health

A fracture is a break in a bone. It may extend only partway through the
bone (called a partial fracture) or be a complete break that goes the whole
way across the bone.

Fractures can be classified in several different ways. They may be
categorized by the body part or specific bone that is broken, or by certain
characteristics of the fracture:

• Simple fracture: The bone is broken in only one place.
  
• Multi-fragmentary (also called comminuted) fracture: The bone is
  broken in several places and there are at least three bone fragments.
  
• Closed fracture: The skin over the injury is not broken.
• Open (also called compound) fracture: The skin has been cut open
  over the fracture. The bone may or may not be visible through
  the wound.
  
• Greenstick fracture: The bone is broken on one side while the
  other side is bent. This type of fracture takes its name from the
  typical breakage pattern of a green tree limb.
  
• Undisplaced fracture: The pieces of the broken bone are aligned.
  
• Displaced fracture: The pieces of the broken bone are not in alignment.
  
• Stress fracture (also called hairline fracture): A thin partial break
  in a bone caused by repeated stress on the body part. Stress fractures
  are most likely to occur in athletes.
  
• Compression fracture: A fracture that occurs in the spine of a person
  with osteoporosis. The front part of a vertebra collapses
  because the bone has been weakened by loss of calcium.