An avulsion fracture is where a tendon or ligament tears off a bone, taking a fragment of the bone away with it.
Easily missed
The bony fragment of an avulsion fracture may be easily missed on X-ray. Common avulsions include tibial tubercle avulsion and tibial spine avulsion.
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CLINICAL PUBLICATIONS
The Segond Fracture Is an Avulsion of the Anterolateral Complex. Shaikh H, Herbst E, Rahnemai-Azar AA, Bottene Villa Albers M, Naendrup JH, Musahl V, Irrgang JJ and Fu FH. Am J Sports Med. 2017 Aug;45(10):2247-2252. doi: 10.1177/0363546517704845. Epub 2017 May 12.
Open Reduction and Internal Fixation of Isolated Posterior Cruciate Ligament Avulsion Fractures: Clinical and Functional Outcome. Joshi S, Bhatia C, Gondane A, Rai A, Singh S and Gupta S. Knee Surg Relat Res. 2017 Sep; 29(3): 210–216.