Breaking a bone hurts. Everyone knows that. But sometimes, the experience may cause more than just physical pain; it can be accompanied by nightmares, flashbacks, or trouble with concentration—all symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In this study, researchers looked at the incidence of PTSD in patients who had broken bones.

What the researchers wanted to know: How often do people experience PTSD after they break a bone or bones, and might the occurrence of PTSD be linked to demographics or the type of injury?

What they did: Researchers gave 580 people who had broken a bone a questionnaire called the Revised Civilian Mississippi Scale for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Data was collected on demographics of the patients, as well as on how they had hurt themselves. Afterward, the researchers analyzed the responses to find signs of the disorder in respondents.

What they found: Just over half of the respondents (51 percent) showed enough symptoms of PTSD to be diagnosed with the disorder. Race, sex, and age appeared to have no effect on whether a person suffered PTSD. On the other hand, the prevalence of PTSD varied according to how the injury happened; people who had injured themselves in pedestrian-motor vehicle crashes had the highest percentage of PTSD sufferers (65 percent), while the lowest percentage of PTSD occurred in people who broke bones in bicycle accidents (40 percent).

What it means to you: It's not just for war veterans anymore: Anyone with bones in his or her body can get PTSD.

Caveats: Since each respondent took the test only once, the diagnosis of PTSD is not very reliable. And it is only a questionnaire, not a diagnosis made by a health professional who actually examined each respondent. Also, the researchers could have compared these respondents with a control group of people who had not broken any bones. Finally, the researchers did not get information on respondents' psychological histories, so it's possible that some people who appeared to have PTSD could suffer from it for reasons other than just the broken bone.

Find out more: American Psychiatric Association: http://www.psych.org/public_info/ptsd.cfm

Read the article: Starr, A., et al. "Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder After Orthopaedic Trauma." The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. June 2004, Vol. 86-A, No. 6, pp. 1115-1121.