Open
If the bone breaks in such a way that bone fragments stick out through the skin or a wound penetrates down to the broken bone, the fracture is called an "open" or compound fracture. For example, when a pedestrian is struck by the bumper of a moving car, the broken shinbone may protrude through a tear in the skin and other soft tissues. Due to the fact that open fractures often involve more damage to the surrounding muscles, tendons, and ligaments than closed fractures, they have a higher risk for complications and take a longer time to heal.
Closed
A closed fracture is a broken bone that does not penetrate the skin. This is an important distinction because when a broken bone penetrates the skin there is a need for more immediate treatment, and an operation is often required to clean the area of the fracture. Furthermore, because of the risk of infection, there are more often problems associated with healing when a fracture is open to the skin. These fractures can happen through a number of ways, one of which is trauma caused from a fall.