What is a bone graft and how is it done?

There are four most common reasons to have a bone graft done including multiple fractures, a damaged joint that needs to be repaired, bone regeneration from a disease or injury, and for healing bones following a surgery to install medical devices like hip or knee replacements.

Most all of bone grafting has been done using the persons own tissues and bones. Under 20% of all bone grafts contain artificial bone substitutes. Many bone grafts use tissues from a tissue bank from cadavers and donors if you do not have enough in your hips, pelvis or ribs. If you happen to wipe out when skiing, snowboarding or wake boarding this year you could wind up busting a bone and requiring pins, screws and a bone graft.

There are many reasons you may need help from bone graft companies. If you have had multiple breaks that don’t seem to be healing well you could require a bone graft to speed up healing and ensure your bones heal strong and sturdily. If you have spine conditions you may need a fusion treatment to help fuse bones together. Regeneration is used to bring back lost bone tissue from a disease, infection, or injury that causes bone loss. If you happen to get a device placed inside of your body you can have a graft done to make the bone heal around it and create the strength your body needs.

The process of getting a skin graft is quite simple and bone graft companies have come up with the highest quality bone grafting technology, tools and equipment to do them. The doctor will choose which type you need and you will put to sleep and prepped for surgery. The surgeon will then cut an incision where the bone graft surgery is required and shape the bone repair piece to fit the area. The graft is then placed with pins, screws, wires or cables. Once the bone is in place the surgeon will stitch the area up and depending on the area it may be casted. Most of the time no casting is necessary and you will be able to leave and given further instructions.

The bone graft companies can give further instructions on care as well as your surgery team. After surgery it is recommended that you take it easy just like any other surgery. Depending on where your surgery was and how big it was you could be taking it easy for up to a year. You will be icing your wound and elevating it to keep the blood flowing and the swelling down. Exercising the areas of the body surrounding the surgery is a great idea to maintain a healthy body and maintain good blood flow and circulation. A healthy diet and quitting smoking will help with the healing process and get you back to your old self.