Trauma and Fracture Care

Overview

Fractures and orthopedic trauma injuries range from simple breaks to complex injuries involving multiple bones, joints, or ligaments. Premier Orthopaedics provides comprehensive trauma and fracture care across the Greater Philadelphia area, utilizing advanced imaging (X-rays, CT scans, MRIs), board-certified surgical expertise, and personalized rehabilitation to safely restore mobility.

Symptoms

Seek prompt medical evaluation if you experience:

Sharp or intense localized pain
Swelling, bruising, or tenderness
Difficulty or inability to move the affected limb or joint
Visible deformity or an abnormal angle
A bone protruding through the skin (open fracture)

Treatments

Treatment plans are customized based on injury severity:

Non-Surgical Care: For aligned or simple fractures:
- Casting & Splinting: Immobilizes the bone to promote natural healing.
- Bracing: Limits movement while permitting controlled flexibility.
- Traction: Realignment through gentle stretching.
- Physical Therapy: Restores strength and range of motion.
Surgical Interventions: For displaced, comminuted, or open fractures:
- Internal Fixation: Secures bone fragments with plates, screws, or rods.
- External Fixation: Stabilizes bones from outside the body when soft tissue is severely damaged.
- Bone Grafting: Fills gaps or reinforces weakened bone structures.
- Arthroplasty: Reconstructs or replaces damaged joint surfaces.

Risks

High-Risk Groups: Athletes and older adults face a higher likelihood of complex fractures.
Demographics: Women in their sixties are five times more likely to suffer complex wrist fractures than men.
Fall & Trauma Hazards: Both men and women risk fractures to the spine, hip, pelvis, leg, or ankle from high-energy events such as car accidents or falls.
Complications: Open fractures carry an increased risk of severe infection and soft tissue damage.

Expert Trauma and Fracture Care in Greater Philadelphia

Fractures and orthopedic trauma injuries are never convenient, but with the right treatment, recovery is possible — and often faster than you’d think. Whether you’ve experienced a simple break in your foot, ankle, hand, or wrist or a complex injury involving multiple bones, joints, or ligaments, our team is equipped with everything needed to guide you on your healing journey. This includes state-of-the-art imaging, surgical expertise from board-certified physicians, and personalized rehabilitation programs.

Our goal is simple: to get you back to doing what you love — safely and confidently. So, reach out today for an appointment with orthopaedic trauma specialists in the Greater Philadelphia area. We’ll stabilize your injury and get you started on the road to renewed mobility.

If you believe you’ve experienced a fracture, it’s important to seek medical attention right away. Visit an emergency medical facility, such as a hospital emergency room or Premier’s orthopaedic urgent care center. Your doctor will perform several physical examinations and may also order an MRI to better identify and treat the injury.

Do You Have a Broken Bone?

In most cases, a fracture is immediately obvious, punctuated by extreme pain, but there are some instances (such as when there’s only a stress fracture) when the cause for your discomfort isn’t clear. For this reason, it’s helpful to understand the most common symptoms associated with a broken bone. If any of the following symptoms sound familiar, seek attention from a doctor right away:

Sharp or intense pain at the site of injury
Swelling, bruising, or tenderness
Difficulty moving the affected limb or joint
A visible deformity or abnormal angle
In severe cases, a bone protruding through the skin

Open and Closed Fracture Treatment in Philadelphia

At Premier Orthopaedics, we treat both open (compound) and closed fractures with the highest standard of care. Open fractures occur when the bone pierces through the skin, making the wound more susceptible to infection and requiring immediate medical attention. Closed fractures, while less alarming to look at, can still be serious and need proper diagnosis and treatment for complete healing.

Our orthopaedic trauma specialists assess each case using advanced imaging tools and performing thorough physical examinations. After assessing any swelling, deformities, bruising, and lack of range of motion, we may recommend an X-ray, CT scan, or MRI to determine the exact location and severity of the fracture. We can also use these detailed diagnostics to evaluate any potential damage to surrounding tissues. Based on our findings, we will create a custom treatment plan to promote healing, minimize complications, and restore full function, regardless of the fracture type or whether it occurred in your arm, shoulder, elbow, leg, knee, or even hip.

Complex Fracture Treatment in Philadelphia

By definition, complex fractures are not routine cases, and these injuries — with extensive damage to multiple bones, joints, ligaments, tendons, and even veins and nerves — require more specialized care and rehabilitation. Often called “high-energy” fractures, they usually occur during major trauma, such as a car accident, serious fall, or other forceful event.

Unlike more straightforward fractures, complex fractures may include comminuted fractures (where the bone shatters into several pieces), open fractures (where the bone pierces through the skin), or those that involve joint surfaces, leading to complications in mobility and healing. Because of their nature, these injuries require more advanced imaging, specialized surgical intervention, and a tailored rehabilitation program for optimal recovery. You can get all this and more by scheduling an appointment with our fracture and trauma care specialists in Greater Philadelphia.

We are trained in the latest surgical techniques and post-operative care protocols and can help with everything from immediate stabilization to ongoing physical therapy.

Know Your Risk

While a complex fracture can happen to anyone and anywhere in the body, they are most often seen in athletes and older people. Specifically, women in their sixties are five times more likely to suffer a complex fracture in their wrists than men, but both genders risk fracturing the spine, hip, leg, ankle, or pelvis in a fall. Regardless of where your fracture occurs, you can rely on our Philadelphia team to provide reliable fracture treatment options.

Every Case Is Unique — We Tailor Complex Fracture Treatment to You

From the moment you arrive, our team of orthopaedic trauma specialists works to understand the full scope of your injury and how it impacts your life. Whether you need a quick return to work, are focused on regaining athletic performance, or simply want to move pain-free again, your goals become our goals. You can count on us to design a treatment plan that manages your pain and heals the injury as quickly as possible.

Because a complex fracture usually involves multiple bone fragments, torn ligaments, and tendons, we will likely recommend orthopedic trauma surgery to secure everything with screws and pins. We may also need to perform reconstruction. Once your surgery is complete, we’ll send you home with a rehabilitation plan that may include casts, bracing, gentle stretches, or physical therapy to help the muscles gain flexibility and build up strength.

Non-Surgical Treatment for Bone Fractures

Not all bone fractures require surgery. In many cases, non-surgical treatment options can effectively promote healing and restore function, especially when the broken bone remains well-aligned or only requires minimal realignment.

Common non-surgical fracture treatments include:

Casting or Splinting: Immobilization helps keep the fractured bone in the proper position while it heals naturally. This is often used for simple fractures of the arm, leg, wrist, or ankle.
Bracing: A brace may be used to limit motion while still allowing some flexibility, depending on the fracture site and the patient’s lifestyle needs.
Traction: In some cases, traction is used to gently stretch muscles and tendons to align broken bones correctly before further treatment.
Physical Therapy: Once healing begins, our rehabilitation team helps patients regain strength, mobility, and range of motion through personalized exercises and techniques.

At Premier Orthopaedics, our goal is to support your recovery with conservative, effective treatments that minimize downtime and lead to the best long-term outcome.

Surgical Options for Fractures & Orthopedic Trauma

When a fracture is too complex or unstable to heal on its own, surgical intervention becomes necessary to realign and stabilize the bone. This is especially true for displaced, open, comminuted, or complex fractures, as well as those that affect joints or major weight-bearing bones. Our orthopedic trauma surgeons are highly trained in the latest techniques to repair bone and soft tissue injuries with precision.

We may recommend one of the following surgical procedures to set your broken bone:

Internal Fixation: This approach to orthopedic surgery involves repositioning the broken bones and securing them with metal hardware such as screws, plates, or rods to maintain alignment during healing.
External Fixation: In cases where the surrounding soft tissue is too damaged for internal hardware, external fixation devices may be used to stabilize the fracture from outside the body.
Bone Grafting: When bone loss occurs, grafting procedures can fill gaps or reinforce weakened structures using bone from the patient or a donor.
Arthroplasty (Joint Replacement): For fractures involving joints, special techniques may be used to reconstruct the joint and preserve long-term mobility and function.

Whether surgical or non-surgical, fracture treatment options are typically followed by a carefully managed rehabilitation plan customized to your recovery goals and the demands of your lifestyle.

Receive the Right Treatment for Your Fracture & Orthopedic Trauma at Premier Orthopaedics

A broken bone may feel like the end of the world when it happens, but with the right support, recovery is entirely possible. Premier Orthopaedics is proud to provide trauma care in Greater Philadelphia, and with our robust network of locations and experienced team of fracture specialists, we ensure that help is never far away.

If you or a loved one has experienced a fracture or any orthopaedic trauma, don’t wait to seek help. Let us guide you back to wellness with a treatment plan designed just for you. Reach out to us today and take the first step toward healing.

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Helping You Get Back to the Life You Love

Whether you're dealing with a recent injury or years of chronic pain, our orthopaedic specialists create personalized treatment plans that reduce pain, restore movement, and help you live more comfortably.