After 24 hours or longer it's usually too late to ice an injury although sometimes the ice can still help.
Ice should be on the injury including a broken bone soon after the injury occurs.
You should ice a broken bone for at least 3 to 4 days for 10 to 20 minutes a few times a day.
Bones do tend to hurt some as they heal and as the bone heals the pain should lessen until the bone has healed.
Also sub acute pain will usually occur the first couple of weeks after the fracture while the bone and soft tissue heals.
The length of time it takes for a bone to heal is between 4 weeks to 8 weeks depending on the bone that is broken and how severe the bone was broken.
Most bones will heal within 4 weeks to 8 weeks but some broken bones may take as long a 4 months or a year to fully heal.
The five most frequently broken bones are the wrist bone, collarbone, ankle bone, foot bone and the arm bone.
Breaking a bone does make you tired as your body uses energy to to heal the broken bone.
Growth hormones need to be released in greater amounts when our body is healing from an injury.
These hormones are released during the 'deep sleep' phase of your sleep cycle, which recurs approximately every 90 minutes.
You can tell if a fracture is healing by the signs of a healing fracture which include decreased pain and improvement in mobility.
Each week as the bone or fracture heals you should notice improvement and the pain should decrease and you should be able to move easier and easier each week that passes.
The best pain reliever for broken bones is ibuprofen and paracetamol.
For severe broken bone pain intranasal or intravenous opioids are better.
Things that helps broken bones heal faster are rest, protein, vitamin D and calcium.
To help your broken bone heal faster you should get plenty of rest, avoid using the broken bone and eat foods such as nuts and seeds, yogurt, meat, fish, broccoli and dark leafy greens.
The fastest a broken bone can heal is 4 to 8 weeks.
Most broken bones heal within 4 to 6 weeks although tibia fractures can take 20 weeks or longer to heal.
Most broken bones can and do heal without surgery.
Some broken bones that are more severe will usually require surgery to heal such as a compound fracture.
But most broken bones heal without surgery and only need casts and rest to heal.
A 5 fracture is a common injury where the bone that connects to the ankle of your little toe breaks.
The 5th fracture occurs from injury or overuse or high arches.
Doctors treat a 5 fracture with a cast, shoe or boot or sometimes surgery.
The 7 types of fractures are segmental fractures, comminuted fractures, compression fractures, oblique fractures, spiral fractures, transverse fractures and greenstick fractures.
The fracture that requires the most force is a comminuted fracture as it requires a lot of force to break the bone into several pieces and is one of the most painful and difficult fractures to repair.
When you have a comminuted fracture you most often have very intense pain because the fracture or bone is in several pieces and surgery is most often required to fix the comminuted fracture.
The type of fractures that are the most difficult to repair are comminuted fractures.
A comminuted fracture is the most difficult to repair due to the bone having fractured into numerous pieces.
Multiple bone pieces require more effort to hold them together in the ideal position for healing.
The 4 types of fractures are complete fracture, incomplete fracture, compound or open fracture and a simple or closed fracture.
A fracture of the bone or bones is a simple or closed when the broken bone remains within the body and does not push into or out of your skin.
If the bone breaks in such a way that bone fragments stick out through the skin, or a wound penetrates down to the broken bone, the fracture is called an open fracture.
This type of fracture is particularly serious because once the skin is broken, infection in both the wound and the bone can occur.
A comminuted fracture is the most difficult to repair due to the bone having fractured into numerous pieces.
Multiple bone pieces require more effort to hold them together in the ideal position for healing.
Most fractures heal in 6-8 weeks, but this varies tremendously from bone to bone and in each person based on many of the factors discussed above.
Hand and wrist fractures often heal in 4-6 weeks whereas a tibia fracture may take 20 weeks or more.
If a fracture is left untreated it can take longer for the fracture to heal or the fracture may not heal properly and may also become infected.
Not all fractures require medical treatment but it's a good idea to go to the hospital or urgent care or a walk in clinic when you do have a fracture to ensure it's not worse off then it seems.
Untreated fractures can sometimes get worse and lead to visible deformities, misalignment, limited movement, and infection.
The difference between a sprain and a fracture is that a fracture is a broken bone.
A fracture could be a partially broken bone or a completely broken bone.
A sprain is where you just have a ligament or tendon that has been stretched out, or maybe even torn.
The ligament or tendon with a sprain does not require a cast while a fracture such as a broken bone may require a cast to keep the bone in place and promote healing.
With a sprain you should be able to move your bones such as your foot, ankle, toes, fingers etc but with a fracture you may not be able to move those bones.
Your muscles control the bones and if you feel your bone and it feels like it's broken then it usually is.
Sprains don't usually require any medical attention and usually heal on their own but some fractures may require medical attention and a cast.