What is a Colles fracture?

What is a Colles fracture?

A Colles fracture is a type of broken wrist (fracture). It’s also called a distal (away from the center of the body) fracture with dorsal angulation (an upward angle). A Colles fracture is a very painful and serious injury. Go to your nearest emergency department if you suspect you have any type of wrist fracture.

Colles fractures usually occur after a fall on an outstretched hand. When you reach your hand out to catch yourself in a fall, you might land on the small bones that make up your hand and wrist — especially two bones called the lunate and scaphoid. This contact transfers energy to your radius, one of your two arm bones. The end of the radius near your wrist, called the dorsal end, breaks. This fracture, which typically happens about an inch away from the end of your radius, causes the broken bone to tilt upward.