This is the 3705th article of Da Medical Care
Distal radius fractures are familiar to everyone and are one of the most common fractures in our orthopedic department. Basically, all patients ask me this question, do I need surgery for this fracture? So today I will now introduce you to the treatment plan for distal radius fractures, so that everyone has a psychological number.
The wrist joint is a very important motor joint of our upper limb, and the distal radius is a component of our wrist joint, so the healing of the fracture in this area is directly related to the recovery of our wrist joint function.
If this area is so important, do all distal radius fractures require surgery? Of course not, I can tell you very responsibly that most distal radius fractures can be treated conservatively, which is what we call plaster casts, small splints or braces.
So how long does conservative treatment take to fix it? This problem is more professional, and it needs to vary from person to person, that is, from fracture to fracture. Some fractures are more stable, and patients can begin to remove the fixation and perform functional exercises at 4 to 6 weeks. Patients with comminuted fractures or osteoporosis require longer immobilization.
So since most of them can be conservatively treated, why are there so many doctors who require patients to operate and take steel plates, how troublesome, is it overtreated? Of course not, because most conservative treatment patients can not carry out rehabilitation training in time and effectively after dismantling the fixation, so that they miss the golden rehabilitation period, resulting in wrist joint function stiffness, which is a pity.
The reasons for this are many kinds of situations, the first situation is that the follow-up is not timely and not active, self-righteous, a fixed is 100 days, the longer it is fixed, the worse the exercise effect; the second situation is to know that you want to rehabilitate and exercise, but you are afraid of trouble or save money, you blindly exercise on your own, so that it is neither scientific nor systematic, and the effect is not ideal; the third situation is that you can't suffer and can't make up your mind. Rehabilitation training is a "big project" that requires determination and perseverance, requires a lot of courage and perseverance, and the process is arduous and painful.
Therefore, many patients do not achieve good wrist function recovery with conservative treatment, especially for those with distal radius fractures of dominant hands. Relatively speaking, the surgical technique is now very mature, most distal radius fractures can be completed in about an hour, and most patients can undergo step-by-step systematic rehabilitation training starting the next day after surgery. At the time of discharge, it is possible to recover to a good extent, and the functional recovery in the later stage is still very ideal.
For those fractures with more severe deformities, surgery is more necessary to restore the fracture morphology and avoid most of the loss of wrist function caused by deformity healing.
Seeing this, I believe everyone is confused, whether it is surgery or conservative treatment.
Haha, summarized as the following points: First of all, according to the patient's physical condition and functional requirements to see whether surgery is needed. The second is that depending on the type of fracture, some deformities with severe deformities require surgery. Third, based on the patient's follow-up compliance, conservative treatment can be considered if the follow-up can be proactive. The fourth is to see the patient's tolerance in rehabilitation training, if it is a good comrade who is "hard-working and hard-working", he can perform conservative treatment, if he is usually not very pain-tolerant friends, it is still recommended to operate, after all, after the operation under the action of the analgesic pump, you can start early good rehabilitation training.
This is my guidance on the treatment of distal radius fractures, I hope that the majority of readers and friends and patient friends can benefit, in your encounter can play a good reference.
Shanghai Seventh People's Hospital Ju Yufeng