Calcium is an important material for bone formation. Some people believe that supplementing with more calcium after a fracture can accelerate the healing of the broken bone. However, scientific research has found that increasing calcium intake does not speed up the healing of broken bones. For long-term bedridden fracture patients, there is also a potential risk of increased blood calcium, accompanied by a decrease in blood phosphorus.
This is because long-term bed rest both inhibits the absorption and utilization of calcium and increases the reabsorption of calcium by the renal tubules. Therefore, for fracture patients, the body is not deficient in calcium. As long as they strengthen functional exercises and start moving early according to their condition and doctor's advice, they can promote the absorption and utilization of calcium by the bone and accelerate fracture healing. Especially for patients who are bedridden after a fracture, blindly supplementing with calcium is not beneficial and may even be harmful.
Avoid eating too much meat and drinking bone broth
Some people believe that eating more meat bones and drinking more bone broth after a fracture can promote early healing. In fact, modern medicine has proven through multiple practices that eating more meat bones not only fails to heal early but also delays the healing time of the fracture. The reason is that the regeneration of the injured bone mainly relies on the periosteum and bone marrow. The periosteum and bone marrow can only function better under the condition of increased bone collagen, while the main components of meat bones are phosphorus and calcium.
If consumed in large quantities after a fracture, it will increase the inorganic components in the bone, leading to an imbalance in the proportion of organic matter in the bone, thus hindering the early healing of the fracture.
Avoid a picky diet
Fracture patients often have local edema, congestion, bleeding, and muscle tissue damage. The body itself has the ability to resist and repair these conditions. The materials for the body to repair tissues, grow long bones, form callus, and resolve blood stasis and reduce swelling depend on various nutrients. Therefore, it is clear that the key to ensuring smooth fracture healing is nutrition.
In terms of diet, it should be rich in nutrition, with good color, aroma, and taste to stimulate the appetite. It is advisable to eat more vegetables rich in vitamin C, such as tomatoes, amaranth, green vegetables, cabbage, and radishes, to promote callus growth and wound healing.
Avoid indigestible food
Fracture patients have limited activity due to fixation, and coupled with pain and mental anxiety, their appetite is often poor, and constipation is common, especially in bedridden patients. Therefore, food should not only be nutritious but also easy to digest and promote bowel movements. It is advisable to eat more vegetables rich in fiber and foods like bananas and honey that promote gastrointestinal digestion and bowel movements.
Avoid drinking less water
Bedridden fracture patients, especially those with spinal, pelvic, and lower limb fractures, are very inconvenient to move, so they try to drink less water to reduce the frequency of urination. This is not appropriate. Bedridden patients have less activity, weakened intestinal peristalsis, and reduced water intake, which can easily lead to constipation, urinary retention, and also easily induce urinary stones and urinary tract infections. Therefore, bedridden fracture patients should drink an appropriate amount of water.
Avoid long-term use of traditional Chinese medicine such as Sanqi tablets
In the initial stage of a fracture, local internal bleeding, blood stasis, swelling, and pain occur. At this time, taking Sanqi tablets can constrict local blood vessels, shorten clotting time, and increase thrombin, which is very appropriate. However, after a week of fracture reduction, the bleeding has stopped, and the damaged tissues begin to repair. Repair requires a large blood supply. If Sanqi tablets are continued, the local blood vessels will remain in a constricted state, blood circulation will be poor, and it will be unfavorable for fracture healing.