15 Common Causes of Comminuted Fracture

Most of us are familiar with the concept of a broken bone. This occurs whenever a bone is subject to enough force, stress, or impact in order to break. That break can, in turn, be either a full break that actually snaps the bone in half, or just a slight fracture. 

Even within these two broad categories, there are many other types of fracture defined by the shape of break, the severity, and the cause.

One slightly lesser-known type of fracture, for instance, is the “comminuted fracture.” 

A comminuted fracture is essentially a break or a splinter of the bone into more than two fractures. In other words, rather than breaking across the middle of a long bone, the bone might be crushed into lots of smaller parts, or it might be broken cleanly across two separate lines. Either way, this creates new challenges for doctors and surgeons, and potentially introduces additional symptoms and complications.

Comminuted fractures can therefore also be defined as other types of fracture. They might also be compound fractures for instance, or compression fractures.

In this post, we will explore the different causes of comminuted fracture, and how such severe damage can occur.

1. Fall

Falling is a very common cause of any kind of fracture and this can even be as simple as a trip. What many of us don’t realize is how potentially dangerous a fall can be.

You might be surprised to learn that simply tripping on a flat surface such as a pavement or tiles can be enough to cause serious injury that might even prove life threatening. Many things can make a fall more serious. 

For example, landing awkwardly from even a small height can cause bones to bend in the wrong direction and snap. One of the most common causes of a comminuted fracture is raising your arms in front of you to prevent hurting your face, only to then bend your arms in the wrong direction.

Another issue is that you might hit yourself on something else such as a wall, a cupboard etc. on the way to the ground. 

All these issues can be further compounded should you fall from a height, or on an uneven surface. For example, falling downstairs can commonly cause a number of very severe injuries.