Fractures - Common Conditions

If more pressure is put on a bone than it can stand, it will split or break. A break of any size is called a fracture. If the broken bone punctures the skin, it is called an open fracture (compound fracture).

A stress fracture is a hairline crack in the bone that develops because of repeated or prolonged forces against the bone. 

• Oblique - a fracture which goes at an angle to the axis
• Comminuted - a fracture of many relatively small fragments
• Spiral - a fracture which runs around the axis of the bone
• Compound - a fracture (also called open) which breaks the skin