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Broken Bones
 
Do I have a broken bone?
If the arm, leg or limb looks crooked, swollen, or hurts for more than a few minutes, it could be due to broken bone. The best way to tell is with an x-ray. For an obvious broken bone, you should go to your local hospital emergency room, and one of our doctors will be paged, if necessary. For less serious injuries, such as sprains or bruises, ice and elevate the effected extremity, and contact us for an appointment.
Cast Care
At Advanced Orthopaedics, our casts are usually made out of a fiberglass bandage applied over a layer of protective padding. We use two different kinds of padding, cotton and Gore-tex. The cotton padding is thicker and provides more protection, but, depending on your injury, your doctor may allow you to have the Gore-tex lining applied.
A cast with cotton padding is not water resistant and will lose its shape if it gets wet, but should keep it as dry as possible. When you get ready to take a bath or shower, cover the cast with a plastic bag and tape it in place to keep it dry. If the cast does get wet, you can use a hair dryer set to the "cool" setting to dry it. The Gore-tex lining makes your cast virtually waterproof. You can even swim with your cast on! After swimming or bathing, rinse the cast out (to prevent odor and keep it clean) with running water, then let it drip dry.
Cast Do's and Don'ts
DO elevate the injured area for the first few days. This helps decrease swelling and any resulting tightness in your cast.
DO call the office if you experience extreme pain, numbness, tingling, pain, swelling or lack of feeling in the cast area.
DO apply a piece of moleskin to the cast to decrease friction if the fiberglass of your cast rubs against your skin.
DON'T scratch! Using your fingernails/foreign objects (rulers, hangers, pens, pencils) to scratch inside your cast can break the skin, leaving you vulnerable to infections.
DO call the office if any part of your cast becomes worn out. Occasionally, excess activity will cause your cast to wear out in patches. If you can see the padding, you probably need to call the office to have the cast reinforced.
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