Question:medium
Identify the numbered bone in the X-ray below that most commonly fractures when a person falls on an outstretched hand.
Identify the numbered bone in the X-ray below that most commonly fractures when a person falls on an outstretched hand.
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FOOSH in an adult typically breaks the distal radius.
Updated On: Jun 24, 2026
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Show Solution
The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Trace the injury mechanism. When the hand is thrust out to break a fall, the impact loads the wrist axially. The bone that bears the brunt of this load at the wrist is the distal end of the radius.
Step 2: Distal radius fracture, also called a wrist fracture, is the result; it causes sudden pain, swelling and a deformed wrist and is the single most frequent fracture from this fall in older people. On the radiograph the radius is the structure labelled 1, making option 1 the answer.
Step 3: Remember the eponyms tied to this bone - Colles, Smith, Barton and Hutchinson - all describe distal radius fracture variants, reinforcing that the radius (bone 1) is the target. The remaining numbered bones are distractors that do not match the typical fall-on-outstretched-hand fracture.
\[\boxed{\text{Bone 1 (distal radius)}}\]
Step 2: Distal radius fracture, also called a wrist fracture, is the result; it causes sudden pain, swelling and a deformed wrist and is the single most frequent fracture from this fall in older people. On the radiograph the radius is the structure labelled 1, making option 1 the answer.
Step 3: Remember the eponyms tied to this bone - Colles, Smith, Barton and Hutchinson - all describe distal radius fracture variants, reinforcing that the radius (bone 1) is the target. The remaining numbered bones are distractors that do not match the typical fall-on-outstretched-hand fracture.
\[\boxed{\text{Bone 1 (distal radius)}}\]
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