Causes
How We Can Help You with Articular and Periarticular Fractures
The board-certified orthopaedic specialists of Stanford Health Care have extensive experience treating people with articular and periarticular fractures, which happen when a bone breaks inside or around a joint. These injuries also often cause cartilage damage that requires dedicated care.
Our multispecialty team develops a complete, compassionate care plan customized to your condition. The goal of the plan is to help relieve your symptoms, which may include joint pain, tenderness, swelling, or weakness.
In addition to relieving symptoms, your personalized care plan is designed to help you maintain or improve your muscle strength, minimize stiffness, and prevent further joint problems so you can lead an active lifestyle.
Stanford Health Care patients with articular and periarticular fractures also may have opportunities to participate in research studies of new treatment approaches not yet available anywhere else.
What We Offer You For Articular and Periarticular Fractures
- Center of Excellence for advanced care of articular and periarticular fractures and the full range of orthopaedic conditions.
- Nationally recognized expertise in treating all cases of articular and periarticular fractures, no matter how complex.
- Precise diagnosis including a thorough physical exam plus use of the latest imaging technology, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and computerized tomography (CT) scans.
- Team-based treatment planning that brings together orthopaedic trauma surgeons, rehabilitation specialists, physical therapists, and other dedicated professionals to tailor care to your needs.
- Advanced treatment options emphasizing nonsurgical approaches such as pain medication, casts or splints, and physical therapy. When needed, we also offer minimally invasive surgical procedures performed by highly skilled orthopaedic trauma surgeons.
- Comprehensive support services including care coordination from diagnosis to treatment to follow-up.
- Active research program to develop new diagnostic and treatment advances to help people with articular and periarticular fractures.
Treatment for Articular and Periarticular Fractures
An articular or periarticular fracture happens when a bone breaks inside or around a joint. These injuries often damage cartilage at the ends of bones (articular cartilage) and other joint tissues, requiring special care.
Expert orthopaedic specialists at Stanford Health Care use leading-edge techniques to diagnose and treat articular and periarticular fractures. We partner with you to select the right treatment plan for your needs.
Your doctor may recommend one or more treatments, including splinting, surgery, or physical therapy. Our orthopaedic surgeons also specialize in performing intricate surgeries to repair severe injuries affecting bone and other joint tissues.
Because articular fractures damage cartilage, affected joints are more prone to arthritis (joint inflammation that causes stiffness). Our surgeons and rehabilitation specialists work closely together to repair your injury and help prevent further joint problems.
Our distinguished orthopaedic surgeons deliver expert, patient-centric care for complex fractures that also damage joint tissues.
Nonsurgical Treatment
Surgery
Your treatment depends on the location and severity of your fracture. It also depends on whether you injured other joint tissues (and which ones). For some minor articular fractures where bones stayed in place, a splint can support the injured joint until you can move it safely.
Your doctor may recommend one or more conservative therapies to fix minor fractures and help ease any discomfort:
Pain medication
Over-the-counter or prescription pain medication can help reduce your pain in the days after you injure yourself.
Casts or splints
Fractured bones need to be still to heal properly. Your doctor may recommend you wear a splint (less rigid than a plaster cast) to support the area. A splint will limit how much you can move a joint while it heals. In some cases, a sling may be better than a splint or cast because it allows some movement. Immobilizing a joint for too long causes muscles and tendons to shrink, causing joint stiffness that may be hard to reverse.
Walking aids
If you injured your knee or hip joint, your doctor may advise you to avoid putting weight on it right after the injury. Walking aids like crutches can make it easier to continue your daily routines during recovery, without further damaging joint tissues.
Closed reduction
Our specialists may gently move slightly shifted bones back into place without surgery. This procedure doesn’t repair damaged cartilage. Depending on the specifics of a fracture, your doctor may closely monitor the injury. Your doctor may also recommend a separate procedure to mend cartilage or other affected joint tissues.
Physical therapy
Physical therapy can restore movement in injured joints and may help prevent arthritis. Our board-certified rehabilitation specialists develop personalized plans to help people recover from complex injuries, such as articular fractures. We teach you safe exercises that will help you use and move a joint more easily after an injury.
For more severe fractures, we perform surgery to precisely repair bones and joint damage. Surgery may make it possible for you to move the injured joint sooner, reducing the risk of long-term joint stiffness.
Our experienced orthopaedic surgeons treat articular fractures using the latest surgical techniques. They may choose to perform surgery using a traditional (open) or minimally invasive (tiny incisions with thin, flexible tools) approach.
Our team discusses all your options and works with you to choose the right treatment for you. Together, we help you maximize how you use and move the affected joint.
Articular and Periarticular Procedures
Our surgery options include:
Reduction and fixation
Surgeons line up bone pieces, reshaping the joint surface so you can move it naturally. Our specialists may repair cartilage or other damaged soft tissues inside a joint, securing unstable bones with metal pins. They pay close attention to preserving joint blood supply, to promote bone healing.
Osteotomy
Surgeons shave fractured bone pieces to reshape the joint surface, allowing for optimal joint function.
Bone grafting
Surgeons place healthy bone tissue from somewhere else in your body, or from a donor, into any gaps between fractured bones. Our specialists may perform this procedure to treat an initial fracture injury. Your surgeon may also graft bone to jump-start healing if an injury doesn’t mend correctly (causing a nonunion or malunion).
Cartilage grafting
Surgeons transplant healthy cartilage cells from another joint in your body, or from a donor, to repair an injured joint surface. Cartilage grafting triggers new cartilage growth, resulting in smoother joint surfaces and increased range of motion.
Joint replacement
Surgeons remove loose or damaged tissues when a fracture severely damages the ends of a bone. Our specialists reconstruct a joint using specialized artificial implants, restoring its shape so you can use and move it easily.
Your treatment depends on the location and severity of your fracture. It also depends on whether you injured other joint tissues (and which ones). For some minor articular fractures where bones stayed in place, a splint can support the injured joint until you can move it safely.
Your doctor may recommend one or more conservative therapies to fix minor fractures and help ease any discomfort:
Pain medication
Over-the-counter or prescription pain medication can help reduce your pain in the days after you injure yourself.
Casts or splints
Fractured bones need to be still to heal properly. Your doctor may recommend you wear a splint (less rigid than a plaster cast) to support the area. A splint will limit how much you can move a joint while it heals. In some cases, a sling may be better than a splint or cast because it allows some movement. Immobilizing a joint for too long causes muscles and tendons to shrink, causing joint stiffness that may be hard to reverse.
Walking aids
If you injured your knee or hip joint, your doctor may advise you to avoid putting weight on it right after the injury. Walking aids like crutches can make it easier to continue your daily routines during recovery, without further damaging joint tissues.
Closed reduction
Our specialists may gently move slightly shifted bones back into place without surgery. This procedure doesn’t repair damaged cartilage. Depending on the specifics of a fracture, your doctor may closely monitor the injury. Your doctor may also recommend a separate procedure to mend cartilage or other affected joint tissues.
Physical therapy
Physical therapy can restore movement in injured joints and may help prevent arthritis. Our board-certified rehabilitation specialists develop personalized plans to help people recover from complex injuries, such as articular fractures. We teach you safe exercises that will help you use and move a joint more easily after an injury.
close Nonsurgical Treatment
For more severe fractures, we perform surgery to precisely repair bones and joint damage. Surgery may make it possible for you to move the injured joint sooner, reducing the risk of long-term joint stiffness.
Our experienced orthopaedic surgeons treat articular fractures using the latest surgical techniques. They may choose to perform surgery using a traditional (open) or minimally invasive (tiny incisions with thin, flexible tools) approach.
Our team discusses all your options and works with you to choose the right treatment for you. Together, we help you maximize how you use and move the affected joint.
Articular and Periarticular Procedures
Our surgery options include:
Reduction and fixation
Surgeons line up bone pieces, reshaping the joint surface so you can move it naturally. Our specialists may repair cartilage or other damaged soft tissues inside a joint, securing unstable bones with metal pins. They pay close attention to preserving joint blood supply, to promote bone healing.
Osteotomy
Surgeons shave fractured bone pieces to reshape the joint surface, allowing for optimal joint function.
Bone grafting
Surgeons place healthy bone tissue from somewhere else in your body, or from a donor, into any gaps between fractured bones. Our specialists may perform this procedure to treat an initial fracture injury. Your surgeon may also graft bone to jump-start healing if an injury doesn’t mend correctly (causing a nonunion or malunion).
Cartilage grafting
Surgeons transplant healthy cartilage cells from another joint in your body, or from a donor, to repair an injured joint surface. Cartilage grafting triggers new cartilage growth, resulting in smoother joint surfaces and increased range of motion.
Joint replacement
Surgeons remove loose or damaged tissues when a fracture severely damages the ends of a bone. Our specialists reconstruct a joint using specialized artificial implants, restoring its shape so you can use and move it easily.
close Surgery
INTERESTED IN AN ONLINE SECOND OPINION?
The Stanford Medicine Online Second Opinion program offers you easy access to our world-class doctors. It’s all done remotely, and you don’t have to visit our hospital or one of our clinics for this service. You don’t even need to leave home!
Visit our online second opinion page to learn more.
Clinical Trials
Clinical trials are research studies that evaluate a new medical approach, device, drug, or other treatment. As a Stanford Health Care patient, you may be eligible to participate in open clinical trials.
Open trials refer to studies that are currently recruiting participants or that may recruit participants in the near future.
What Are Articular and Periarticular Fractures?
Our Clinics
The Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Clinic in Redwood City provides excellent care and treatment in the fields of orthopaedic surgery and musculoskeletal medicine. At the Orthopaedic Trauma Service, we offer comprehensive, leading-edge medical treatments for patients with acute and chronic injuries of the musculoskeletal system. Our doctors are experts in treating a range of traumatic injuries, including articular and periarticular fractures.
450 Broadway Street
450 Broadway StreetRedwood City, CA 94063
Phone: 650-723-5643 Getting Here
To schedule an appointment, please call 650-723-5643.