Which injury is worse? Broken bone or Broken joint?

[autoset 0]

To tell you the truth I've never had a major injury in my life (knock on wood), maybe luck I don't know and don't think it will last forever either, I have friends who have broken their legs or arms and they say it specially hurts when the weather turns cold or it's going to rain. (?)

Other friends have fucked up their joints and say it's a pain in the ass waiting for them to heal, and sometimes it never goes back to normal.

I seriously don't know because I don't have the experience, that's why I'm asking the veterans here. Please, before voting, take in account everything that goes with the injury: Pain, Time required for healing, Flexibility, loss of strength, etc...and choose which one is worse in your opinion.

[VincentVL. 0]

Unless you're talking about crushed bones or serious fractures like neck/back/skull...a broken joint is always gonna be much more of a pain. I actually did break my skull (well...more of tiny crack really) but I sure am glad my knees have never been severely damaged.

Joints are very complicated and there's a lot of stuff in there that just doesn't heal as well as a bone. But I'm not a doctor so...

[kelpdiver 2]

How many people (even here) have broken both?

And in my case, where I broke the proximal humerus (arm where it connects to the shoulder), is this a bone or join break?

Both suck.

I think the location matters more. The femur is hard to break, I don't think it ever recovers fully. Spinal breaks would also be worse than arm injuries, at least to the off arm. Blowing out the knee seems worse than my shoulder rehab since you have to walk/run/play on it.

So what will you do with the results of this, anyway?

[kkeenan 14]

A bone, as such, really has only one requirement when it is working - that is to stay rigid and support other body structures. A joint, however, has to smoothly move through a range of motion, sometimes in several axes at the same time.

Therefore, for a bone to heal and work properly, it only has to grow back together and be stiff enough to support loads. Sometimes, it is screwed together with plates or rods to achieve this. A joint repair, however, has to leave that joint in a condition such that smooth, pain-free, full-range motion can be achieved when healed. That is much more challenging, and sometimes impossible.

_____________________________________
Dude, you are so awesome...
Can I be on your ash jump ?

[brenthutch 444]

A busted joint is much worse than a broken bone. I have broken my tib/fib, no prob. broke my ankle and a lost a 10 degrees of range of motion. Broke my back (twice) no problem. Dislocated my shoulder, it still hurts 4 years later. Tore my ACL and my OTHER knee hurt so much from compensating that I had to get if fixed. It works as good as new now but when I snowboard and kneel in the snow it starts to ache and I swear that I can feel the titanium screws.

[councilman24 37]

I hit the branch of a tree with my foot without a fully open canopy. I shattered the ankle end of the tibia and broke a chunk out of the fibula. The cartilidge (sp?) in the ankle didn't survive. So it was instant traumatic arthritis and I've been in pain ever since. The fibula has a plate on it also and it can hurt in it's on right. Also, I think they got the realtive length of the fibula too long compared to the tibia. So I have pain were the fibula joins the foot on the outside.

A real mess.

To chicken to try to have it fused. I've lived with it for 20 years.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[chanti 0]

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How many people (even here) have broken both?

Me. Femur July 2006. Anterior cruxiate (other leg) March 2007.

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The femur is hard to break, I don't think it ever recovers fully.

It does. Mine healed fully within 3 months. It depends on the type of break tho. I was "lucky" and had a transverse fracture. The shattered ones take ages to heal.

The ligament is more of a pain.

-Chanti-

[bluheelrtx 0]

I've broken several bones and sometimes they ache, but don't really interfere with any activities.

I made a mess of the ligaments in my ankle about seven years ago and it never doesn't hurt. If I let it get stiff, it's not so bad, but if I stretch it out or run out a bunch of landings, it burns and catches like a MF.

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Jason
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Some people never go crazy. What truly boring lives they must lead.

[Eule 0]

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A bone, as such, really has only one requirement when it is working - that is to stay rigid and support other body structures. A joint, however, has to smoothly move through a range of motion, sometimes in several axes at the same time.

I agree with this. Some mechanical engineers spend a lot of time trying to reduce the number of moving parts in a machine - the moving parts are more complex, more expensive, and more likely to break. It used to be a common phrase in advertisements to say "no moving parts" or "only two moving parts" or whatever. A bone does move some in normal living but not nearly as much as a joint does.

This depends a lot on the specific injury, but if a bone - especially one of the long skinny ones in an arm or leg - gets broken, it's often possible to splint it with a plate or rod and the bone will naturally grow back together. If a joint gets screwed up, it's more likely to get replaced with hardware. The hardware is good, but it's usually never quite as good as the original equipment.

Eule

PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

[Beatnik 2]

A broken joint is so much worse than a bone. I have had four knee injuries that has resulted in close to three years of physiotherapy and all the bones I have broken have been good in six weeks at the most then I was back at it.

With breaking bones you usually just have to build the muscle around the break. With a joint you have to do that but also build the joint strength up. Making sure that joint is strong is a lot harder to do than the major muscles.

[freeflyit 0]

Right here. Broken collar (which is actually the best bone to break now that I think about it because it's not really a crippling injury although it clicks all the time). I broke my elbow before on a hyper extension skateboarding and I can tell you it takes a lot longer to heal, plus working it back is a bitch. the thing about the collar bone is you can't really sleep at night due to movement in your sleep. Like someone said, unless it's the spine or skull, a joint is much whorse. You're definately right about location.

[kelpdiver 2]

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the thing about the collar bone is you can't really sleep at night due to movement in your sleep.

The worst bit about having my arm/shoulder in a sling with a half cast (hand) is that at night it would be resting on the broken ribs. In the worst nights, I tried to sleep sitting up with 4 pillows behind me, one below the sling.

That said, at least I could walk about. So I won't complain too badly about the whole experience.