health

Most fractures result from some kind of trauma, most often a fall, highimpact
blow, or other accident. Athletes can develop stress fractures from
overexercise, however, and people with osteoporosis can develop compression
fractures from the simple weight of the spinal column on the
lower back with little or no trauma.

With the exception of stress and compression fractures, people can
often hear a bone snap or break when it fractures. The classic symptoms
of a fracture are:

• Intense pain
  
• Affected body part looks misshapen or out of place
  
• Numbness or a tingling sensation
  
• Swelling, bruising, or bleeding of surrounding skin
  
• Difficulty in moving affected part or complete inability to
  move it

In stress fractures, the patient usually has no history of trauma but
complains of pain in the affected part of the body that has come on gradually
and gets worse during activity.