Broken bones

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A bone break or crack (fracture) occurs when a force deforms the bone beyond its normal elastic limit. Excessive force will fracture any bone, but one that has been generally weakened by a disease such as osteoporosis, or locally weakened by a tumour or cyst, will fracture more easily. Such a fracture is called a pathological fracture. Fractures may affect any bone in the body.

A fracture may be a straight break across the bone (transverse), slanting (oblique) or winding (spiral), or the bone may be shattered into pieces (comminuted). Transverse fractures are often harder to align and immobilise than apparently more serious oblique or spiral fractures. Young bone, subjected to bending stress, often fractures on one side but bends on the other, and is known as a greenstick fracture.

An avulsion fracture can occur when a piece of bone detaches from the main bone usually because of being torn by the tendon attaching muscle to bone. A compression fracture is a result of the crushing of spongy bone such as that found in the spine.

A simple fracture is one in which the overlying skin and soft tissue is intact and only the bone is significantly injured. In a compound fracture, the fractured bone is exposed and may be infected so is much more serious.

A complicated fracture is one associated with injury to other nearby structures such as major blood vessels and nerves. A fracture dislocation occurs across a joint and involves abnormal displacement of the joint surfaces from one another.