9781422284957

Dr. Williams put two sets of X- rays up on the screen of her laptop. “Here is the broken radius at the time you broke it,” she said, point- ing at the first X-ray. “And here is the X-ray they took today. Yes, it does seem to be healing quite well.” Putting aside the computer, she turned back to Rania and her mother. “Looks good to me.” Rania’s mother had a question. “Doctor. How did it heal that fast? I know when my brother broke his leg last winter skiing, it took months for it to completely heal.” “That’s a good question. It’s important to remember that bones are living. They grow and develop as Rania grows. There are basically three parts to a bone. In the middle of the bone is the marrow . Marrow is a type of tissue . Some marrow makes blood cells, different marrow stores fat that is used as energy. “Surrounding the marrow is what is known as spongy bone. This part of the bone actually does look like a sponge—it has a lot of small holes in it. It is very lightweight but is super strong. The outer layer of the bone is called compact bone. This part of the bone is hard and dense with nerves and blood vessels running through it.” “So will my arm be weaker now?” Rania wanted to know. “Actually, it might be stronger, believe it or not. Not that I am encouraging broken bones or marrow the innermost part of a bone where red blood cells are produced tendon connective tissue that attaches muscle to bone tissue group of similar cells that perform the same function in the body Words to Understand

These X-rays show before and after images of broken arm bones. On the left, the fracture is visible. On the right, healed bones.

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