SKELETAL SYSTEM CASE STUDY

Chief Complaint: 14-year-old girl admitted with a broken left leg.

History: Laurie, a 14-year-old girl, was skiing when she fell and broke her left leg. As she fell, her left leg got caught under the body of another skier who ran into her. An X-ray revealed that the fracture was a compound, tibial fracture just below the knee. The X-ray also revealed a torn meniscus cartilage in the knee above the fracture. The doctors were concerned that Laurie had broken her lower leg bone at the metaphysis. The girl remained in the hospital for 14 days because of an infection of the leg in the area of skin breakage. 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 was allowed to start bearing weight on the leg. The bones ultimately healed, but the girl 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.

Part 1 34

1. List and briefly describe all of the functions of bones for the human body. Where possible (and next to it) write down the part of the bone responsible for that function (ex: blood cell production  red marrow) 4 ______

2. What are the 3 types of bone cells and what are their functions? 3 ______

3. Contrast compact and spongy bone. 6  How do they look different? ______ Where in the bone are they found? ______

 What are their different functions? ______

4. What kind of marrow would you find in the medullary (marrow) cavity? 1 ______

 What is the function of the marrow found in the medullary cavity? 1 ______

5. What kind of marrow would you find in the spaces of spongy bone? 1 ______

 What is the function of the marrow found in the spongy bone spaces (what is the scientific name of that function)? 1 ______6. Label the femur that has been cut in the coronal plane and label the following terms on it: metaphysis (epiphyseal plate), epiphysis, diaphysis, articular cartilage, medullary cavity, spongy bone and compact bone 7

7. Label the 2 drawings of the femur (one with a coronal cut view, and one a cross section view after a transverse cut) with all of the following on each drawing: periosteum, endosteum, compact bone, spongy bone and medullary cavity 5 8. Bone under the microscope. Label the following in the microscopic picture of compact bone (osteon, Haversian canal, lacunae with ostecocytes inside, canaliculi, lamellae). For the spongy bone, the trabeculae are already labeled for you 5