2. What is a Fracture?
• An injury to a bone that causes it to break.
• There are many type of fractures.
• The type of forces or trauma applied to the bone may determine
what type of injury that occurs.
• Fractures are named to describe the type of damage to the bone.
– Where in the bone the break has occurred
– How the bone fragments are aligned
– Whether any complications exist
– Whether the skin is intact
3. Greenstick Fracture
• Fracture in which there is an
incomplete break.
• One side of the bone is broken
and the other side is bent.
• This type of fracture is commonly
found in children due to their
softer and more pliable bone
structure.
• A common cause of a greenstick
fracture is a fall, as falls can cause
a bone to bend further than it is
able too.
4. Compound Fracture
• Fracture in which the skin has
been broken through to the
fracture (also called an open
fracture).
• Open fractures are typically
caused by high-energy injuries
such as car crashes, falls, or
sports injuries.
• An open fractures often
require immediate surgery to
clean the area of the injury.
5. Colles‘ (COL-eez) Fracture
• A Colles' fracture is often called a ''broken
wrist.''
• It's a break in the larger of the two bones in
your forearm. The bone breaks on the lower
end, close to where it connects to the bones
of the hand on the thumb side of the wrist.
• Colles' fractures are very common; they're
the most frequently broken bone in the
arm.
• Injuries result from falling onto an
outstretched arm or getting hit on the wrist.
• Broken wrists are common in people who
play contact sports, as well as skiers, inline
skaters, and bikers.
6. Sources
• Medical Terminology: A Living Language by Bonnie F.
Fremgen and Suzanne S. Frucht, 4th Edition, Prentice Hall
Publishing, 2009
• Human Anatomy and Physiology by Elaine N. Marieb and
Katja Hoehn, 8th Edition, Pearson, 2010
Pictures are taken from:
• http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=ii
