Boxer’s Fracture
I’m Ed Smith, a Sacramento Personal Injury Lawyer. Motor vehicle accidents can cause all types of traumatic injuries, with one common example a hand fracture colloquially called a boxer’s fracture.
What is a Boxer’s Fracture?
This is one of the most common bone fractures in all of medicine and occurs in a patient’s hand. The hand has numerous small bones, all of which can be injured. In a boxer’s fracture, the patient develops a fracture across the “neck” of the metacarpal, or the top of the bone just before the finger projects from the palm of the hand. A boxer’s fracture used to refer to a distinct metacarpal but is now used to refer to almost any fracture in the neck of the metacarpal. The fourth and fifth metacarpals are commonly fractured.
Watch Youtube Video – Boxer’s Fracture – Everything You Need to Know:
Mechanism of Injury
With an appropriate name, this fracture develops when someone punches a hard object, such as a wall, at an improper angle. While there are many different ways someone can develop a boxer’s fracture, this is where the name comes from. An auto accident has a tremendous amount of force and someone could inadvertently whack their fast on a window or dashboard, leading to this fracture.
Boxer’s Fracture: Treatment
Diagnosis of a boxer’s fracture, whether the injury occurred in a physical assault or a pedestrian injury, will start with an x-ray. Immediate treatment will consist of ice and anti-inflammatories to reduce the swelling. Then, the hand will be immobilized to prevent additional damage to peripheral nerves or other ligaments. With the bones immobilized, the injury will be allowed to heal.
Common Complications of Boxer’s Fracture
Because of the number of nerves and blood vessels in the area, complications and comorbidities may develop. A delay in diagnosis could lead to malunion, or improper healing of the bones. If other structures are damaged, such as nerves, patients could wind up with chronic pain or a loss of motor or sensory function.
Structures at Risk
There are many nerves that run through the hand, such as a radial nerve and ulnar nerve. Depending on the metacarpal that has been broken, these nerves (in addition to the median nerve) could be at risk of damage by a bone fragment that may have broken off. Nerves can also be damaged by swelling, which can also compress blood vessels and restrict oxygen flow.
Differential Diagnosis
There are several other diagnoses that must be considered with a boxer’s fracture, including:
- Pisiform fracture
- Scaphoid fracture
- Metacarpophalangeal Joint dislocation
- Phalanx Fracture
- Bennett’s Fracture
Injury Prognosis
Because a boxer’s fracture is common, the diagnosis and treatment protocols are well-established and quick. Unless other structures have been compromised as a result of the injury, most patients make a full recovery in a matter of weeks.
Surgery is Unusual
X-rays are used to determine whether or not the bone has been displaced, which it rarely is with a Boxer’s fracture. If the bone is in place, surgery is typically not necessary.
Sacramento Personal Injury Lawyer
I’m Ed Smith, a Sacramento Personal Injury Lawyer. If you or someone you love have been injured by the careless actions of another person, give me call at (916) 921-6400 or (800) 404-5400 for free, friendly advice.
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Image Source: used under the GNU Version 1.2 Free Documentation License from Wikimedia Commons.
Video Source: Youtube – Courtesy of Nabil Ebraheim, MD
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