Fractures of the femoral neck are rightly considered one of the most dangerous injuries that a person can receive. They grow together very difficult, and on their own - almost never. The reason for this is the lack of periosteum, which provides fusion of damaged bones. About 90% of these fractures occur in people who have already reached retirement age. Almost a third of them - 30% - die during the first year after injury as a result of complications caused by a sedentary lifestyle of the patient. However, first things first.
Fracture of the neck of the femur: symptoms
1) Pain is the first and foremost symptom of this type of injury. Concentrating in the inguinal region, when moving, it only intensifies. Most often, a person who has received such a fracture is bedridden due to severe pain. However, there are cases when pain did not cause serious inconvenience to the victim for several days and even weeks. Such fractures are fraught with transformation from a closed injury to an open one, and trauma to the vessels and tissues surrounding the broken bone is also possible.
2) External rotation is such a positionleg when it is turned slightly outward.
3) Shortening of the limb by 2-4 centimeters as a result of contraction of the gluteal muscles, pulling the leg close to the pelvis.4) Limited movement of the leg up and down.
Fractures of the femoral neck: treatment
As already described above, fractures of the femoral neck rarely heal on their own, which means that they almost always require surgical intervention and subsequent rehabilitation. Patients with extracapsular lesions are usually treated with osteosynthesis. This is an operation to fix a broken bone with a metal pin.
Intracapsular fractures require prosthetics - hip replacement. Patients who have suffered a similar fracture of the femoral neck will be able to walk, albeit with crutches, already a couple of days after the radical intervention.
Regardless of what kind of operation was performed, soon the patient will be prescribed physiotherapy exercises and physiotherapy specially selected for him, which is designed to help him restore the functions of the damaged limb as soon as possible.
However, the general condition of the patient does not always allow doctors to carry out radical treatment. Then the patient is prescribed immobilization of the limb or skeletal traction of the injured leg. Such patients need special care, as their condition is fraught with a number of complications. However, they usually occur only in those patients who, for one reason or another, do not get out of bed. Whileeven the most complex fractures require at least minimal physical activity, again determined by the physiotherapist and the attending physician.
Fractures of the femoral neck: complications
Here is just a short list of problems that can occur in a patient with a hip fracture who is bedridden:
• bedsores;
• bowel atony;
• congestive pneumonia;
• foot rotation;• psychological problems.
