ABSTRACT
The wrist is painful, and often quite swollen; sometimes there is an obvious 'dinner-fork' deformity. The distal end of the radius is subject to many different types of fracture, depending on factors such as age, transfer of energy, mechanism of injury and bone quality. Treatment options depend on whether the fracture is intra- or extra-articular and the degree of fragmentation of the joint surface and the metaphysis. With any of these fractures, the wrist also can suffer substantial ligamentous injury causing instability to the carpus or distal radioulnar joint (DRUJ). These injuries are easily missed because the X-rays may look normal. The injury that Abraham Colles described in 1814 ('Colles' fracture') is a transverse fracture of the radius just above the wrist, with dorsal displacement of the distal fragment. It is the most common of all fractures in older people, the high incidence being related to the onset of postmenopausal osteoporosis.
