Friday, July 13, 2007

An Overview Of Bone Fractures

We hear a lot about bone fractures as the usual result of an unfortunate accident - be it a motor vehicle crash or a case of slip and fall. Every bone fracture is different, depending on the location of the injury and its severity, and therefore the doctor's approach to treatment and rehabilitation is unique to it. In this article we briefly discuss about the different types of bone fractures, the causes and its diagnoses, and how a fracture gets treated as it goes thru the healing process.

There are three common causes of bone fractures, although fractures may happen for a variety of ways. The first cause is trauma to bone tissue. A fall, an automobile accident or a sudden hit by an object can bring trauma to a bone, resulting to a fracture. The second cause is osteoporosis, or bone thinning. Over time, the bone gets less dense as bone protein and other minerals gets altered or lost. As a result, the bone becomes more porous, making the risk higher for a bone fracture. The third common cause is bone overuse. Most sports athletes suffer a bone fracture due to excessive stress forced on the bone location.

There are two general types of bone fracture - a closed fracture and an open fracture. A closed fracture means that the bone is broken but the skin is not affected (no wounds or lacerations). An open fracture means that the bone has pierced the skin, resulting to a wound which may or may not show the broken bone.

You can immediately tell if you have a bone fracture by just examining the affected area. Usually on the impact itself you may hear a crack or a snap, telling you that the bone was broken. There would be swelling in the area of the fracture and the skin would be tender. An X-ray will show the actual damage done to the bone tissue. In other cases, a closed fracture may also develop, but may not immediately appear as a fracture on the X-ray; instead there will be a painful sensation in the area, with some inflammation and tenderness.

The chiropractor (a physician who specializes in the bone) will use a particular method to fix the fracture, usually with splints, braces or casts, to make sure that the bone will heal in the correct position. For complicated cases, the chiropractor will use internal fixation methods such as metal plates, pins or screws implanted to the bone tissue. Depending on the physician's assessment, he/she may employ either one or a combination of these methods.

It may take a number of weeks or months for a fracture to heal. Your bone tissue will start growing new bone cells on the site of the fracture, creating new bone tissues until the fracture is closed. The healing process is usually painful, therefore you must strictly follow the doctor's advice on handling the fracture so that you can recuperate faster and resume to normal activity. During rehabilitation, your activity may be limited to the extent of the pain threshold of the fracture. By the time the bone becomes strong again, you may have to undergo certain exercise to strengthen the muscles surrounding the bone fracture so that it can function again normally. The exercises will increase in activity over time until the fracture is completely healed, and normal skeletal activity is restored.

John Luke Matthews is a regular contributor of relevant articles about the jurisprudence of businesses. He is part of the Mesriani Law Group and is currently taking information technology studies as well.

For more information visit the Los Angeles Personal Injury Attorneys

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Luke_Matthews

Types of Sexual Harassment

There are two types of legally recognized way of committing sexual harassment: (1) Quid pro quo sexual harassment; and (2) Hostile environment harassment.

I. Quid Pro Quo Sexual Harassment

Quid pro quo sexual harassment occurs when an employee is offered to be retained in his/her job or be promoted in exchange for sexual favors. In case of a student, the offer is to help receive a good grade or a favorable recommendation in exchange for sexual favors. The person who commits quid pro quo sexual harassment is a person with power to influence the victim’s employment or educational situation like a supervisor, manager or a teacher in case of a student. An example would be if a manager suggests that an employee goes out with him on a date or asks for a neck or back rub every so often in exchange for retaining her post or be promoted.

In this type of sexual harassment, it is not important if the victim gave in or agrees to the offer. It is enough that the harasser floats or makes the offer and the victim is not barred from filing a claim if he or she later on changes his or her mind.

II. Hostile Environment Sexual Harassment

Hostile work environment sexual harassment, on the other hand, occurs when a co-worker, manager or supervisor in the work place makes unwelcome sexual advances which interferes with work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment, or learning environment in the case of students. The sexual harassing conduct could be verbal, non-verbal, visual or physical. Example of a verbal harassing conduct is when one makes a sexual comment about a person’s clothing, anatomy or looks. In cases of non-verbal sexually harassing conduct an example would be leering, staring or glaring at someone. Visual sexually harassing conduct on the other hand could be displaying sexually suggestive calendars, photographs, posters or cartoons in the workplace. Physically harassing conduct is when someone gives a massage around the neck or shoulders and the victim did not ask for it and regards it as offensive.

In this type of sexual harassment, even the employer is liable if he has knowledge or should have knowledge of the sexual harassment perpetrated on one of the employees and the employer either does nothing about it or even faulted the victim for the happening of the sexually harassing conduct.

In both cases, it would be to the best interest of the victim to secure the services of a lawyer immediately to protect the victim’s legal rights.

John Luke Matthews is a regular contributor of relevant articles about the jurisprudence of businesses. He is part of the Mesriani Law Group and is currently taking information technology studies as well.

For more information about sexual harassment her employment law issues, visit our Professional Los Angeles Lawyers.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Luke_Matthews