What is the typical cause of an impacted fracture?

An impacted fracture occurs when two fragments of bone are driven into each other, creating a form of fracture where the ends of the bones are compressed. This type of fracture often results from strong forces applying pressure to a bone, which leads to the segments of the bone being pushed together, rather than separate or displaced.

In contrast, the other choices describe mechanisms that lead to different types of fractures. High-impact sports injuries can certainly cause fractures, but they may not specifically result in the bone fragment compression that characterizes impacted fractures. Extreme rotation or twisting typically causes spiral fractures rather than impacted ones. A fall from a significant height can lead to various types of fractures depending on the impact angle and surface but does not specifically indicate an impacted fracture without the additional context of bone fragments being pushed together.

Thus, the defining feature of an impacted fracture is the direct force that causes the bone ends to compress into one another, making "forces that push bone fragments into one another" the accurate cause.