Orthobiologics for Fracture Healing in the Athlete

Physiological studies on bone repair and its mechanisms represent a primary step to better understand the problems that can arise during callus formation and fracture healing. The present chapter focuses on the use of orthobiologics in fracture healing for the athlete, reporting the present evidence from studies of the biological tissues regeneration, with a view to establish possible uses of molecular and cell therapies, to decrease the time for bone repair and manage fracture non-unions. We also consider the problem of bone defects, secondary to cysts or tumors, which may have to be approached differently, according to their size. Another important point is the structure of the grafts used, keeping in mind how the architecture of cancellous and cortical bone influences the ability to develop structures capable to resist to the mechanical stress to which the human bone is normally exposed. Orthobiologics represents a wide research field, but more studies are needed to understand its possible routine therapeutic use.