Tuesday, December 17, 2019
Winter weather is already raising the risk for slips, falls and broken bones, but what if your bones are breaking, and you didn't fall?
The team at OrthoCincy now has Urgent Care for broken bones, and in the wintry kind of weather they do report an uptick in people who commonly break ankles and wrists when it gets icy.
The wrist is commonly used to try and catch yourself when you fall.
But bone specialist Dr. Howard Schertzinger says he's getting more alarmed these days, because many people are coming in with fractures and broken bones, for a second and third time.
It's not always when they have had a fall, but sometimes because they were never told when they had the first bone break, that they had bone loss that needed to be treated so they don't have another break.
Doctor Howard Schertzinger said the following:
"Every hip fracture is by definition osteoporosis. I'm currently working with st. Elizabeth hospital and what we're trying to define is okay.. Once you've had a wrist fracture, a spine fracture or a hip fracture.. You're by definition osteoporosis. Too much emphasis is placed on.. You've had this fracture, go get a DEXA scan and go do blood work maybe go see a specialist.. Well.. Nobody wants to get a DEXA scan. It's been shown now that hip fractures... It should be managed. Only 20% of those are being treated for osteoporosis. If you talk to those people coming out of the emergency room. They never knew they were diagnosed with osteoporosis... After 55... Up to 85% of those ladies who've had a fracture can have a second fracture. So we really need to get onto those... I've been doing this 28 years. I used to always have referrals and the patients say well they don't know what's next.. Well now we have 4 medications after it so very exciting."