Symptoms and first signs of fatigue fracture
Especially in the case of a fatigue fracture, characteristic symptoms are difficult to detect. The symptoms of a fatigue fracture typically develop insidiously, making them very different from those of a normal, acute fracture. The first signs of fatigue fracture can be slight pain, characteristically point-like pressure pain at affected bone sites.
Initially, these are pains that occur mainly under stress, later they may also be felt at rest.Depending on how pronounced the periosteal inflammation is over the fatigue fracture, there may also be swelling, redness or overheating of the skin in the area. However, these signs are often mistakenly dismissed as bruising or overloading. In the early stages, the pain only occurs under stress and disappears at rest.
In addition, the function is usually still intact. Therefore, most of those affected do not think that they have suffered a fracture. The only initial signs are therefore pressure pain with swelling and overheating of the region.
However, since these complaints can occur with many different diseases, it is difficult for those affected to recognize their illness early on. Over time, those affected also have pain at rest, which does not subside even under complete relaxation. As a result, the resilience of the affected body part decreases more and more. In contrast to regular bone fractures, fatigue fractures are not accompanied by a sudden loss of function of the affected body part, but develop gradually.
Duration of fatigue fracture
The duration of a fatigue fracture varies in terms of the healing process, depending on the location and severity of the fracture and the adherence to therapeutic measures on the part of those affected. Immobilization (bandage, plaster, orthopedic splinting, relief with crutches, etc.) is usually carried out for two to four weeks, followed by a steady increase in load.
It is also important that the affected body part is not completely immobilized during the relief phase, but that the affected body part is nevertheless subjected to a certain degree of stress during physiotherapy, so that muscle loss and further demineralization of the bone substance does not occur. On average, complete healing can be expected after 6-8 weeks if the fracture is detected in time and treated accordingly. Otherwise, the healing process can take up to 6 months.
It is particularly difficult to regain full resilience. Even when the fracture has healed, full weight-bearing should not be applied immediately, but the affected bone should only be slowly restored to its original state. Full loading capacity is therefore usually only possible after about 4-6 months.
A fatigue fracture can heal in two ways. Firstly, through so-called primary wound healing by surgical treatment of the fracture. On the other hand, secondary wound healing by means of purely conservative treatment.
Secondary wound healing usually takes several weeks. The healing time is therefore longer than with surgical treatment, which heals after only a few weeks. In both cases, therapeutic measures such as immobilisation of the affected area must be observed. Immobilization alone takes between 2-4 weeks. Only in this way can a fatigue fracture heal without complications and without consequential damage within 6-8 weeks.
