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Preparing for your appointment
By Mayo Clinic staffDepending on the severity of the break, your family doctor or the emergency room physician may recommend that you or your child be examined by an orthopedic surgeon.
What you can do
You may want to write a list that includes:
- Detailed descriptions of the symptoms and the precipitating event
- Information about past medical problems
- All the medications and dietary supplements you or your child takes
- Questions you want to ask the doctor
What to expect from your doctor
During the physical exam, your doctor will inspect the affected area for tenderness, swelling, deformity or an open wound. He or she will probably want to see X-rays of the injury.
- Fracture. Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary. 31st ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: W.B. Saunders; 2007. http://www.dorlands.com/def.jsp?id=100042444. Accessed April 17, 2009.
- Shinbone fractures. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. http://www.orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00161. Accessed April 17, 2009.
- Lower leg. Marx JA, et al. In: Rosen's Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 6th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2006. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/132163627-9/830723266/1365/146.html#4-u1.0-B0-323-02845-4..50059-7--cesec116_2508. Accessed April 17, 2009.
- Thighbone (femur) fractures. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. http://www.orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00364. Accessed April 20, 2009.
- Fields KB. Overview of tibial fractures. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed April 20, 2009.
- Fields KB. Stress fractures of the tibia and fibula. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed April 20, 2009.
- Fractures of the lower extremity: Shaft of the femur. In: Canale ST, et al. Campbell's Operative Orthopaedics. 11th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/132633798-5/831634018/1584/388.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-323-03329-9..50054-4--cesec111_2919. Accessed April 20, 2009.
