Do casts actually help with very small fractures past a certain point?
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This morning I got in a bit of an argument with my girlfriend, her younger sister had tripped and got this microscopic fracture, and was put in a cast. It was like a small joint part from landing on her hand.
She was prescribed to be in the cast for 6 months, and just got reduced to a smaller support brace. On principle I called it bullshit because I couldnt understand the reason to not use the bone whatsoever because pressure causes bones to grow stronger and for something not that serious, a cast for over 6 months for a tiny fracture seems like baloney.
I know medical advice is always along that line, but to my horror after she left and I went to find some sources, quick medical searches led me nowhere. I am about do do a pubmed dive, but can anybody help me out with some research or info?
Was I stupid in saying that a cast for a tiny fracture for 6 months is a waste of time and money?
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Im a physical therapist and Ive never heard anybody having a cast for 6 months for a small fracture . That sounds ridiculous.
6 weeks maybe . I would need more info on the injury and operation to make a clearer statement .Often the issues we face in rehab are more due to the long time of immobilization than the actual injury . Sometimes other healthy joints are immobilized for no reason whatsoever . Sometimes the damage is permanent.
I would make sure that the range of motion of the finger is stilk there and work on keeping it that way. If you don't move your finger for 6 months, it will stay that way.
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Just wanted to tell my experience. Was skateboarding at the skatepark, had a terrible fail and hit both of my wrists against the ground.
Went to the hospital for X-ray only on the right wrist because I knew it was broke and didn't wanted to have two casts... Turned out i broke my scaphoid (3 fractures in triangle shape) on the right wrist. They wanted me to have a surgery but I just took the cast because I was abroad, it was cheaper and I didn't wanted to have metal things in my wrist.
I don't know for the left wrist but i think it was fractured too because it was almost the same pain. The scaphoid bone is the longest to heal due to poor vascularization of the blood at this spot. Long story short: I wore the cast for the whole summer and after they removed it I had more pain in the casted wrist 4 months after, while it took only 3-4 months for the other left wrist pain to vanish.
I did a lot of rice bucket training for rehab after they remove my cast. I can do pushups again without pain.
I think casts could help to not worsen the bone placement due to bad movements but not for so long. The new generation of casts, those who can still be a bit flexible so that there is still a bit of blood circulation, could be good.
