1. Bone Fractures,
Diagnosis, Treatment, and
Repair

2. General Fracture Classification
• Open or compound - bone protrudes out of skin
• Closed or simple - bone does not break through
skin
• Complete - bone separates into two fragments
• Incomplete - bone does not separate into two
fragments
• According to direction of fracture - linear,
transverse, oblique

3. Specific Fracture Classification
• Green-stick fracture -
an incomplete
fracture in which one
side of the bone
breaks and the other
side bends; happens
mainly in children

4. Specific Fracture Classification
• Comminuted fracture
- a fracture in which
the bone breaks into
more than two
fragments; usually
caused by severe
forces

5. Specific Fracture Classification
• Impacted fracture -
one end of the
fracture is forcefully
driven into the interior
of the other

6. Specific Fracture Classification
• Stress fracture - fracture
without being visibly
broken; microscopic
fissures in bone that
forms without any
evidence of injury to other
tissues; caused by
repeated strenuous
activity (ex: running)

7. Specific Fracture Classification
• Spiral fracture -
fracture spirals down
the bone; caused by a
twisting force that
creates an oblique
fracture around and
through the bone

8. X-rays and Pictures of Fractures

9. X-rays and Pictures of Fractures

10. Symptoms of Bone Fractures
• Pain
• Swelling
• Loss of function to area
• Deformity of a limb
• Sometimes there is bruising from internal
bleeding

11. Diagnosing Bone Fractures
• X-rays of injured area
• Some fractures are
difficult to see in an x-
ray, so a CT scan,
MRI, or other bone
scans are used

12. Treatment of Fractures
• There are two main types of
treatments:
 External fixation - casts
 Internal fixation - surgery
 Wires - used on small fractures
 Plates - hold two lengths of bone
together with screws
 Nails or rods - placed in centers of
long bones and held in place with
screws
 Screws - most common method;
used by self or with other items

13. Internal Fixation Examples

14. Internal Fixation Examples

15. Healing of Fractures
• Healing time varies for each individual
• Healing time also depends on:
 Which bone was broken
 Severity of the break
 Age of individual
 Bones take longer to heal the older that we get

16. Bone Repair
When bone breaks, so do the blood
vessels that supply the bone
1) a clot forms in the damaged area
2) blood vessels and cells invade the clot
and produce a fibrous network and
cartilage between broken bones
(callus)
3) osteoblasts enter callus and begin
forming cancellous bone
4) Cancellous bone is remodeled to form
compact and cancellous bone; repair
is complete