Among those affected over the age of 65, 40% are transferred directly to long-term care facilities, long-term rehabilitation facilities, or nursing homes; most of those affected require some sort of living assistance from family or home-care providers. 50% permanently require walkers, canes, or crutches for mobility; all require some sort of mobility assistance throughout the healing process.

Among those affected over the age of 50, approximately 25% die within the next year due to complications such as blood clots (deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolism), infections, and pneumonia.

Patients with hip fractures are at high risk for future fractures including hip, wrist, shoulder, and spine. After treatment of the acute fracture, the risk of future fractures should be addressed. Currently, only 1 in 4 patients after a hip fracture receives treatment and work up for osteoporosis, the underlying cause of most of the fractures. Current treatment standards include the starting of a bisphosphonate to reduce future fracture risk by up to 50%.

Most hip fractures are treated surgically by implanting an orthosis. Surgical treatment outweighs the risks of nonsurgical treatment which requires extensive bedrest. Prolonged immobilization increases risk of thromboembolism, pneumonia, deconditioning, and decubitus ulcers. Regardless, the surgery is a major stress, particularly in the elderly. Pain is also significant, and can also result in immobilization, so patients are encouraged to become mobile as soon as possible, often with the assistance of physical therapy. Skeletal traction pending surgery is not supported by the evidence. Regional nerve blocks are useful for pain management in hip fractures.

Red blood cell transfusion is common for people undergoing hip fracture surgery due to the blood loss sustained during surgery and from the injury. Adverse effects of blood transfusion may occur and are avoided by restrictive use of blood transfusion rather than liberal use. Restrictive blood transfusion is based on symptoms of anemia and thresholds lower than the 10 g/dL haemoglobin used for liberal blood transfusion.

If operative treatment is refused or the risks of surgery are considered to be too high the main emphasis of treatment is on pain relief. Skeletal traction may be considered for long term treatment. Aggressive chest physiotherapy is needed to reduce the risk of pneumonia and skilled rehabilitation and nursing to avoid pressure sores and DVT/pulmonary embolism Most people will be bedbound for several months. Non-operative treatment is now limited to only the most medically unstable or demented patients, or those who are nonambulatory at baseline with minimal pain during transfers.

A 2015 Cochrane review found that available evidence for treatment options of distal femur fractures is insufficient to inform clinical practice and that there is a priority for a high-quality trial to be undertaken. Open fractures must undergo urgent surgery to clean and repair them, but closed fractures can be maintained until the patient is stable and ready for surgery.

A Cochrane review of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound to speed healing in newly broken bones found insufficient evidence to justify routine use. Other reviews have found tentative evidence of benefit. It may be an alternative to surgery for established nonunions.

Vitamin D supplements combined with additional calcium marginally reduces the risk of hip fractures and other types of fracture in older adults; however, vitamin D supplementation alone did not reduce the risk of fractures.

Bone mineral density decreases with increasing age. Osteoporotic bone loss can be prevented through an adequate intake of vitamin C and vitamin D, coupled with exercise and by being a non-smoker. A study by Cheng et al. in 1997, showed that greater bone density indicated less risk for fractures in the calcaneus.

Available evidence suggests that treatment depends on the part of the femur that is fractured. Traction may be useful for femoral shaft fractures because it counteracts the force of the muscle pulling the two separated parts together, and thus may decrease bleeding and pain. Traction should not be used in femoral neck fractures or when there is any other trauma to the leg or pelvis. It is typically only a temporary measure used before surgery. It only considered definitive treatment for patients with significant comorbidities that contraindicate surgical management.

Removable splints result in better outcomes than casting in children with torus fractures of the distal radius.

The aim of treatment is to minimize pain and to restore as much normal function as possible. Most humerus fractures do not require surgical intervention. One-part and two-part proximal fractures can be treated with a collar and cuff sling, adequate pain medicine, and follow up therapy. Two-part proximal fractures may require open or closed reduction depending on neurovascular injury, rotator cuff injury, dislocation, likelihood of union, and function. For three- and four-part proximal fractures, standard practice is to have open reduction and internal fixation to realign the separate parts of the proximal humerus. A humeral hemiarthroplasty may be required in proximal cases in which the blood supply to the region is compromised. Fractures of the humerus shaft and distal part of the humerus are most often uncomplicated, closed fractures that require nothing more than pain medicine and wearing a cast or sling for a few weeks. In shaft and distal cases in which complications such as damage to the neurovascular bundle exist, then surgical repair is required.

Medication can be prescribed to ease the pain. Antibiotics and tetanus vaccination may be used if the bone breaks through the skin. Often, they are treated without surgery. In severe cases, surgery may be done.

Nonsurgical treatment of tibia shaft fractures is now limited to closed, stable, isolated, minimally displaced fractures caused by a low-energy mechanism of injury. This treatment consists of application of a long-leg cast.

Surgical treatment is typically indicated for high-energy trauma fractures. Intramedullary nailing is a common technique, but external fixation may have equivalent outcomes.

Galeazzi fractures are best treated with open reduction of the radius and the distal radio-ulnar joint. It has been called the "fracture of necessity," because it necessitates open surgical treatment in the adult. Nonsurgical treatment results in persistent or recurrent dislocations of the distal ulna. However, in skeletally immature patients such as children, the fracture is typically treated with closed reduction.

Over 2.5 million child abuse and neglect cases are reported every year, and thirty-five out of every hundred cases are physical abuse cases. Bone fractures are sometimes part of the physical abuse of children; knowing the symptoms of bone fractures in physical abuse and recognizing the actual risks in physical abuse will help forward the prevention of future abuse and injuries. Astoundingly, these abuse fractures, if not dealt with correctly, have a potential to lead to the death of the child.

Fracture patterns in abuse fractures that are very common with abuse are fractures in the growing part of a long bone (between the shaft and the separated part of the bone), fractures of the humeral shaft (long bone between the shoulder and elbow), ribs, scapula, outer end of the clavicle, and vertebra. Multiple fractures of varying age, bilateral fractures, and complex skull fractures are also linked to abuse. Fractures of varying ages occur in about thirteen percent of all cases.

Treatment options vary from very conservative to aggressive. Conservative options include rest, observation, pain control, diet changes, use of a nasopharyngeal tube or oropharyngeal tube, and antibiotic therapy. More aggressive options include surgical repair of the hyoid bone and/or tracheotomy. Surgical treatment was used in 10.9% of cases in a 2012 meta-analysis.

If the fracture is small, it is usually sufficient to treat with rest and support bandage, but in more severe cases, surgery may be required. Ice may be used to relieve swelling.

Displaced avulsion fractures are best managed by either open reduction and internal fixation or closed reduction and pinning. Open reduction (using surgical incision) and internal fixation is used when pins, screws, or similar hardware is needed to fix the bone fragment.

The arm must be supported by use of a splint or sling to keep the joint stable and decrease the risk of further damage. Usually, a figure-of-eight splint that wraps the shoulders to keep them forced back is used and the arm is placed in a clavicle strap for comfort.

Current practice is generally to provide a sling, and pain relief, and to allow the bone to heal itself, monitoring progress with X-rays every week or few weeks. Surgery is employed in 5–10% of cases. However, a recent study supports primary plate fixation of completely displaced midshaft clavicular fractures in active adult patients.

If the fracture is at the lateral end, the risk of nonunion is greater than if the fracture is of the shaft.

Most olecranon fractures are displaced and are best treated surgically:

Surgical methods of treating fractures have their own risks and benefits, but usually surgery is performed only if conservative treatment has failed, is very likely to fail, or likely to result in a poor functional outcome. With some fractures such as hip fractures (usually caused by osteoporosis), surgery is offered routinely because non-operative treatment results in prolonged immobilisation, which commonly results in complications including chest infections, pressure sores, deconditioning, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and pulmonary embolism, which are more dangerous than surgery. When a joint surface is damaged by a fracture, surgery is also commonly recommended to make an accurate anatomical reduction and restore the smoothness of the joint.

Infection is especially dangerous in bones, due to the recrudescent nature of bone infections. Bone tissue is predominantly extracellular matrix, rather than living cells, and the few blood vessels needed to support this low metabolism are only able to bring a limited number of immune cells to an injury to fight infection. For this reason, open fractures and osteotomies call for very careful antiseptic procedures and prophylactic use of antibiotics.

Occasionally, bone grafting is used to treat a fracture.

Sometimes bones are reinforced with metal. These implants must be designed and installed with care. "Stress shielding" occurs when plates or screws carry too large of a portion of the bone's load, causing atrophy. This problem is reduced, but not eliminated, by the use of low-modulus materials, including titanium and its alloys. The heat generated by the friction of installing hardware can accumulate easily and damage bone tissue, reducing the strength of the connections. If dissimilar metals are installed in contact with one another (i.e., a titanium plate with cobalt-chromium alloy or stainless steel screws), galvanic corrosion will result. The metal ions produced can damage the bone locally and may cause systemic effects as well.

Single intramedullary screws can be used to treat simple transverse or oblique fractures. Plates can be used for all proximal ulna fracture types including Monteggia fractures, and comminuted fractures.

The first line treatment should be reduction of movements for 6 to 12 weeks. Wooden-soled shoes or a cast should be given for this purpose. In rare cases in which stress fracture occurs with a cavus foot, plantar fascia release may be appropriate.

In athletes or if the pieces of bone are separated by more than 2 mm surgery may be considered. Otherwise surgery is recommended if healing does not occur after 12 weeks of casting.

A cast, or brace, that allows limited movement of the nearby joints is acceptable for some fractures.

In most cases, patients are discharged from an emergency department with pain medicine and a cast or sling. These fractures are typically minor and heal naturally over the course of a few weeks. Fractures of the proximal region, especially among elderly patients, may limit future shoulder activity. Severe fractures are usually resolved with surgical intervention, followed by a period of healing using a cast or sling. Severe fractures often cause long-term loss of physical ability. Complications in the recovery process of severe fractures include osteonecrosis, malunion or nonunion of the fracture, stiffness, and rotator cuff dysfunction, which require additional intervention in order for the patient to fully recover.

For several reasons, a Jones fracture may not unite. The diaphyseal bone (zone II), where the fracture occurs, is an area of potentially poor blood supply, existing in a watershed area between two blood supplies. This may compromise healing. In addition, there are various tendons, including the peroneus brevis and fibularis tertius, and two small muscles attached to the bone. These may pull the fracture apart and prevent healing.

Zones I and III have been associated with relatively guaranteed union and this union has taken place with only limited restriction of activity combined with early immobilization. On the other hand, zone II has been associated with either delayed or non-union and, consequently, it has been generally agreed that fractures in this area should be considered for some form of internal immobilization, such as internal screw fixation.

These zones can be identified anatomically and on x-ray adding to the clinical usefulness of this classification.

It should be emphasized that surgical intervention is not, by itself, a guarantee of cure and has its own complication rate. Other reviews of the literature have concluded that conservative, non-operative, treatment is an acceptable option for the non-athlete.

In 1991, Kathol conducted a study which showed a correlation between calcaneal insufficiency avulsion fractures (a fracture in which the Achilles tendon removes a portion of the bone as it rescinds) and diabetes mellitus. The diabetic population is more susceptible to the risks of fracture and potential healing complications and infection that may lead to limb amputation. Diabetes can be regulated and prevented through diet and exercise.