FEMUR FRACTURE

What are the types of break in the femur?

There are several different types of femur breaks.

Simple-1 fracture line

Comminuted-2+fracture lines

Closed-no skin is broken and break is not seen

Open-broken skin

Pathological-femur is weakened or destroyed and is broken easily

Stress-hairline crack caused by repeated injury or stress

How do I tell if my femur is broken???

If you are experiencing pain, swelling, bruising, numbness, tingling of foot or lower leg, difficulty walking, deformity then you may have a femur fracture.  Contact your doctor immediately.

How do people break their femurs???

The femur is a very strong bone, so in order to break it there must excessive force applied to cause the break.  The percentage of femur breaks is rather low since the femur bone is so strong and big.  This could be caused by a high speed crash, skiing accident, or falling from a great height.

How do I treat this injury???

The majority of femur fractures can only be repaired by surgery. 

Most of the time, casts will not be used to help repair a femur fracture.  However, children sometimes are placed in body casts that enclose the entired leg may be used.  If the fracture is closer to the knee, then plates and/or screws will be used.  Fractures that occur in the middle of the femur are usually fixed with a rod.

After surgery, the patient will be placed on crutched and attend mandatory physical therapy. 

How long will it take to recover???

Full recovery will not occur until many months later even for a minor fracture because the muscles, joints, tendons, and ligaments must heal and strengthen themselves again after discontinued use. 

I was interested in studying this type of injury because it is said that the femur break is the most painful bone break in the entire body.

Works Cited

"  Sports Medicine Advisor 2009.1: Femur Fracture." University of Michigan Health System. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2009. <http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/sma/sma_femurfra_sma.htm>.

"Your Health - Femoral Fracture."      Aurora Health Care -  Wisconsin hospitals, doctors and clinics. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2009. <http://www.aurorahealthcare.org/yourhealth/healthgate/getcontent.asp?URLhealthgate=%2211865.html%22>.