bone healing

(noun)

Bone healing, or fracture healing, is a proliferative physiological process in which the body facilitates the repair of a bone fracture.

Related Terms

Examples of bone healing in the following topics:

  • Bone Repair

    • Bone healing, or fracture healing, is a proliferative physiological process in which the body facilitates the repair of a bone fracture.
    • The healing process is mainly determined by the periosteum (the connective tissue membrane covering the bone).
    • When the humerus in the upper arm is fractured and properly set, bone healing can repair the bone.
    • However, if the bone is not set or improperly set, the chondroblasts and osteoblasts will still try to heal the bone but will be unable to return the bone to full proper functioning.
    • This image, taken three weeks post injury, demonstrates the benign periosteal reaction of normal healing bone.

  • Bone Grafting

    • Bone grafting is a surgical procedure that replaces missing bone in order to repair bone fractures.
    • Bone grafting is a surgical procedure that replaces missing bone in order to repair bone fractures that are extremely complex, pose a significant health risk to the patient, or fail to heal properly .
    • Bone grafts may be autologous (bone harvested from the patient's own body, often from the iliac crest), allograft (cadaveric bone usually obtained from a bone bank), or synthetic (often made of hydroxyapatite or other naturally-occurring and biocompatible substances) with similar mechanical properties to bone.
    • Most bone grafts are expected to be reabsorbed and replaced as the natural bone heals over a few months' time.
    • Bone grafting is also used to fuse joints to prevent movement, repair broken bones that have bone loss, and repair broken bone that has not yet healed.

  • Bone Remodeling

    • Bone remodeling or bone turnover is the process of resorption followed by replacement of bone and occurs throughout a person's life.
    • Repeated stress, such as weight-bearing exercise or bone healing, results in the bone thickening at the points of maximum stress.
    • Bone volume is determined by the rates of bone formation and bone resorption.
    • Numerous bone-derived growth factors have been isolated and classified via bone cultures.
    • Bone tissue is removed by osteoclasts, and then new bone tissue is formed by osteoblasts.

  • Stages of Bone Development

    • These cartilage poitns are responsible for the formation of the diaphyses of long bones, short bones, and certain parts of irregular bones.
    • Remodeling or bone turnover is the process of resorption followed by replacement of bone with little change in shape, and occurs throughout a person's life, long beyond the initial development of bone.
    • The bone remodeling period refers to the average total duration of a single cycle of bone remodeling at any point on a bone surface.
    • Repeated stress, such as weight-bearing exercise or bone healing, results in the bone thickening at the points of maximum stress (Wolff's law).
    • Bone tissue is removed by osteoclasts, and then new bone tissue is formed by osteoblasts.

  • Embryonic and Fetal Bone Formation

    • It is also an essential process during the natural healing of bone fractures and the rudimentary formation of the bones of the head.
    • Eventually, woven bone is replaced by lamellar bone.
    • The primary center of ossification is the area where bone growth occurs between the periosteum and the bone.
    • It is also an essential process during the rudimentary formation of long bones, the growth of the length of long bones, and the natural healing of bone fractures.
    • This serves as support for the new bone.

  • Capacity of Different Tissues for Repair

    • The physiology and process of bone healing has several phases of recovery that help the proliferation and protection of the areas surrounding fractures and dislocations.
    • While the bone formation usually spans the entire duration of the healing process, in some instances, bone marrow within the fracture has healed two or fewer weeks before the final remodeling phase.
    • Substitution of the woven bone with lamellar bone precedes the substitution of the hyaline cartilage with lamellar bone.
    • This new lamellar bone is in the form of trabecular bone.
    • The remodeling process substitutes the trabecular bone with compact bone.

  • Bone Scans

    • Bone scans are a special type of nuclear scanning test that is often used to find bone cancer or bone inflammation.
    • A bone scan is a nuclear scanning test to find certain abnormalities in bone that are triggering the bone's attempts to heal.
    • A nuclear bone scan is a functional test, which means it measures an aspect of bone metabolism or bone remodeling .
    • Nuclear bone scans are not to be confused with the completely different test often termed a "bone density scan," DEXA or DXA, which is a low exposure X-ray test measuring bone density to look for osteoporosis and other diseases where bones lose mass, without any bone re-building (osteoblastic) activity.
    • The technique, therefore, is sensitive to fractures and bone reaction to infections and bone tumors, including tumor metastases to bones, because all these pathologies trigger bone osteoblast activity.

  • Bone Remodeling and Repair

    • Bone remodeling is the replacement of old bone tissue by new bone tissue.
    • It involves the processes of bone deposition or bone production done by osteoblasts and bone resorption done by osteoclasts, which break down old bone.
    • Bone turnover rates, the rates at which old bone is replaced by new bone, are quite high, with five to seven percent of bone mass being recycled every week.
    • Compact bone is added to create bone tissue that is similar to the original, unbroken bone.
    • The healing of a bone fracture follows a series of progressive steps: (a) A fracture hematoma forms.

  • Microscopic Anatomy of Bone

    • The basic microscopic unit of bone is an osteon, which can be arranged into woven bone or lamellar bone.
    • Osteons can be arranged into woven bone or lamellar bone.
    • Woven bone is found on the growing ends of an immature skeleton or, in adults, at the site of a healing fracture.
    • Woven bone is replaced by lamellar bone during development.
    • Lamellar bone makes up the compact or cortical bone in the skeleton, such as the long bones of the legs and arms.

  • Platelets

    • Platelets, also called thrombocytes, are membrane-bound cell fragments derived from the fragmentation of larger precursor cells called megakaryocytes, which are derived from stem cells in the bone marrow.
    • Platelets are important for the blood clotting process, making them essential for wound healing.
    • Platelets secrete many factors involved in coagulation and wound healing.
    • Local application of these platelet-produced healing-associated factors in increased concentrations has been used as an adjunct to wound healing for several decades.
    • If the number of platelets is too low, excessive bleeding can occur and wound healing will be impaired.