Question

I am writing a patient medical report on several different types of fractures. Can someone help me fill in the blanks with some more knowledge. Thanks!

Answer 1

Dr. Kevin G. Black
We welcome you to our practice!

Working in an orthopedic practice you see these types of fractures all the time. Let me explain them a little more in depth for you.

A closed fracture doesn’t puncture through the skin even though it’s still broken. Open fractures break through the skin. Sometimes these can be called complex fractures. Complicated fractures break through a nerve, artery or another joint.
An impacted fracture is when the bones ends are pushed into each other. These are more common among children. Greenstick fracture is when the bone is bent. It doesn’t break the whole way. These also occur more among children. Children also get spiral fractures. This is where the bone is twisted apart.
A hairline fracture is a stress fracture, and it is a small crack in the bone. Fissure fractures are kind of the same thing, but the crack extends from the surface into, but not through the bone.
A comminuted fracture happens when bone fragments into several pieces.
A Colles’ fracture happens when the area of the radius near the wrist breaks.
A complete fracture involves the entire section of the bone. An incomplete fracture is a break or rupture of the bone. An oblique fracture is one in which the break slopes. A butterfly is a bone break in which the center fragment contained by two cracks forms a triangle. A double fracture occurs when the bone is fractured in two sections.
A segmental fracture is when a bone breaks in which several large bone fragments separate from the main body of a fractured bone. The fragments can pierce the skin as if it were an open fracture or be kept inside the skin like a closed fracture.
Unstable fracture has a tendency to displace after reduction. It requires special treatment.
A vertebral compression fracture occurs when the bones of the spine become broken due to trauma. A fissure is breaking of a bone. A fragmental fracture one of the small pieces into which a larger entity has been broken. A complex fracture is more severe than the more common ones.