Diet taboos after fracture surgery

Don’t believe the rumors about bone broth supplementing calcium. Don’t eat foods that are high in oil, salt, and sugar and put a burden on your body. Don’t touch foods that are clearly known to affect blood coagulation, calcium absorption, or that you are allergic to. As for the widely circulated “fat food taboos” and “definitely not eating spinach/coffee”, in fact, it all depends on the situation, and there is no unified standard answer.

I don't say this casually. Uncle Zhang who lived in the ward a while ago fell into the trap of supplementing soup. My son was a filial son, and he started to cook bone soup every day on the third day after the operation. The oil on the surface was not skimmed off. Uncle Zhang drank it for two weeks. During the follow-up examination, the bone callus did not grow much, but the blood fat increased by three points. He was also constipated to the point that he had to use a detox to smoothen the soup. In fact, many people don't know that the calcium in bone broth is almost insoluble in water. The calcium content in a bowl of thick bone broth is not as good as half a cup of warm milk. The white floating layer is full of fat. The gastrointestinal motility is slow when lying in bed. Drinking it puts a burden on the body. There are also people who take three or four calcium tablets and protein powder one day after surgery. The most exaggerated aunt I have ever seen took three cans of protein powder in half a month, and her uric acid soared to 560, which almost caused gout, but delayed the recovery progress.

When it comes to taboos, the one that cannot be avoided is what the older generation often calls "fading things." I have to explain this problem to the patients' families 800 times every time I make ward rounds. From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, foods such as seafood, beef, mutton, and mango are indeed easy to trigger the release of histamine. If the patient is allergic, or the wound is red, swollen and exuding, trying to avoid it in the first week after surgery can indeed reduce the risk of inflammatory reaction. ； But from the perspective of modern evidence-based medicine, as long as you are not allergic or uncomfortable eating these foods, these foods are a high-quality source of high-quality protein. Sufficient protein is the core raw material for wound and bone tissue healing. There is no need to avoid eating them at all. I managed a young man last year who broke his arm after a hip-hop break. After the operation, he loved to eat steamed shrimp, three or four times a week. His wound healed faster than the patients in the same ward who deliberately avoided "hair-raising".

There are also some small details that many people don’t pay attention to, and they don’t know why if they step on the trap. 上周刚接了个急诊，小伙子踝关节骨折术后两周刚拆完线，觉得自己没事了，跟朋友出去撸串喝了三瓶冰啤酒，第二天伤口周围肿得跟发面馒头似的，疼得直冒冷汗连夜跑过来。 Alcohol will dilate blood vessels and aggravate edema, and it will also inhibit the activity of osteoblasts. Do not touch it for at least 3 months after surgery. There are also people who have lost their appetite just after surgery, so their family members give them pickles and bacon to eat. Patients with lower limb fractures are prone to poor venous return. High sodium will aggravate the body's water and sodium retention, causing swelling to the point where a cast is stuck, and recovery will definitely be slow.

As for "can't drink coffee" and "can't eat spinach" posted on the Internet, they are actually over-interpretations. As long as the daily caffeine intake does not exceed 300mg (about 2 cups of American coffee), it will not affect calcium absorption at all. People who usually drink coffee every day do not need to quit suddenly after surgery, but it will affect their mood. The same goes for spinach. As long as you blanch it in boiling water for 1 minute in advance, more than 80% of the oxalic acid can be removed. You don’t have to eat it with high-calcium foods. Eating more can also supplement dietary fiber, which can just relieve the constipation problem after lying down for a long time. It is gentler than taking any laxative.

In fact, the patients I have met in the past few years who have recovered well after surgery do not have so many rules and regulations, and they do not take ridiculously expensive supplements every day. They just make different home-cooked meals, eat more eggs, lean beef, fresh fruits and vegetables, and occasionally have a craving for a small cake or a braised meat. If you are really unsure about what you can and cannot eat, asking the nurse or doctor in charge of the bed directly is more reliable than watching ten short health videos.