A simple fracture is classified as open or closed?

A simple fracture is classified as closed, which means that the broken bone does not penetrate through the skin. This distinction is important because it affects treatment and prognosis. Closed fractures typically do not carry the same risk of infection that open fractures (where the bone breaks through the skin) do.

Additional classifications help describe the fracture more precisely. For example, "compound" refers to an open fracture, and "comminuted" describes a fracture where the bone is broken into several pieces. However, when focusing solely on the definition of a simple fracture, which is characterized by being closed and not exposing the bone to the environment, it aligns with the classification as a closed fracture.