Marc told us this story at lunch today. A few years ago he broke his leg skiing, just above his ski boot. It was just a simple fracture of the smaller of the two bones. It hurt, but it didn't stop. Three weeks later it was still hurting so he went to the doctor. Doctor X-rayed it and saw the break. The bones were aligned and it was knitting, so there was nothing to be done, just take it easy and it will be fine.
Not too much later he gets tackled by the neighbors dog. Same routine, waits a couple of weeks before going to the doctor. Doctor X-rays it. This time the ends of the bone are not aligned, they are slightly offset, but as before, it is starting to knit, so just take it easy and it will be fine. No more accidents befall him and eventually the bone heals and his leg is fine, except he can feel a lump in the bone where the misaligned break was.
Now here's the weird part. You might think that the bone would just stay that way forever, but no. After a couple of years the lump had disappeared. The bone had straightened itself out. I guess that makes sense. Bones are alive and are constantly replacing their structure, so it could do that, but how would it know? Pretty stinking amazing what the body is capable of.
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1 comment:
Surely the bone builds up where there is compression stress on it and disappears where there is no load?
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