Broken bone from a NSW crash. Here's what your claim looks like.

Fractures and the threshold question

The single most important point. Under MAIA 2017, a "minor injury" (threshold) is defined as soft-tissue injury or minor psychological injury. A fracture isn't soft tissue. Most fractures from a motor accident are non-threshold by default.

That matters because non-threshold opens up two things:

• Extended treatment funding. Statutory benefits for medical and rehab can continue past the 52-week mark if the medical evidence supports it.
• The damages claim. The lump-sum claim at the end — past and future economic loss, future medical and care, and pain and suffering where impairment is above 10% whole-person.

For a fracture that needed surgery and serious rehab, the damages claim can be the largest part of the financial picture by a wide margin.

See threshold vs non-threshold injury and damages claim explained.

Common fracture types we see

From most to least common in NSW motor accident claims:

• Wrist and hand fractures — bracing-arm impact against the steering wheel or dashboard.
• Rib fractures — seatbelt or steering-wheel contact, common in front-impact crashes.
• Clavicle (collarbone) fractures — seatbelt loading in higher-speed impacts.
• Lower limb fractures — tibia, fibula, ankle. Common in side-impact and motorcycle crashes.
• Femur fractures — high-energy impacts, usually requiring surgery.
• Pelvic fractures — serious; often associated with multi-system trauma.
• Vertebral fractures — spine fractures from vertical compression or flexion loading.
• Facial fractures — orbit, zygoma, mandible.

Each comes with its own recovery profile and its own evidence base for the damages claim.

What CTP funds for fracture treatment

Acute care

• Emergency department assessment, imaging (X-ray, CT, MRI as needed).
• Orthopaedic specialist review.
• Surgery — open reduction and internal fixation (plates and screws), intramedullary nailing, external fixation as required.
• Inpatient hospital stay where surgery is involved.
• Pain management.

Rehabilitation

• Physiotherapy — often weekly for 8–16 weeks, then tapered.
• Exercise physiology for strength and conditioning.
• Hydrotherapy for lower-limb and pelvic fractures.
• Occupational therapy for upper-limb fractures (return to fine motor tasks, work-specific tasks).
• Hand therapy where indicated.
• Mobility aids — crutches, frame, wheelchair as needed.

Home and care

• Domestic assistance for the period when you can't look after the house, cook, shop.
• Personal care if you can't manage daily personal tasks.
• Childcare assistance if you have young kids and you're the primary carer.
• Home modifications where temporary access changes are needed.

Income support

Weekly payments while you can't work — 95% of pre-injury earnings for the first 13 weeks, 80% thereafter. For most fractures the income claim runs 6–16 weeks; for serious lower-limb or spinal fractures, much longer.

The damages claim — what to build for

The non-threshold damages claim for a fracture is built around four pieces:

1. Past economic loss — income you actually lost from the crash to the point of settlement, beyond what the statutory benefits paid.
2. Future economic loss — if the fracture leaves you with reduced earning capacity (can't do heavy work, can't do the trade you trained in, residual restriction that limits your role). Often the biggest component.
3. Future medical and care — forecast cost of ongoing physio, future surgery (hardware removal, joint replacement if osteoarthritis develops), ongoing care needs.
4. Non-economic loss (pain and suffering) — available only where whole-person impairment is assessed above 10%. Many fractures meet this threshold, especially with surgery and any residual stiffness or weakness.

The whole-person impairment assessment is critical. It's done by a SIRA-trained medical assessor using the legislative criteria. We work to make sure the assessment captures the actual impairment, not a snapshot of a good day.

What to do right after the crash

1. Get imaging early. The X-ray within hours of the crash is the foundation of the medical case.
2. Get the CTP claim in inside 28 days. See the 28-day rule.
3. Keep every receipt — medications, mobility aids, travel to specialists, any out-of-pocket expense. The insurer reimburses these once the claim is open.
4. Don't accept early settlement offers until you're past peak recovery. Fractures look different at 3 months versus 12 months. Early settlement on incomplete information loses you money.
5. Be honest with treating clinicians — about pain, function, sleep, what you can and can't do. Their records become the evidence base.

What we do for you

We run the full claim — statutory benefits from day one, ongoing treatment funding through recovery, and the damages claim built carefully around the medical evidence at the right time. We don't take a contingency cut from your damages.

Take the short check at /check, or call (02) 7238 7379 and a real person picks up.