Healing Bones

Healing Bones

Healing Bones

Introduction

Bone is a living tissue comprised of a number of constituents including calcium carbonate, calcium phosphate, collagen and water. The minerals and collagen provide the strength and stiffness of the bone. The functions of bone are many, including providing a framework for the body, providing attachment for muscles and ligaments, and protecting the internal organs of the body. Each type of bone has a unique purpose with its structure defining its function within the body.

Analysis

Long bones (humerus, femur) are designed to allow movement. Short bones (carpals are the small bones in the wrist) are designed to transfer compressive loads from one set of long bones to another (forearm to the metacarpals in the hand). Flat bones (scapula, pelvis) are designed to protect internal organs from external forces. The healing of bone tissue begins immediately after the fracture occurs (Kondo, 1985). The first phase of healing is called the acute inflammatory phase. The goal in this phase is to stop blood loss from the wound, create a clot to occlude the end of any ruptured blood vessels, and debride the area with the assistance of increased biochemical activity.

A callus made of highly vascularized fibrous tissue is then laid down between the fractured bone ends during the second phase of the healing process. This is known as enchondral bone healing and occurs when there is a gap between the two fractured ends. If the bone is fractured and the ends are still intact, the bone will heal through direct bone healing without the need of a callus (Sanders-Shamis et al, 1989).

The last phase of healing is known as the maturation and remodeling phase because the callus is gradually remodeled from both osteoblast and osteoclast activity. The osteoblasts will continue to lay down new bone cells while ...