What causes a hip fracture?
It usually takes severe trauma to break a hip, but hip fractures can occur for many reasons.
The extreme forces from traumatic accidents, such as car or motorcycle collisions, significantly increase the risk of a broken hip. A broken hip can cause pain, swelling, and difficulty walking, often preventing you from working or performing daily activities. Prompt evaluation and treatment improve your chances of a better outcome. Penn Medicine Trauma and Fracture division diagnoses and treats hip fractures caused by traumatic accidents.
While hip fractures are more common in older adults, they can also occur in young adults during sports and physical activity.
High-impact sports like running, gymnastics, and soccer place significant stress on the hip joints. These activities involve frequent sprinting, jumping, and, in contact sports like football and hockey, collisions with other players. Over time, the repeated forces absorbed by the hip joint can result in a stress fracture.
Our team includes surgeons who specialize in both fractures and Sports Medicine. We work together to provide the most appropriate treatment for your hip fracture.
A hip fragility fracture occurs when a minor fall—from standing height or less—or lifting something very light causes a break in the hip bone. These fractures are often due to weakened bones from an underlying condition.
Hip fractures are more common in older adults because, with age, bones can become weak and brittle—a condition known as osteoporosis. According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, approximately one in two women and up to one in four men aged 50 and older will break a bone due to osteoporosis.
If osteoporosis runs in your family, talk to your doctor about your risk and whether a bone density test is right for you.
Hip fractures in older adults often require more complex care due to additional health issues like weakened bones, muscle loss, and balance problems. Even a low-impact fall in an otherwise active older adult can result in a serious fracture.
Timely treatment is critical, as delays increase the risk of complications. At Penn Orthopaedics, when an older adult is diagnosed with a hip fracture, a system-wide alert notifies our specialized team through the Geriatric Hip Fracture Program. This efficient process minimizes delays and reduces the risk of further complications.