The Basics of Bone Bruises

A bone bruise is basically defined as an injury to a bone that will harm the bone, but will not fracture it altogether. Using diagnostic measures such as the high density MRI scans, bone bruises are easily identifiable, but can take months to heal.

With science describing them as the periosteal bruises, bone bruises are the most severe and painful of all types of bruises, caused by a series of factors ranging from falls, sports injuries, car accidents to fights and many such causes.

More typically, the bone bruises basically result from compressive forces that are incurred during an injury. In such a scenario, the damaged area occurs in the medullary portion of the bone and is sometimes accompanied by swelling or even bleeding.

The Precaution

Even though the bone bruises are essentially regarded different from the typical bone fractures, the injured area has still to be treated as a fractured point to enable proper relief and cure.

Generally, the treatment followed will first remove the calcium and damaged fibers from the area, known as remodeling. Once done, the body then begins to rebuild the new fibers and lay down new calcium to the area. This entire process is likely to take a span of 8 to 12 weeks of time, which varies in accordance with the location and severity of injury.

The Treatment

To treat a bone bruise, the first thing you need to do is to give adequate rest to the affected point. Especially if involved in daily physical activities such as sports or other such repetitive tasks, it is important that you rest the affected area to avoid aggravation of the problem.

The most often adopted and immediate remedy of the bone bruises is to apply an ice pack or a cold compress in the area where you have been hurt. This will not only reduce the discoloration but will also help in controlling the pain therein. If needed, a small dosage of ibuprofen or acetaminophen or Tylenol can also be taken to provide some pain relief.

As is the case with all types of injuries, rest and precaution are also equally important in the case of bone bruises. It is important to know that if the affected area is not given the required amount of rest, it can actually be hit again, causing even the surrounding fibers and tissues to be damaged, which were in fact protected earlier. With proper medication, rest and home remedies you are sure to obtain relief from you bone bruises, though you might have to be more careful with the newly healed portion in the near future.