Question: My brother injured himself last summer. He hurt his back with an injury called a compressed vertebrae. Could you explain this injury a bit more please?

Sonia Ramos Pascual answered on 22 Jun 2015:

I’m sorry to hear about your brother! I hope he is doing well 🙂 Your brother must have been involved in some sort of accident. When a spine experiences an impact, if the impact is strong enough it can damage the vertebra. The vertebra then fractures (breaks) and this usually results in a decrease in height, especially in the front part of the vertebra. That is why its called vertebral compression fracture, or compressed vertebra. The vertebra literally compresses into a smaller space as it fractures. I hope this explanation helps!