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Fracture

A fracture is a bone break.

Fractures may be described by the extent to which the bone has shattered:

• incomplete or ‘greenstick’ - not fully broken through but with a pattern resembling the outer splintering of a green stick when it is bent. Usually found in children.
• complete - broken cleanly into two pieces
• multiple - broken into more than two pieces
• comminuted - shattered into several bits
• transverse, oblique or spiral

In addition a fracture may be:

• simple or closed - where no fragment has penetrated the skin
• open or compound - where the skin has been pierced by a bone fragment, even if the bone has returned under the skin