing process,
Speaker 1: but these experts basically help the body heal itself. Doctors
Speaker 1: provide optimal conditions for bone repair and healing to take place.
Speaker 1: The rest is up to your cells. Sometimes broken bones
Speaker 1: can heal so thoroughly within a few months that even
Speaker 1: an X ray can't determine the original fracture line. So
Speaker 1: how does this amazing biological process work? How can a
Speaker 1: fractured live m grow back to its former strength. Let's
Speaker 1: first take a closer look at just what bones are
Speaker 1: made of and how alive they really are. It's easy
Speaker 1: to think of your bones as solid, lifeless matter upon
Speaker 1: which all of our living tissue just sits. But your
Speaker 1: skeleton is as much a living part of your being
Speaker 1: as your softer tissues and organs. The body stores minerals
Speaker 1: in the hard compact bone itself, and inside the center
Speaker 1: of the bone, the body produces red blood cells and
Speaker 1: the red marrow, and stores fat and the yellow marrow.
Speaker 1: It's important to remember that your bones are constantly changing.
Speaker 1: Cells called osteoclasts break down old bone so that osteo
Speaker 1: blasts can replace it with new bone tissue, a process
Speaker 1: called bone remodeling. Another type of cell called the chondrablast
Speaker 1: forms new cartilage. These are three of the primary cells
Speaker 1: responsible for bone growth, and not just the bone growth
Speaker 1: you experience early in life. This constant bone remodeling gradually
Speaker 1: replaces old bone tissue with new tissue over the course
Speaker 1: of months. But what happens when a bone breaks? Almost
Speaker 1: immediately after the break, the body begins to try and
Speaker 1: put itself back together again, and doctors often divide the
Speaker 1: overall process into four phases. First, there's a fracture hematoma.
Speaker 1: When a bone breaks, the fissure also severs the blood
Speaker 1: vessels running down the length of the bone, and blood
Speaker 1: leaks out of these veins and quickly forms a clot.
Speaker 1: That's the fracture hematoma. This helps to stabilize the bone
Speaker 1: and keep both pieces lined up for mending. The clot
Speaker 1: also cuts off the flow of blood to the jagged
Speaker 1: bone edges. Without fresh blood, these bone cells quickly die.
Speaker 1: Swelling and inflammation follow due to the work of cells
Speaker 1: removing dead and damaged tissue. Tiny blood vessels grow into
Speaker 1: the fracture hematoma to fuel the healing process. After several days,
Speaker 1: the fracture he toma develops tougher tissue, transforming it into
Speaker 1: a soft callous. The cells, called fiber blasts begin producing
Speaker 1: fibers of collagen, which is the tough protein that mostly
Speaker 1: makes up bone and connective tissue. The condrablasts then begin
Speaker 1: to produce a type of cartilage called fibro cartilage. This
Speaker 1: forms up through the callous, transforming it again into a
Speaker 1: tougher fibro cartilagenus callous, which bridges the gap between the
Speaker 1: two pieces of bone. This callous generally lasts for about
Speaker 1: three weeks. Next, osteoblasts move in and produce bone cells,
Speaker 1: transforming the callous into a bone callous. This hard shell
Speaker 1: lasts three to four months, and it provides the necessary
Speaker 1: protection and stability for the bone to enter the final
Speaker 1: stage of healing. At this point, the body establishes the
Speaker 1: position of the bone within the flesh, begins reabsorbing bits
Speaker 1: of dead bone, and has that hard callous to bridge
Speaker 1: the gap between the two pieces of bone. However, this
Speaker 1: bulge of tissue needs a lot of work before the
Speaker 1: bone can take any strain. Osteoclasts and osteoblasts spend months
Speaker 1: remodeling bone by replacing the bone callous with harder, compact bone.
Speaker 1: These cells also decrease the callous buld, gradually returning the
Speaker 1: bone to its original shape. The blood circulation within the
Speaker 1: bone improves, and the resulting influx of bone strengthening nutrients
Speaker 1: such as calcium and phosphorus strengthen the bone. However, even
Speaker 1: in the best of cases, fractures often require medical attention
Speaker 1: to heal as smoothly as possible. Of first, there's the diagnosis.
Speaker 1: Before any further treatment can happen, the doctor must determine
Speaker 1: whether a fracture occurred at all, and, if so, the
Speaker 1: severity of the injury. Doctors generally accomplished this by examining
Speaker 1: the patient and inspecting X rays or other images of
Speaker 1: the damaged area. Then, once they figure out what needs
Speaker 1: to be done. There's immobilization. This is how the doctor
Speaker 1: helps your body line up the broken bone and limit
Speaker 1: mobility so that the growing calluses aren't damaged. They can
Speaker 1: help immobilize the affected area with a splint, cast brace,
Speaker 1: or sling. A realigning broken bones can be painful, so
Speaker 1: during this step a patient might need anything from local
Speaker 1: anesthetic to spinal anesthesia to temporarily lessen the pain. In
Speaker 1: the case of more complex fractures that require very specific immobilization,
Speaker 1: the doctor may apply traction, which is a system of weights, ropes,
Speaker 1: and pulleys that constantly pull on fractured limbs to maintain alignment.
Speaker 1: Most fractures can be treated without surgery, but sometimes doctors
Speaker 1: perform surgery to remove foreign materials or bone fragments, or
Speaker 1: sometimes the best way to stabilize certain fractures is to
Speaker 1: go in and align the bones with metal rods, implanted screws,
Speaker 1: and pins. Some fractures, such as those to the hip
Speaker 1: and joints, require artificial replacements. Finally, there's rehabilitation. The same
Speaker 1: bullization that keeps stress off the healing bone also leaves
Speaker 1: the surrounding muscles with little to do. This leads to
Speaker 1: the loss of muscle mass, strength, and flexibility. The special
Speaker 1: exercise regimes allow individuals to gradually rehabilitate their newly healed
Speaker 1: limbs without risking re injury. Today's episode is based on
Speaker 1: the article how do broken bones Heal? On how stuff
Speaker 1: works dot com, written by Robert Lamb. Brain Stuff is
Speaker 1: production of by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff
Speaker 1: works dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Clang. The
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