Repair of

a
Fracture

1
 Stages
 Hematoma
in the Healing of a Bone
formation Fracture Hematoma
 Torn blood vessels
hemorrhage
 A mass of clotted
blood (hematoma)
forms at the
fracture site
 Site becomes
swollen, painful,
and inflamed 1 Hematoma formation

 3-4 hours
Stages in the Healing of a Bone
Fracture
 The fibrocartilaginous callus forms when:
 Osteoblasts and fibroblasts migrate to the
fracture and begin reconstructing the bone
 Fibroblasts secrete collagen fibers that
connect broken bone ends
 Osteoblasts begin forming spongy bone
 Osteoblasts furthest from capillaries secrete
an externally bulging cartilaginous matrix that
later calcifies
 Stages in the Healing of a Bone
 Fibrocartilagino
us callus forms Fracture
External
 Granulation callus

tissue (soft
callus) forms a
few days after New
the fracture Internal
blood
vessels
callus
 Capillaries grow (fibrous
tissue and Spongy
into the tissue cartilage) bone

and phagocytic trabeculae

cells begin 2 Fibrocartilaginous

callus formation
cleaning debris
 Stages in the Healing of a Bone
Fracture
 Bony callus formation
Bony
 New bone trabeculae callus of
appear in the spongy
bone
fibrocartilaginous callus
 Fibrocartilaginous callus
converts into a bony
(hard) callus
 Bone callus begins 3-4
weeks after injury, and
continues until firm union
3 Bony callus
is formed 2-3 months formation
later
 Stages in the Healing of a Bone
 Bone remodelingFracture
 Excess material on
the bone shaft
exterior and in the
medullary canal is
removed Healing
fracture
 Compact bone is
laid down to
reconstruct shaft
walls 4 Bone remodeling