The Facts About Broken Bones

Your bones are tough stuff - but even tough stuff can break. Like a wooden pencil, bones will bend under strain. But if the pressure is too much, or too sudden, bones can snap. You can break a bone by falling off a skateboard or crashing down from the monkey bars.

When a bone breaks it is called a fracture. There's more than one way to break or fracture a bone. A break can be anything from a hairline fracture (a thin break in the bone) to the bone that's snapped in two pieces like a broken tree branch.

Doctors describe fractures in the following ways:

• A complete fracture is when the bone has broken into two pieces.
• A greenstick fracture is when the bone cracks on one side only, not all the way through.
• A single fracture is when the bone is broken in one place.
• A comminuted fracture is when the bone is broken into more than two pieces or crushed.
• A bowing fracture, which only happens in kids, is when the bone bends but doesn't break.
• An open fracture is when the bone is sticking through the skin.

Source: http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/ill_injure/aches/broken_bones.html