Types of Fractures

A fracture is a break in the continuity of bone and is defined according to its type and extent. Fractures occur when the bone is subjected to stress greater than it can absorb.

 

1. Simple (Closed): A fracture that remains contained; does not break the skin.

2. Compound (Open): A fracture in which damage also involves the skin or mucous membranes; also called an open fracture. Open fractures are graded according to the following criteria:

• Grade I is a clean wound less than 1 cm long.

• Grade II is a larger wound without extensive soft tissue damage.

• Grade III is highly contaminated, has extensive soft tissue damage, and is the most severe.

3. Avulsion: a fracture in which a fragment of bone has been pulled away by a ligament or tendon and its attachment.

4. Comminuted: a fracture in which bone has splintered into several fragments.

5. Compression: a fracture in which bone has been compressed (seen in vertebral fractures).

6. Depressed: a fracture in which fragments are driven inward (seen frequently in fractures of skull and facial bones).

7. Epiphyseal: a fracture through the epiphysis.

8. Greenstick: a fracture in which one side of a bone is broken and the other side is bent.

9. Impacted: a fracture in which a bone fragment is driven into another bone fragment.

10. Oblique: a fracture occurring at an angle across the bone (less stable than a transverse fracture).

11. Pathologic: a fracture that occurs through an area of diseased bone (eg, osteoporosis, bone cyst, Paget’s disease, bony metastasis, tumor); can occur without trauma or a fall.

12. Spiral: a fracture that twists around the shaft of the bone.

13. Stress: a fracture that results from repeated loading without bone and muscle recovery.

14. Transverse: a fracture that is straight across the bone.

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Fractures by Name

Wrist Fractures

• Colles' Fracture : Fracture of the distal radius.

• Barton Fracture : Fracture of the distal radius.

• Smith Fracture : Fracture of the distal radius.

• Hutchinson Fracture : Intra-articular fractures of the radial styloid process.

Thumb Fractures

• Bennet Fracture : Fracture of the base of the thumb resulting from forced abduction of the first metacarpal.

• Rolando Fracture : Intra articular comminuted fracture of base of first metacarpal.

Toddler's Fracture : Undisplaced spiral fracture of distal tibia in children under 8 years old.

Runner's Fracture : Stress fracture of distal fibula 3–8 cm above the lateral malleolus.

Boxer's Fracture : Fracture of neck of little metacarpal. Ventrally displaced fracture through the neck of 5th Metacarpal, usually occurs in boxers.

Jones Fracture : Extra-articular fracture at the base of the fifth metatarsal.

Hangman's Fracture : Fracture of the "Axis" in the cervical region.

Chauffeur Fracture : An intraarticular, oblique fracture of the styloid process of the radius.

Bullet shaped vertebrae : Seen in Achondroplasia and Congenital hypothyroidism.

Montegia Fracture-dislocation : Fracture of upper third of ulna with dislocation of head of the radius.

 

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