Signs and Symptoms
Although bone tissue itself contains no nociceptors, bone fracture is painful for several reasons:
- Breaking in the continuity of the periosteum, with or without similar discontinuity in endosteum, as both contain multiple nociceptors.
- Edema of nearby soft tissues caused by bleeding of torn periosteal blood vessels evokes pressure pain.
- Muscle spasms trying to hold bone fragments in place
Damage to adjacent structures such as nerves or vessels, spinal cord and nerve roots (for spine fractures), or cranial contents (for skull fractures) can cause other specific signs and symptoms.
Read more about this topic: Bone Fracture
Famous quotes containing the words signs and/or symptoms:
“The good of a book lies in its being read. A book is made up of signs that speak of other signs, which in their turn speak of things. Without an eye to read them, a book contains signs that produce no concepts; therefore it is dumb.”
—Umberto Eco (b. 1932)
“The human condition is such that pain and effort are not just symptoms which can be removed without changing life itself; they are the modes in which life itself, together with the necessity to which it is bound, makes itself felt. For mortals, the “easy life of the gods” would be a lifeless life.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)