Bone fractures are common injuries. They occur when a sizable external force causes the bone to break. Falls, moving collisions and forceful blows are traumatic causes of bone fractures. Diseases that weaken the bones and overuse can also lead to...
Head injuries occur most often in sports that involve body contact, the risk of falling or being struck by a ball. A blow to the head may affect the brain causing a headache, nausea, dizziness, unsteadiness, pressure, blurred vision, loss of...
Due to their softness, children's bones more frequently "bend" instead of completely breaking, resulting in less serious fractures. A strong force, however, can cause a complete break or fracture. Common fractures in children are buckle...
Arm fractures are common injuries that can sideline a weightlifter for some time. There are several types of possible fractures that dictate your treatment and your recovery time line, but if treated and rehabilitated properly, you should be able...
There are two bones in the lower leg (shin). The smaller one is the fibula; the larger one is the tibia. You can feel the tibial crest in the front of the leg. There is not much soft-tissue coverage medially (toward the other leg). This has...
The diversity of the functions of the 206 skeletal system bones includes support for bodily movement, protection of vital organs and production of blood cells in the marrow of some bones. From the femur, the longest bone, to the smallest bone in...
Approximately one-sixth of all emergency room visits are for some sort of wrist injury, and out of all the fractures seen in the emergency room, about one-sixth are wrist fractures. There are 250,000 to 300,000 wrist fractures per year in the...
A variety of mechanisms cause fractures to the bones. Falls, car crashes, and even twisting forces can cause a break. According to Emergency Care, a fracture is any break in the bone, and can be open (bone ends through the skin) or closed (no...
The wrist is composed of eight small bones in the hand and the ends of the two bones of the forearm, the radius and the ulna. The bones are held in place by ligaments to form the joint at the wrist. In a wrist fracture, any of the bones may be...
According to "Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary," broken bones fall in any of 245 different categories. That includes fractures of the skull, spine, fingers and toes. The most common fractures occur in the long bones of the body, such...
According to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS), the three main causes of fractures include trauma, osteoporosis and overuse. You will likely know if you have a fractured or broken bone. Usually, you will hear a snap or a popping...
There are seven spots where you can find long bones in a human body. The humerus bone is the long bone that extends from the shoulder joint down to the elbow. Next, you have the radius and ulna bones, which comprise the forearm. The radius is on...
Broken bones occur in many degrees of severity. Bone fractures are broken bones classified in adults according to direction of the break and the alignment of the bone. Bone fractures are either open or closed. An open bone fracture or break means...
The two most basic bone fractures can be identified with the naked eye. Open bone fractures, also known as compound fractures, expose the bone, often through large wounds that break the skin considerably. Closed fractures, also known as simple...
The hip is a ball-and-socket joint and is extremely stable. It takes great force and trauma to push the head of the femur---the ball---from the pelvic socket. This is a serious injury that causes great pain and will take surgery to correct....
The skeletal system is composed of the bones in the human body. It provides the biological architecture for the rest of the body's tissues and organs. As such, it helps to protect internal organs from trauma and helps in the body's motor...
Several significant symptoms are associated with a broken sternum, also called the breast bone. According to Trauma.org, chest wall injuries, including a fractured sternum, may be caused by blunt force trauma, and the severity of sternal fractures...
The human body is both durable and vulnerable. It proves remarkably durable in the ordinary circumstances of day-to-day life. In extraordinary circumstances, however, the body remains vulnerable to traumatic injury. Falls, accidents, violence and...
Numerous conditions can cause lower extremity leg pain. According to the MedlinePlus website, lower leg muscles---the muscles originating in the lower leg or shin---are a common source of pain or discomfort. However, other structures in the lower...
A head injury is usually classified as an open or closed injury. An open head injury can result in something as mild as a bump or as severe as a skull fracture. A closed head injury involves damage to the brain. It may be a slight or severe brain...
The ankle joint is a common site of fracture and dislocation injuries. The bones of the ankle joint are the tibia, fibula and talus. These bones can break in a wide variety of patterns and cause different types of complications. Overall,...
Fractures of the sternum, the bone that attaches to the first seven ribs and the clavicle, occurs most frequently from blunt trauma. Sternum fractures comprise less than 0.5 percent of all fractures, according to an article in a 2006 issue of...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that adults between the ages of 18 and 64 should participate in muscle-strengthening exercise at least twice a week. Lifting weights, including bench pressing, can satisfy this requirement...
Many consider football an exciting sport to watch or to play, but, as a contact sport in which players run into or tackle each other, it often results in significant injuries. Severe injuries, such as broken legs, must be carefully treated. A...
Bicycle safety is as important for adults as it is for kids of all ages. Traumatic brain injury, commonly known as TBI, is the result of nearly 25 percent of bicycle injuries in California in one year alone, according to the California Department...
The fibula is a bone in the lower leg that runs in parallel with the tibia. The bone is located between the knee and the ankle joints and can be felt on the outside part of the lower leg. Fractures or breaking a bone can occur at any portion of...
A parietal subdural hematoma, also known as an intracranial hematoma, is a blood clot or hemorrhage in the parietal lobe of your brain. Your parietal lobe is responsible for interpreting signals relating to temperature, pain, touch and pressure,...
A fracture of the 5th metacarpal bone usually occurs from hitting a hard object with a closed fist, according to the 5th Metacarpal Fracture website, earning the nickname "the boxer's fracture." Athletes who use their hands are at high risk for...
The humerus is the long bone located between the elbow and the shoulder joints in the upper arm. The humerus is made up of three different anatomic parts: the proximal humerus, the shaft and the distal humerus. The proximal humerus is part of the...