Trauma and fracture care

We provide top-level orthopaedic trauma and fracture care, from simple and common to severe and complex cases. At Penn Medicine, you’ll benefit from a team approach to care that focuses on more than just your fracture. Multiple experts collaborate to develop a personalized care plan for each patient, with access to the resources and expertise at our Level 1 trauma centers.

Penn Orthopaedics takes a whole-body approach and surrounds you with a dedicated team that works to understand who you are, how you want to live, and what kind of care will get you there. Our goal is to help patients return to normal activities quickly with the right treatment and rehabilitation for their orthopaedic injury or fracture. If you need expert fracture care, contact us. If you are at another facility, you can ask to be transferred to Penn Medicine.

Geriatric hip fractures are fractures in the upper-third of the thigh bone (femur) and/or around the hip joint sustained by older adults as a result of a fall. Hip fractures in older adults are often more complex to treat due to additional health concerns such as weakened bones and fragility, loss of muscle mass, and balance instability. Even a low-impact fall for an older adult with one or more of these issues could result in a severe hip fracture, and delaying treatment significantly increases the risk of complications.

Our orthopaedic surgeons provide dedicated geriatric hip fracture care in collaboration with many medical professionals across nearly a dozen specialties. You may speak with, and receive care from, emergency physicians, orthopaedic surgeons, hospitalists, nurses, anesthesiologists, geriatricians, and pharmacologists—along with physical medicine and rehabilitation doctors, physical therapists, and even social workers—to ensure your best recovery.

Our Geriatric Hip Fracture Program is certified by the International Geriatric Fracture Society for exceeding national benchmarks on key quality indicators. We offer the region’s only hip fracture alert system, which allows us to initiate protocols that expedite hip fracture care when a patient is admitted to the emergency department and needs time-sensitive surgery. We also provide thorough discharge plans following surgery to ensure proper rehabilitation is received. Patients initially admitted to another hospital’s emergency department may be transferred to Penn Medicine for hip fracture care.

Penn Medicine is internationally recognized for its innovative treatment of orthopaedic trauma. Our trauma and fracture care services are driven by the innovative work conducted in our specialized research labs. These labs conduct high-quality fundamental and translational research, execute clinically relevant research projects focused on orthopaedic implant performance, and train the next generation of leaders in the field.

By integrating the latest scientific advancements and clinical practices, we are at the forefront of developing new methods for trauma and fracture care, offering patients the highest standard of treatment and support for optimal recovery.