Definition
The distal radius fracture is the fracture of the distal radius, i.e. the part of the radius near the wrist. With about 25% of all fractures, the distal radius fracture is the most common fracture in humans. Affected are athletes, as well as elderly patients who fall due to various causes.
However, postmenopausal changes in the hormonal balance can also promote fractures. At just over 80%, the so-called Colles fracture is much more common than the Smith fracture. In a Colles fracture, the patient falls onto the dorsally extended hand.
The fracture fragment is dislocated dorsally and radially, i.e. towards the radius. The Smith fracture forms the counterpart to the Colles fracture, as it were, and describes a fall onto the downwardly bent, palmar-flected hand. The fracture fragment is moved to the palmar, i.e. towards the hand, and also radially (towards the spoke).
If a dislocation of the ulna (the ulna) occurs in addition to the radial fracture, this is called a galeazzi fracture. Traumatologically, the cause here is a fall on the outwardly turned forearm. In addition to the two above-mentioned, very common forms of distal radius fracture, there are other less common fractures which – named after their initial descriptors – have different names: In the chauffeur fracture, the styloid process is interrupted at the distal radius.
The styloid radial process is also called the styloid process in German, and refers to a small extension close to the wrist that surrounds the finger root bones at the sides. In Barton’s fracture, the upper part of the radial joint surface is also affected, so that – as in the case of the chauffeur fracture – it is referred to as an intra-articular fracture, i.e. a fracture involving the joint cavity. The anatomical, traumatological counterpart is the inverted Barton fracture, in which the lower part of the distal, radial joint surface is fractured. Both Barton fractures involve the articular cavity or joint, and are therefore referred to as intra-articular.
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