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Spinal fractures
A fractured vertebra can take anywhere from six to eight weeks for the bone to set and up to 12 weeks to heal completely. But recovery from a vertebral fracture goes beyond healing the bone. Recovery becomes an ongoing process to enable you to regain strength and mobility and to resume your daily activities.
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Everyone experiences a slightly different recuperation. You may find your posture changing and have some nagging pain. This is because a vertebral fracture results in a deformity of the vertebra itself, which affects the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and nerves near the fractured bone. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to minimize these consequences of vertebral fracture.
Bed rest for the first two to three days following a fracture is important. The body has suffered a trauma--a broken bone--and needs time and rest in order to heal. How long you stay in bed depends on how much pain you feel and how long you can be up before your back starts hurting again. In general, people are encouraged to be active as soon as pain permits. For pain control, you'll be given over-the-counter analgesics and perhaps treatment with heating pads, ice packs, and gentle massage. If the pain does not subside, you may be given prescription painkillers.
While it's important to rest after you've had a vertebral fracture, it is also important to get up and around as soon as you can. Bones and muscles respond well to movement and activity, and in the long run, you'll improve more quickly if you are able to slowly ease back into your usual routine. If you have access to a pool, walking in the water is a great way to maintain and use your muscles without putting stress on the bone, which is healing.
For patients whose fracture does not heal or who have progressive deformity or multiple fractures, minimally invasive treatments such as vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty can relieve the pain and prevent progression. Percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) is a minimally invasive method that involves the injection of bone cement into the collapsed vertebral body to stabilize the vertebra. While the technique has been shown to provide pain relief, it does not expand the collapsed vertebra, potentially locking the spine in a humped posture. In addition, the bone cement has a slight tendency to leak upon injection.
The kyphoplasty technique is a more complex procedure with some potential advantages over traditional medical and surgical treatments for fractures. It involves the introduction of a tube into the vertebral body, followed by insertion of an inflatable bone tamp (IBT) designed to restore the vertebral body toward its original height, while creating a cavity to be filled with bone cement. This allows the alignment of the spine to be restored, providing patients with cosmetic and functional improvement. Data from many published reports indicate that kyphoplasty has a significant positive effect on patient quality of life.
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