Fragility fracture

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In traumatology, a fragility fracture is a bone fracture that occurs as a result of a fall from standing height or less. There are three fracture sites said to be typical of fragility fractures: vertebral fractures, fractures of the neck of the femur and Colles fracture of the wrist. This definition arises because a normal human being ought to be able to fall from standing height without breaking any bones, and a fracture therefore suggests weakness of the skeleton. As long as other pathologies are excluded (for example, cancer), then a fragility fracture is diagnostic of osteoporosis irrespective of bone mineral density.

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Last updated on Wednesday January 16, 2008 at 08:20:25 PST (GMT -0800)
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