A Fascinating Journey into Disorders of the Human Frame. First, we will discuss some common disorders of the human skeleton.

And then we will dive into the bone fracture and the repair process.

So let’s start without wasting time.

Common disorders of the skeleton

Slipped disc? herniation

An intervertebral disc consists of two parts.

Nucleus pulposus, which is the inner semifluid and acts like a rubber ball to provide elasticity and compressibility.

Annulus fibrosis, which is the stronger outer ring of fibrocartilage, holds the vertebrae together.

Severe sudden trauma to the spines may result in herniation of one or more discs.

The herniation of the disc involves the rupture of the annulus fibrosis followed by the protrusion of the nucleus polposus.

If protrusion presses on the spinal cord or spinal nerves, it generates severe pain or even even destruction of these nervous structures.

Let’s be real, slipped disc is misleading as not the whole disc slides out of the position.

Spondylosis

Spondylosis is the immobility and fusion of the vertebral joint.

Cervical spondylosis results from chronic cervical degeneration, with herniation of the disc and aging.

Sciatica

The term sciatica refers to pain, weakness, numbness, or tingling in the leg.

It is caused by an injury or the pressure on sciatica nerves.

The sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in the human body and it runs from the lower back, through the buttocks, down the back of each leg, and into the feet.

Common causes include slipped discs, pelvic injury, fractures, and tumors.

Arthritis

It is the inflammation of joints.

Typical symptoms are pain after walking, creaking sounds in the joint, difficulty in getting up from the sitting position, and pain while walking up and down the stairs.

There are three types of arthritis.

1. Osteoarthritis: articular cartilages gradually soften and degenerate slowly. It affects the knee, hip, and intervertebral discs.
2. Rheumatoid arthritis: Result of an autoimmune disorder in which the synovial membrane becomes inflamed due to a (faulty) immune system.
3. Gouty arthritis: In this type of arthritis, uric acid, and sodium urate crystals are deposited in the joint, causing severe pain. It commonly affects the joint of the big toe.

Bone Fractures

Types

1. Simple fracture/closed fracture: These are the fractures where the skin is intact.
2. Compound fracture/open fracture: Where the bone ends penetrate the skin and form a wound.
3. Complicated fracture: This is a fracture where the adjacent organs are damaged.

Bone repair

Haemotoma/clot formation

When a bone is fractured, surrounding tissues and cells are torn and hemorrhaged, resulting in a clot formation around the bone.

Soon the gathered cells start to die because of lack of nutrition and the surrounding area becomes swollen, inflamed, and painful.

Callus formation

Capillaries grow into the hematoma and release phagocytic cells, that clean up the debris.

Numerous osteoblasts are released into the site of fracture that begin releasing new cells.

The newly formed cells gather around the broken bone and form a spongy mass, known as callus formation.

This spongy mass holds the bones together in place.

This process takes up to 3-4 weeks.

Bony callus formation

Osteoclasts break down the soft, spongy mass while osteoblasts replace it with bone.

Now the soft callus formation turns into bony callus formation after a week of callus formation.

Bony callus formation continues for about two months.

Bone remodeling

A Fascinating Journey into Disorders of the Human Frame. At the end of the repair process, both ends of the bones are connected.

Sometimes, extra bony callus formation takes place than is needed, but eventually, it is broken down by the osteoclasts.

And the final result of the repaired bone is very much like the original.