Anyone who has worked in an accident and emergency department will probably have encountered the above question when dealing with a patient who has an injured bone. There are variations of course:
Doctor: “I'm afraid you've fractured your shin bone.”
Patient: “Oh well, at least it's only fractured and not broken.”
This may be viewed as a good opportunity for public education on some of the finer points of trauma terminology.
However, I was recently re-educated on this point by a non-medical friend of mine. “Oh no, they're completely different,” he told me. Cracked is not too bad, just a little line halfway across (? greenstick fracture). Fractured is a bit worse, it goes right across the bone but the halves are still in the right place (? undisplaced fracture). Broken is the worst, clean through, the bits are in the wrong place, and completely apart from each other (? displaced fracture).
So now I know.