Skeletal Trauma

Question 1

What is trauma?

Answer 1

an injury caused to living tissue by an outside force

Question 2

Is postmortem damage trauma?

Answer 2

No!

Question 3

Cause of death

Answer 3

the circumstance/event that resulted in a person dying

Question 4

Manner of death

Answer 4

ex. natural causes, accident, suicide, homicide, unknown

Question 5

Mechanism of death

Answer 5

actual medical circumstance that leads to a death

Question 6

What are the two things that bone is made of?

Answer 6

collagen (organic, flexibility) & calcium hydroxyapatite (inorganic, strength)

Question 7

What four factors affect skeletal trauma?

Answer 7

1. direction of force
2. speed of force
3. type of bone, which bone, and location on bone
4. age and pathological conditions

Question 8

Why does age affect the impacts of skeletal trauma?

Answer 8

when you grow older, your bones decrease in strength and elasticity/give

Question 9

What are the five mechanisms of force on bone?

Answer 9

1. compression
2. tension
3. torsion
4. bending
5. shearing

Question 10

Compression

Answer 10

forces that push down on bone, common on the skull

Question 11

Tension

Answer 11

force that pulls on bone along its axis, common in accidents

Question 12

What force is bone more suited to withstand, tension or compression?

Answer 12

compression (gravity is always acting upon us)

Question 13

Torsion

Answer 13

twisting forces, common in cases of child abuse

Question 14

Bending

Answer 14

force that hits the side of bone at a right angle causing a break through the cross section

Question 15

Greenstick fractures

Answer 15

incomplete fractures commonly found in children, can be helpful in determining direction of force

Question 16

Parry fractures

Answer 16

caused from defending of a blow

Question 17

Bending is like a combination of ___ and ___.

Answer 17

compression and tension

Question 18

Shearing

Answer 18

force that is similar to bending (force applied to one side of the bone), but part of the bone is immobile

Question 19

Colles fracture

Answer 19

in distal radius, caused from catching yourself fall

Question 20

TRUE or FALSE: shearing is also evident with sawing/cutting bone

Answer 20

TRUE

Question 21

What are the two speeds of force?

Answer 21

1. slow loaded (ex. punch, bat)
2. rapid loaded (ex. bullets)

Question 22

Describe the elastic region of a stress-strain curve?

Answer 22

the bone can go back like nothing happened

Question 23

Describe the plastic region of a stress-strain curve?

Answer 23

the bone can go back a little but won’t look perfect

Question 24

Describe what happens past the C region of a stress-stained curve?

Answer 24

the bone will break

Question 25

Fracture

Answer 25

failure of bone resulting in discontinutiy

Question 26

What are the four descriptions of fractures commonly used in forensic anthropology?

Answer 26

1. complete v. incomplete 2. simple v. comminuted 3. direction of force 4. open v. closed

Question 27

Comminuted

Answer 27

bone fractured into more than two parts (crushed)

Question 28

Oblique

Answer 28

diagonal fracture through bone

Question 29

What are fracture lines?

Answer 29

lines that begin at the point of initial impact and dissipate the force through the bone

Question 30

Radiating fractures

Answer 30

radiate off of main break to try to disperse force

Question 31

Hoop/centric fractures

Answer 31

ripple off of main break (typical in cranial vault)

Question 32

What are pathological fractures?

Answer 32

breaks in bones that are weakened by disease

Question 33

What are stress fractures?

Answer 33

breaks caused by overuse of an area, common in athletes & factory workers

Question 34

What are fatigue fractures?

Answer 34

breaks in bones due to intermittent stress of a long period of time (lifetime)

Question 35

What is week 1 of the fracture healing process?

Answer 35

bruises & inflamation

Question 36

What is week 2-3 of the fracture healing process?

Answer 36

soft callus consisting of a temporary network of tissues

Question 37

What is week 4-16 of the fracture healing process?

Answer 37

hard callus

Question 38

What is week 17 and beyond of the fracture healing process?

Answer 38

remodeling as primary osteons are replaced with secondary osteons

Question 39

What are the four types of trauma?

Answer 39

1. blunt 2. sharp 3. projectile 4. miscellaneous/mixed force

Question 40

How can you recognize antemortem trauma?

Answer 40

there will be evidence of healing such as porous bone, smooth edges, and bony calluses

Question 41

How can you recognize perimortem trauma?

Answer 41

"green bone" response, sharp edges, inward bending, fracture lines, angled broken-bone ends

Question 42

How can you recognize postmortem trauma?

Answer 42

dry bone fractures, no fracture lines, sharp edges, color changes in the break

Question 43

Does perimortem just include the day of death?

Answer 43

No, about 2 wks before to 1 mnth later (beginning of healing to beginning of decomp)