Have you guys seen the recent video clip of the French Olympic gymnast in Rio who broke his bone? It made you cringe, didn’t it? His injury is called an open fracture. What are open fractures anyway and what predisposes it to happen? Here we tell you more so that it doesn’t happen to you too.
Tough Tissues
Our bones are living tissues that are considered very sturdy and tough. However, even tough stuff can break. Like a wooden pencil, bones will bend under strain. Our bones can usually handle certain amounts of stress but if the pressure is too much, or too sudden, bones can snap.
Open Fractures
Open fractures involve broken bones with fragments sticking out through the skin. It may also involve a wound penetrating down to the broken bone but this happens usually in a trauma setting. Not all fractures may end up like what you saw on that video though. Some types of fractures may not cause obvious deformities and these are called close fractures. Some may even just “crack” and not cause any symptoms at all.
Samir Ait Said
In the qualifying round of men’s gymnastics, France’s Samir Ait Said fractured his tibia on the landing of his vault. Samir Ait Said is 26 years old and he recently posted the third highest score on still rings earlier in the session and was likely to make the final. He is also a four-time European championships medalist on rings, including gold in 2013. Unfortunately, his gymnastics career is most likely over.
Stress Fractures
In the recent past, we wrote an article about stress fractures and this may actually explain how open fractures happen. A stress fracture, simply put, is a crack in a bone, and it can be a common injury in areas of your body where there is repetitive application of force, often by overuse. Examples of daily activities that involve overuse include repeatedly jumping up and down or by running long distance. So can it happen to you? It can if you’re a gymnast or a basketball player. Otherwise, you’ll be fine.
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