The Person With Orthopaedic Pathology in a Context of Fragility: A Particular Reflection To Nursing Care

Abstract

A person with an orthopedic incident has different responses to this debilitating event. If we talk about elders, the capacity to resist this or new acute events may be diminished, either because there’s low resilience or even an established state of fragility. The musculoskeletal system, in older age, is associated with many unavoidable changes, such as decrease in the number of myocardial cells, collagen levels and muscle mass. This leads to increased morbidity and mortality. There are several events that create a physiological stress to an older person, which may generate outcomes such as low self-esteem, fragility, a state of disability, slow recovering trajectories and others. This events may be osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, fractures and even sarcopenia. Nurses should, first of all, think of a preventive chain, being awarte of the só called “sentinel events”, like fractures. Physical rehabilitation, early mobilization and anticipaton of self-care may be crucial interventions for nursing care in this context.