Here are the three main types of greenstick fractures for your reference.
•Bow Fracture: Such a fracture can be distinguished on account of a curvature along the longitudinal axis of the bone.
•Transverse Fracture: This fracture shows up in the cortex and goes right up to the mid-portion of the bone. It however does not affect the opposite vertex but we see its orientation along the bone’s longitudinal axis.
•Buckle Fracture: Buckle fracture is often caused by a high impact on a particular area of a limb making it break off.
Ways to Identify Greenstick Fracture
A greenstick fracture is very risky and can go unidentified for weeks together. The area affected with a fracture usually appears swollen and reddish. Greenstick fractures cause severe pain in the affected area and many a time, younger children who are unable to express the events of its occurrence or the intensity of pain may cry uncontrollably. Older children may try to dismiss the pain by self control but are often seen to be protective of the affected area. Parents are advised to get prompt check up done from a orthopedist on having the slightest doubts or if the child has suffered a major fall.
Treatment of Greenstick Fractures
It is advised that treatment of greenstick fracture should never be delayed. These fractures are caused due to bending of fragile bones. If prompt treatment is not started, the child may have to bear long term consequences such as painful inflammation and infection in the affected area and permanent deformity in the bone
If however, the treatment is started on time, the predicted healing time is approximately 3 weeks. The orthopedist may just adjust and join the broken parts together by pushing them in the right place. The affected limb is usually put in the cast to ensure speedy recovery of the bone. Doctors usually prescribe an anti-inflammation drug to reduce the swelling in fractured area. In greenstick fractures, the age of the patients is an added advantage because fractures heal faster in young children and they don’t tend to be as painful once the recovery process begins. In minuscule number of cases, the orthopedist may prescribe a surgery to ensure successful recovery from greenstick fractures.