Distal Radius Fractures for Surgeons

Description: Update of Dr Nelson's eMedicine article
Synonyms
Colles' fracture, Pouteau's fracture, Smith fracture, volar Barton's fracture, chauffeur's fracture, broken wrist.
Distal radius fractures (DRFs) in the time of Hippocrates and Galen were thought to be wrist dislocations. Pouteau first varied from this tradition when he described a variety of forearm fractures in the French literature, including a DRF. As a result, DRFs are termed Pouteau fractures in the French-speaking world. However, politics and communications being what they were, the English-speaking world did not recognize the description.
The Irish surgeon Abraham Colles (pronounced "Collis") described DRFs in the 1814 volume of the Edinburgh Medical Surgical Journal. Colles based his descriptions on clinical examinations alone. Despite this limitation, his description of the fracture itself is quite accurate and his name is most often associated with this fracture in the English-speaking world. Colles stated "One consolation only remains, that the limb will at some remote period again enjoy perfect freedom in all of its motions and be completely exempt from pain..." This claim that all DRFs, despite displacement, fare well has been a source of criticism. Illustrated full text article with key references