“A 54-year-old woman presents with a hip fracture after a fall from standing.”
“A 70-year-old woman presents with a fracture of the radius after a fall from a 6-foot ladder.”
“A 64-year-old woman presents with fractures of her pelvis and tibia after a high-speed motor vehicle collision.”
In approaching a patient who has fractured a bone, clinicians are trained to detail the circumstances of the fracture. Was it the result of a ground-level fall or a higher level of trauma? We do this because we believe that the fracture sustained after minimal or no trauma constitutes a fragility fracture and that fragility fractures are the only ones that warrant evaluation and interventions to prevent future fracture. Clinical practice guidelines reinforce this behavior.1