L4.5.2: Types of Fractures

• • Comminuted
  • Compression
  • Depressed
  • Impacted
  • Spiral
  • Greenstick
• COMMINUTED

  ● Bone breaks into 3 or more fragments

  ● Particularly common in older people, whose bones are more brittle
• COMPRESSION

  ● Bone is crushed

  ● Common in porous bones (i.e., osteoporotic bones of older people)
• DEPRESSED

  ● Broken bone portion is pressed inward

  ● Typical of skull fracture
• IMPACTED

  ● Broken bone ends are forced into each other

  ● Commonly occurs when someone attempts to break a fall with outstretched arms
• SPIRAL

  ● Ragged break occurs when excessive twisting forces are applied to a bone

  ● Common sports fracture
• GREENSTICK

  ● Bone breaks incompletely, much in the way a green twig breaks

  ● Common in children, whose bones are more flexible than those of adults