A broken or
cracked bone is known as a fracture. Fractures can
affect any bone in the body.
Bones can
fracture in a number of different ways. A fracture may
be a straight break across the bone (transverse
fracture), slanting (oblique fracture) or winding
(spiral fracture). The break may run along the shaft of
the bone (longitudinal fracture), or the bone may be
shattered into pieces (comminuted fracture). Young bone
is softer and more able to bend than adult bone, so
childrens bones often fracture on one side but bend on
the other - known as a greenstick
fracture.
An avulsion
fracture is when a piece of bone detaches from the main
bone, usually because of being torn away by the tendon
that attaches a muscle to a bone. A fracture in which
the bone collapses is called a compression fracture.
Compression fractures usually affect the spongy bone
found in the spine.
A fracture
in which the skin around the bone has not been broken is
called a simple or closed fracture. If the ends of the
bone break through the skin, or there is a wound that
leads to the fractured bone, it is called a compound or
open fracture. In a compound fracture the bone is open
to infection, so this type of fracture is more
serious.
A
complicated fracture is one in which there is injury to
other nearby structures, such as major blood vessels and
nerves. A fracture-dislocation occurs when a joint
becomes dislocated and there is also a fracture of one
of the bones of the joint.
After a
fracture, the broken fragments of bone normally separate
from each other. However, sometimes one fragment of bone
can be driven into another. This is known as an impacted
fracture.
