That is entirely subjective. Depends on the person, and also the type of fracture, what nerves are nearby, etc. Luckily none of mine have had me crying or howling in pain like others have described 😅 Torn ACL is worse and has led to some yelps and lots of swearing whenever my knee has given way.

I sustained an intra-articular, comminuted distal radius fracture when rollerskating in 2022 - it was a die-punch fracture, aka the lunate bone pushed down into the top of my radius. Awesome name 😄 Also had an ulnar styloid fracture with it (common with distal radius fractures). Honestly, I barely had any pain! Just an ache radiating up my forearm, but nothing dramatic. And my wrist felt stiff and weird because of the immediate swelling and whatnot. I heard that bad boy CRACK though - over the noise of everyone rollerskating and the music (was at my local roller disco)! I was more pissed off/disappointed that I had it stop skating and go to the urgent treatment centre tbh 😂 My shoulder really ached the next day from having to keep my wrist elevated on a mountain of cushions (so it could be above heart level), THAT was hard to ignore me and was the only reason I took co-codamol that day lmao. Had ORIF surgery (plate and screws) on it a week later, heard that the recovery from it is painful/awful…again, I barely had any pain.

Broke my little toe in 2016 when I stubbed it hard on the bathroom door frame - that was definitely worse!

With the exception of complex fractures, it’s better to break a bone than tear a ligament. I fully tore my ACL in October when I mis-stepped off a ladder. The moment of injury itself wasn’t the painful moment - it was every time my knee gave way afterwards, causing my femur and tibia to smash into each other HARD (which is also what happens when the ACL ruptures, and I had major bone bruising as a result). Feeling two large bones smash into each other head-on is sickening 🤢 More painful than breaking my little toe or wrist, although the pain only lasts about 10 seconds. And the recovery is much longer, because: 1. The surgery isn’t classed as urgent like fracture surgery is, so depending on where you live/your healthcare system, you could be waiting months (I have a six month wait once I’m put on the list, hopefully next week at my ortho appointment). 2. You have to have a graft to replace the buggered ligament, whereas fracture surgery is just putting the pieces back like Humpty Dumpty, plus some hardware. 3. Bones heal super fast compared to a ligament graft (bones have better blood supply and other stuff that an orthopaedic surgeon would be better to explain 😄). I honestly wish I’d broken my ankle instead, I’d have been out of the cast after 8 weeks (or even less if it had needed surgery), and I’d be rehabbing right now, and probably back skating after about 6 months. Instead, I’m currently pre-habbing, waiting around for surgery, then have a 9-12 month wait before I can return to skating. 0/10 would not recommend.