What should we eat after fracture surgery?

In the orthopedic ward of a hospital, you can always hear patients asking doctors: Doctor! I just had surgery. What should I eat to help me recover? What should I eat today? Let's talk about the impact of food on fractures.

1. Will drinking this big bone soup (pork rib soup, pig's trotter soup, chicken soup, etc.) make your bones grow faster?

First of all, we need to understand what is needed for wound healing and callus growth after surgery. Modern medicine has proven that the regeneration of damaged bones depends on the function of bone marrow and periosteum, which repair damaged bone tissue under the action of collagen. Bone soup can only provide inorganic salts, calcium, phosphorus and a large amount of fat, etc., and cannot provide the above nutrients required for growth.

2 “Like cures like”, eat what hurts you?

Eating pig's trotters when your legs are injured, or eating chicken wings when your hands are injured, is actually unreasonable. It is correct to supplement high-quality protein, but there is no evidence that the nutritional content of pig's trotters and chicken wings is different from other parts, and excessive intake of fat may increase the burden on the liver. Some time ago, CCTV exposed the black market trade of eating "human flesh" for tonic. I hope that the ridiculous sky-high prices of blind tonic products such as "placenta capsules" will not happen again.

3 Bone growth requires calcium, so you should keep eating dried shrimps, eggs, calcium tablets, and soy milk?

First of all, calcium obtained from food is poorly absorbed by the human body. It needs to go through a complex process before it is used. A large number of molecular calcium tablets on the market are even ineffective and can easily lead to stones. With the improvement of the quality of life, fracture patients do not have calcium deficiency, so there is no special significance for calcium supplementation with medicine or food. The calcium obtained from normal food is enough for the patient's body. Appropriate outdoor activities and sunbathing can enhance calcium absorption.

4 Pig skin, fish skin, and donkey-hide gelatin are all rich in collagen, which can repair wounds and reduce scars?

Animal skins do contain a lot of collagen, but because the molecules are too large, they cannot be absorbed and utilized by the human body, let alone reduce scar hyperplasia. Digesting these animal skins consumes a lot of energy, which is not conducive to wound healing. In order to cover up the fishy smell of animal skins, merchants still prepare a lot of seasonings to cover up the processing, which puts pressure on the patient's digestive system.

5 Drinking a small amount of alcohol can promote blood circulation and help bone growth?

In 2016, the GBD Alcohol Research Group concluded that the optimal amount of alcohol intake for humans is 0. Even a drop of alcohol will delay the metabolism of bone tissue, not to mention patients who have just undergone surgery. A large amount of alcohol stimulation can also cause adverse interference to the nervous system, causing delayed or even non-healing of wounds. Alcohol may also change the properties of some drugs, reduce their efficacy, and interfere with doctors' diagnosis and treatment.

6We have mentioned so many things that cannot be eaten, so what should patients with fractures eat?

In the early stage (hematoma formation stage, organization stage), patients have severe pain, redness, swelling and fever. We can drink more water, supplement various vitamins, high-quality protein and dietary fiber, such as fish, egg white, leafy vegetables and fruits with low sugar content. Some patients are immobilized in bed for a long time, and intestinal peristalsis is weakened. Dietary fiber can help defecation and prevent constipation. Avoid eating glutinous rice products that are easy to cause constipation, peppers that are easy to get angry, fried foods, tropical fruits that are easy to cause allergies, seafood, etc. Friends with diabetes must strictly control blood sugar, reduce the intake of sugar from rice, fruits, etc., to prevent high blood sugar from causing wounds to not heal.

In the later stages of fracture recovery (callus formation stage, callus shaping stage), bone tissue is reshaped and limb swelling gradually disappears. Appropriate supplementation of calcium and protein is needed. High-quality beef, mutton, low-fat milk, soy products, etc. can provide the nutrients needed by the human body. A high-protein, low-salt diet should accompany the entire recovery period.

7 Studies have shown that moderate exercise can significantly help restore the toughness and strength of bone tissue.

Appropriate and safe exercise can provide appropriate stress, which will make the structure of trabeculae (the basic unit of bone tissue) more stable, making the fracture site more resilient during repair, reducing the possibility of re-fracture, and enhancing proprioception, reducing the risk of falling again. Exercise can also improve blood circulation and reduce limb swelling and discomfort.

A proper diet can help orthopedic patients recover better. It allows us to eat healthily, recover as soon as possible, return to our families, and return to society.