Mercer – Bucks Orthopaedics Compassionate & Comprehensive Patient Care
Heel Spur
A Spiral Fracture is a fracture which "spirals" within the shaft of a long bone and usually reflects a torsional force applied to the long bone rather than direct injury. Torsional forces are not uncommon in accidental trauma when particularly the extremity is fixed, e.g. a fall with a fixed foot. This is the usual explanation for the spiral tibial fracture seen in infants and toddlers who have recently started to cruise or walk. In contrast, spiral fractures of the humeral shaft are suspicious for non accidental trauma with torsional forces applied as the arm is twisted. On radiographs it may not be possible to distinguish between an oblique and spiral fracture and the fracture pattern projected may depend on the projection.
