Anatomy and Physiology 1 Lab Name ________________________________

Case Study Assignment. You are a medical student working your way through

college and are assigned to a hospital given background information on a patient.

You were provided the chief complaint and brief history of the patient outlined

below. You are asked by the nurse in charge to read the following case,

investigate the topic (bone fractures) and complete a written report in MLA format

including references addressing each of the questions identified below. Use this

link for guidance on MLA writing format:

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_

style_guide/mla_general_format.html

Total length of your report should be about two pages. The purpose of this

assignment is to put things you are learning in the course (lecture and lab) into

context using real life situations. This assignment’s focus is to investigate real

issues of the skeletal system and related tissues.

Chief Complaint: 51-year-old female admitted with a broken left leg, broken right wrist and right

shoulder pain

History: While playing the video game Phasmophobia using a Virtual Reality apparatus, Helen

Johnson, a 51-year-old female, fell and broke her left leg and right arm while trying to evade a

ghost that was hunting her. Helen turned quickly, began to fall, and as she fell, her left leg got

caught between two pieces of furniture and braced herself with her right arm when she landed.

An X-ray revealed that the leg fracture was a compound, tibial-fibular fracture just below the

knee and the arm fracture was a Colles Fracture. Further notes indicated that the X-ray also

revealed a torn meniscal cartilage in the knee above the fracture and complaint of right shoulder

pain but only soft tissue swelling and minor hematoma. The patient remained in the hospital for

14 days because of an infection of the leg in the area of skin breakage. Due to the minimal

displacement of the Colles Fracture and the infection of the leg, non-surgical treatment using a

plaster cast was initiated. Her immobilized leg was casted after the infection subsided. She

remained in a full leg-length cast for 3 months, after which the upper portion of the cast was

removed, and she could start bearing weight on the leg. The right arm fracture cast remained for

6 weeks. The bones ultimately healed, but the patient continued to have left knee swelling

("water on the knee") and pain made worse by walking. Arthroscopic examination of the knee

revealed a meniscus that was still torn 6 months after her injury. In addition, the patient later

complained that there was reduced functioning of her wrist following removal of the cast.

Examination revealed that the bone was unstable upon casting and did not heal evenly and that

surgery would likely have been beneficial.

Questions for you to address in your report.

1. Explain to your supervisor your summary of the patient’s complaint and background

history.

2. In your report, be sure to explain specifics about the location of fractures.

3. In your report address through researching the types of fractures and explain what you

researched about the types of fractures found in the patient history.

4. Explain why her injury to her leg was more likely to become infected than her injury to

her wrist.

5. In your report, you should investigate and describe the microscopic features of bone

tissue (especially long bones) that help them withstand lateral stress without breaking

and compressive forces without breaking.

6. Because this was a lower leg bone injury and lower arm injury, several joints were

involved in the event. Explain the features of the knee, wrist and shoulder that minimize

friction between bones and how they ultimately reduce the incidence of occurrence of

bone fractures.

7. Explain in your report the processes of bone healing you expect to happen for the

patient (how bone repairs itself).

8. You should include in your report how weight-bearing influences the bone repair

process.

9. Report why bones heal more quickly than cartilage and how the timeline for healing of

the various injured parts of her limbs for this patient.

10. Explain what the last sentence of the report means to you and provide a long term

outlook for the patient.