In modern life, children’s fracture trauma is increasing, and many parents have misconceptions about the treatment of children’s fractures, which eventually leads to unsatisfactory treatment results and leaves regrets.
Myth 1: Children’s fractures are the same as adult fractures
For a long time, people tend to think that children are just a miniature of adults, only smaller in stature and lighter in weight, and there is no other difference, and often apply the viewpoint of adult orthopedics to deal with them, ignoring an important issue that children are constantly growing and developing, and their anatomical structure, physiological function and biomechanical properties are constantly changing, different from the bones of adults.
Myth 2: It is enough to see a general hospital orthopedic department for children’s fractures
Due to the unbalanced development of pediatric orthopedics, many pediatric fracture trauma are treated by adult orthopedic surgeons concurrently, which is fine for simple pediatric fractures, but for children’s proprietary complex fractures, a professional pediatric orthopedic surgeon is often required to treat them.
Myth 3: Fractures heal poorly for sure
Because children are growing and developing, pediatric fracture trauma has its own characteristics, most of the fractures can be treated by the method of manual repositioning, and in some cases, even if the fracture repositioning is “ineffective” and leaves a “misalignment”, children can make some of the fractures heal by virtue of their strong In some cases, even if the fracture is not “effective”, children can correct some fracture deformities on their own after healing by virtue of their strong shaping ability, and the misalignment of some limb bones can be automatically corrected within 1~2 years, even if no trace of the fracture is visible.
Myth 4: Relying on conservative treatment
Some parents and even physicians know that pediatric fractures heal quickly and are highly plastic, while neglecting some fractures that require timely surgical treatment, such as epiphyseal fractures and intra-articular fractures. Delayed diagnosis and treatment of these fractures can cause malformed healing and disability. Therefore, the condition is the deciding factor in the choice of treatment.
Myth 5: Children’s fractures need open-heart surgery
Due to the advancement of science and technology and the increased requirements of patients, some fractures that could not or did not require surgery in the past are now treated surgically, and the indications for surgery have a tendency to be relaxed. Some anxious parents think that children’s fractures will heal faster after surgery and often ask doctors to operate as early as possible. The following are common types of fractures that require surgical treatment: fractures that cannot be repositioned or maintained and cause deformed healing, which cannot be corrected by themselves through growth and development and directly affect their functional activities and appearance in the future; displaced epiphyseal fractures and intra-articular fractures that require strict repositioning and must be surgically and anatomically repositioned if they cannot meet the requirements; multiple fractures or combined with other organ injuries to solve the treatment and care The surgery is mainly to explore the vascular nerve in case of combined vascular nerve injury.
Myth 6: Surgical treatment of fractures in children is complicated and dangerous
With the continuous understanding of the healing mechanism after pediatric fracture and the continuous development of orthopedic instruments, the treatment methods have been greatly improved. With portable X-ray machines, orthopedic traction beds and new orthopedic internal fixation devices (titanium alloy elastic intramedullary nails, hollow screws), some fractures that would otherwise require “major surgery” can now be treated with minimal surgery to achieve the same or better results.
Myth 7: Children’s fractures will have sequelae after they heal
Generally, fractures of the limb trunk are treated promptly and effectively without sequelae, but some of them have deformities due to damage to the growth structures (epiphyseal plates), and often the deformities and limb lengths can be found after six months.
Myth 8: Children’s fractures take 100 days to heal
Due to the vigorous growth of children, fractures that may take 2 to 3 months to heal in adults may reach the healing standard in children in 1 month, and the quality of bone healing is better than that of adults.
Myth 9: Children should take more bone-setting drugs for fractures
Bone setting drugs generally have the effect of activating blood circulation and resolving blood stasis, which can be appropriate for adolescents, but often cannot be absorbed by young children and even produce certain side effects, which should be taken under the guidance of a doctor.
Myth 10: Children with fractures should eat more bone broth
Parents often think that eating more bone broth can make the bones grow faster, in fact, it is completely unnecessary, there is too much fat in bone broth, children can not fully absorb and digest, pay attention to the usual diet, eat more vegetables and plant and animal protein can be.