A hip fracture is the complete or partial breakage of the upper thighbone, known as the proximal femur. The femur’s rounded end (known as its head) sits tightly but freely in the pelvis socket. The correct functioning of this “ball-and-socket” joint is essential for human locomotion. Hip fractures can cause loss of the ability to stand and walk, because of the tendency of the bone to heal in a malformed way — the result of stress that the thigh’s system of muscles exerts on the bone. Every year 300,000 Americans find themselves in hospital beds because of hip fractures.
Symptoms of a hip fracture include:
· Not being able to move after a fall
· Severe pain in your hip or groin that does not go away
· Not being able to put weight on the leg of the injured hip
· Bruising and swelling in and around your hip area
Hip fractures can actually occur in younger people, as well. In these cases, it is more likely to be caused by trauma such as a car crash or a fall from a significant height. The denser bones of younger people means that greater force is needed to break a bone as large as the femur.
For many older adults, a hip fracture happens after a fall, usually just a fall from standing height. Thinning of the bones (osteoporosis) is the leading cause of hip fracture. If you have osteoporosis you are more likely to fracture your hip from a fall or other trauma. Osteoporosis means that your bones have become less dense and more porous. This makes them more fragile, so that less force is needed to break them.
