Fractured or broken?

[whitehill]

I always thought that fractured meant broken, so whether you had a fractured arm or a broken arm, it was the same thing. But a couple of my friends persist in saying that fractured is less serious than broken and that it means a cracked bone, rather than broken. It's just a silly little thing that has niggled me for ages, so when this came up again yesterday, I thought I would get a definitive answer!

[sqad617]

Definitive answer......fracture and broken are synonymous.

[sqad617]

Wikipedia is WRONG.

[sqad617]

Hi zac

"Isn't google wunnerful?

Only if it is factually correct."

[whifffey]

There are degrees of brokenness. For example if your femur is snapped completely in two and sticking out of your leg that is a compound fracture, whereas a common occurrence in kids where the bones are more flexible, is a greenstick, so named because it's similar to what happens when you bend a green stick. Also Colles fractures, Scaphoid, etc.

They're all broken.

[sqad617]

and fractured.

[sqad617]

LOL LOl LO no problem...Sir sqad please.

[ummmm]

And let me tell you something. I fractured my hand and the pain was akin to childbirth. I broke my fingers and it wasn't.

Why is that???

[luxury]

Hi Whitehill,

Definition of fractures:

http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.co m/fracture

Definition of broken:

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Broken+

:D L.

[sqad617]

Zac.....are but are the nurses still doing a "turn?"

[sqad617]

Good, so b0llocks to reclassification of fractures.

[mrs_overall]

I have a broken (not fractured) heart since sqad stood me up in Malton at the weekend.

[sqad617]

Olive....stood you up?............well I had to as you could not stand up on your own.

Great time though eh!.............O'sexy one.

[whitehill]

Thank you all for your answers - tho' there does seem some disagreement! I think my friends are thinking of greenstick fractures rather than clean break fractures, so I expect they will stick to their view and I to mine and it will go on niggling me!

[sqad617]

whitehill...there may be some disagreement in the posts, but by initial answer is the correct medical one.

[paraffin]

When I sustained a greenstick fracture of the wrist I was told that the bone wasn't completely broken.

Mind you that was several days after my GP had diagnosed a sprained wrist!

[ethandron]

one of the words used to describe 'fractured' in the dictionary, is 'broken'.
one of the words used to describe 'broken', is 'fractured'.
one and the same thing, but the general perception by non medical people, in relation to bones, is that fractured means cracked rather than snapped completely.