Fractures Without Significant Trauma

Description: The circumstance of fracture without any history of significant trauma is not uncommon. Whenever you get this history, a red flag should pop up in your visual cortex and a bell should go off in your auditory tracts.
Generally, the differential diagnosis here is fairly logical. The thing to remember is that a bone needs a reason to break. Usually, that reason is that a substantial force has been applied to the bone. If there is no evidence of such a force, we must look for some other reason. To do this, you must first answer two questions: 1) did the fracture occur through normal or abnormal bone; 2) is there normal or decreased amount of bone present?