Broken bones are less than common injuries in the sports arena. But when they do happen they are painful and require immediate medical attention. Stress fractures are injuries that aren’t really fractures at all but rather a splitting of the bone through overuse and stress.

Let’s examine the treatment of both compound fractures (in which the bone is protruding from the skin) and stress fractures.

Compound fractures

Compound fractures aren’t common sports injuries. More commonly athletes suffer from stress fractures or simple fractures. In a compound fracture the bone isn’t only broken but it is exposed to the air. The bone must be broken and exposed to air but it doesn’t have to the object that caused the open area to be called a compound fracture. For this reason these bone breaks are sometimes called open fractures.

Compound fractures are a break in the bone that usually results from a high impact stress to the bone but they can also be a result of weakened bones from certain treatments, cancer, or illnesses. However, in the case of sports injuries athletes have generally been cleared of illnesses or conditions that would weaken the bones before playing.