According to Johnston (n.d), bone healing after a fracture undergoes the reactive, reparative, and remodeling stages. However, healing may be complicated because of bleeding disorders and surgical risks.
According to Johnston (n.d), the reactive bone healing stage lasts for two to three weeks. This is a very painful and inflaming stage. When healing starts, hematoma, the extravascular blood clot, which forms around the injured site because of the death of blood cells, constricts the flow of blood. Within the fractured area, fibrocartilaginous callus develop and replicate, forming granulation tissue which seals the fractured area (Browner, Jupiter, Levine & Trafton, 2002).
That leads to the second reparative stage. At this stage, periosteum replicates and transforms to chondroblasts, which bridge the fracture. The phase takes between four and eight weeks. The tissues formed at this stage grow into fracture callus and form heterogeneous tissues. The remodeling stage comes last and involves the fractured site remodeling itself and correcting deformities a result of the fracture. The stage takes one to several years (Browner, Jupiter, Levine & Trafton, 2002).
However, fracture healing can be complicated by a number of factors. One of the factors includes bleeding disorders which are caused by neurovascular injuries. Neurovascular injuries result from severe fractures, which damages the veins and nerves within the injured area. Another complication is caused by surgical disorders. Surgical disorders can be as a result of obesity, smoking, and poor nutrition (Sammarco & Chang, 2002).
In conclusion, bone fractures take a few weeks to several years to heal completely. However, there are a number of complications in the healing process that the patient and the doctor need to address.
References
Browner, B., Jupiter, J., Levine, A. & Trafton, P. (2002) Skeletal Trauma: Fractures, Dislocations, Ligamentous Injuries, 3rd edition. Philadelphia: Saunders Publishers.
Johnston, R. (n.d). Problems That Can Occur During Fracture Healing. Web.
Sammarco, V. J., & L. Chang. (2002). “Modern Issues in Bone Graft Substitutes and Advances in Bone Tissue Technology.” Foot and Ankle Clinics of North America. 7(1), 19–41.