Management of common stress fractures. When to apply conservative therapy, when to take an aggressive approach.

Stress fractures are an increasingly common injury in primary care patient populations. Early diagnosis and prompt conservative therapy are effective for most of these injuries. Special attention to clues from history taking and physical examination in an at-risk patient population can lead physicians to the correct diagnosis. Most stress fractures resolve with rest and progressive reintroduction of stressors, but certain injuries, such as stress fractures of the femoral neck and fifth metatarsal, have a high risk of complications and require aggressive therapy.