What is a fracture? Is it detected during a medical examination?!
Question:
What is a fracture? Is it detected during a medical examination?
Answers:
As others have said before me, a fracture is any variation of a broken bone. This could mean that you fell on your wrist and it has a slight "bump" in the bone, or it could be totally displaced and part of your bone is sticking out of your skin. You can get pathological fractures as well, and this happens when a disease process compromises the integrity or structure of the bony anatomy.
Would it be detected on a medical examination? That depends on the physician that sees the patient. Many of the "good old boy" doctors will just give you a lollipop and send you on your way if you complain of pain in your wrist, where some of the new doctors will order every test under the sun to determine what is going on, even if it is nothing. On the one hand, the old doctor is not treating every fracture, only the serious ones, where the newer doctor leaves you with a ,"there is nothing wrong with you, now here is the bill" type of scenario.
Chances are, if you hurt so badly that you cannot move the joint or bone in question, it may be fractured. If you can rub it and push on it and it hurts, but goes away soon after, (until you irritate the injury again), then it is most likely NOT fractured. The dumbest patient is the one that walks in to x-ray and thinks their leg is broken. If it were, they would not be walking. See what I mean?