Spinal compression fracture. Coloured magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of a sagittal section through the thoracic spine of a 26-year-old patient with a compression fracture of the T7 vertebral body (upper centre), following a traumatic injury. A compression fracture is the collapse of a vertebra. Here, the injury has resulted in dislocation of the spinal structure at the level of the T6-T7 vertebrae, resulting in severe spinal cord compression injury.