Growing up I always heard the same adage when I broke a bone, 鈥淒on鈥檛 worry it鈥檒l grow back stronger鈥�. But is that really true?
Bone healing is less of an absolute state of 鈥榟ealed鈥� or 鈥榖roken鈥�, and more of a continuum from 鈥榥ot healed to quite healed鈥�. The is pretty complicated, but can be broken into 3 phases: The reactive phase (during which the area around the break swells), the reparative phase (during which the membrane that covers your bone converts itself into bone and cartilage cells and starts bridges the gap between broken bone segments) and the remodelling phase (wherein the trabecular or temporary bone is replaced with compact permanent bone). It鈥檚 this last phase that complicates saying when a bone is healed, because it can take between 3 weeks and 5 years!
During the reparative phase a mineral deposit at the site of the break is formed called a . This calcium collection is really strong, so, while the bone is healing there is a period when the break site is stronger than it ever has been. But, the rest of the bone surrounding the break site actually demineralizes because of inactivity (since you鈥檙e probably in a cast). So the bone overall weakens during the healing process.
When all is said and done the bone will return to basically the strength it was before you fell off your bike, no stronger, or weaker.
