Recently I fractured my wrist, I didn't even realize that I had been hurt that badly. I went to the doctor about a week later (after much persuasion by others) just to get it checked out. I was then sent to an orthopedic where they had said that while the fracture was healing fine, I had torn the ligament between the main bone and smaller one. So I ended up wearing a giant cast (a Munster cast...where your palm faces upward and the cast extends up to your elbow...part of it is cut so you can bend your elbow but nothing else can move except your fingers so you're pretty much stuck and it's horrible) for the past five weeks (which came off Friday...two days ago...yay!) all over a silly, avoidable wrist injury. I still have to wear a brace though for another week and a half...Anyway.
I decided to write this post about the differences between strains, sprains, fractures, and breaks. In the case of sprains, a ligament (tissue that connects bones to joints) has been partially torn or overstretched. On the other hand, a strain is where the tendon (tissues that connect muscle to bone) has been stretched or torn. Bruising is often an effect of sprains, while swelling occurs with both. Strains may incur muscle spasms. Both may lead to surgery if severe enough. Apparently you can get put in a cast for a severe enough sprain, which really just is horrible and irritating. And once you get the cast off you really don't feel any better because everything is sore and stiff and still hurts from not being able to move anything for weeks and weeks.
A fracture and break are the same thing. The bone has snapped/cracked; it's as simple (and painful) as that. Broken is fractured, and fractured means broken.
This seemed more like a rant than anything else.
Your post wasn't a rant! I thought it was very helpful because I didn't know that there's a difference between a strain and a sprain. I also really like how you're able to describe what it's like to experience a fracture. I hope your wrist feels a lot better!
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