Should I or should I not? The dilemma of going to a hospital after a bone injury keeps our minds occupied. Bone fractures can put you into fixes like: do I need to go to the hospital or the local doctor can take care of it. If you have the right information, you can take a well-informed decision.
Below are some guidelines to decide if your fracture needs urgent care:
- If it is a compound fracture: These are fractures when the broken ends of the bone have torn the skin at the immediate site of the fracture and the end of the broken bone has come out of the wound. It is possible that the broken bone which came out of the wound may remain outside or it may return back inside the skin. These types of fractures are prone to infections. If you notice any such fracture, the urgency of a hospital treatment is high.
- If you are not able to move your toes or fingers: If the fracture is in your arm and you are not able to move your fingers or the fracture is in your leg and you are not able to move your toes of your foot, it means that along with the fractured bone, one of the nearby nerves was also injured. Cases like these require urgent treatment too.
- Area Specific Fractures: Certain areas of our body like spine, even though very resilient, can be fractured. These cases need urgent treatment even in cases of low severity of the fracture. All spinal fractures should immediately be taken to an emergency in a multispecialty hospital. The need for an urgent treatment should not be judged by relatives and family members and the patient should be taken to the hospital. All fractures in pelvic area must be treated at a multispecialty hospital.Pelvic area of our body is the area below the abdomen and above our legs, they protect the bladders and reproductive organs. Fractured bones in this area need urgent assistance and treatment. The patient, very carefully, should be taken to a multiplicity hospital.
- Fractures in elderly people: Elderly patients have many other medical conditions like Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, Heart, Liver or Kidney condition. These conditions in an elderly can definitely be aggravated with a fracture. In cases of any type of major fractures, they need to be taken to a multispecialty hospital for an overall treatment. Whereas minor finger/toe fractures are not urgent to be rushed for.
- Other symptoms for urgent treatment: If heavy bleeding at the place of fracture is seen, it definitely needs to be taken care of.In cases of fractures, if any numbness is felt, in the injured or the surrounding area, it is a matter of concern and needs urgent treatment. This happens because at the time of fracture the nearby nerve was also injured. In the cases mentioned above, second thought of local consultation and home remedies should not be preferred and professional care should be taken. If not, it may trigger the condition and make the treatment worse.
