Burst Fracture

A burst fracture is a type of traumatic spinal injury in which a vertebra breaks from a high-energy axial load (e.g., car accidents or falls from a great height or high velocity), with all or pieces of the vertebra shattering into surrounding tissues and sometimes the spinal canal. The burst fracture is categorized by the "severity of the deformity, the severity of (spinal) canal compromise, the degree of loss of vertebral body height, and the degree of neurologic deficit." Burst fractures are considered more severe than compression fractures because long-term neurological damage ensues, whether immediate or increasing impairment of the subject's mobility over time.