Use Intermountain Connect Care®
Learn More.
Some symptoms of a tibial fracture can include:
Tibial fractures need to be treated quickly or the leg may not heal properly. If you suspect you have a fractured tibia, seek medical help right away.
Open fractures, the kind where the bone can be seen after the break occurs, need to be treated as emergencies.
Make sure your healthcare provider knows exactly what happened when your leg was injured, and tell them if you had any other injuries at the same time that your tibia was fractured. You should also tell your healthcare provider about any allergies you may have, especially to certain medicines or latex.
Tibial fractures can be caused by:
If your healthcare provider thinks you might have a tibial fracture, they will start by doing a physical exam. During this exam, they will look at your leg and press on the injured area to find out if the bone is fractured and what kind of break it is.
Some fractures can be diagnosed with a physical exam alone, but in these cases your healthcare provider still might want to do imaging tests to take pictures of the bone and figure out the best treatment for you. Imaging tests include:
Treatment options for tibial fractures can include:
While some tibial fractures can’t be prevented, you can lower your risk of injury by following these steps:
A tibial [TIB-ee-uhl] fracture is when you either partially or completely break your shinbone. There are two kinds of fractures:
Tibia fractures may happen at the same time as a fracture of the fibula, which is the long, thin bone that runs along the tibia to connect to the knee.