Question

A dinner-fork deformity is classically seen in

• A. Monteggia fracture
• B. Fracture of the scaphoid
• C. Colles' fracture
• D. Smith fracture

Hint:

Dorsal tilt of the distal radius fragment creates the classic dinner-fork wrist profile.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

This question checks which wrist fracture gives the wrist its classic dinner-fork shape when looked at from the side.

1. Monteggia fracture: This is a break of the upper ulna with the radial head slipping out of place at the elbow, an elbow region injury that does not give a dinner-fork wrist shape.
2. Fracture of the scaphoid: This small wrist bone fracture usually shows no visible deformity, only tenderness at the base of the thumb.
3. Colles' fracture: The lower fragment of the radius tilts and shifts backward, so the wrist and hand step back against the forearm, producing the classic dinner-fork silhouette.
4. Smith fracture: Here the lower fragment tilts forward instead, the opposite direction, and this gives a garden spade deformity, not a dinner fork.

The backward tilt and displacement seen only in a Colles' fracture is what produces the dinner-fork look, so that is the correct answer.

Let's summarize:

• Colles' fracture: dorsal tilt, dinner-fork deformity.
• Smith fracture: volar tilt, garden spade deformity, the opposite pattern.

So the dinner-fork deformity is classically seen in a Colles' fracture.