A femur break is a serious break at any age but it can be deadly to seniors that are 65 years and older. The femur is the longest bone in the body. Femur breaks/fractures are most likely at the hip but in some cases can be at the lower extremities.

What happens when an elderly person breaks their femur?

Complications can arise with femur breaks. Proper setting. If the femur is not set properly, there’s a chance the leg will become shorter than the other one and may cause hip or knee pain many years later. Poor alignment of the femur bone may also be painful.

Is a femur break life threatening?

Caution: A fractured femur may be life-threatening. Death can occur following a femur fracture due to complications such as blood clots, pneumonia, or infection. Symptoms of life-threatening injury include: Localized swelling in the legs or groin, with redness and tenderness to touch.

Can a 90 year old survive a broken femur?

Conclusion: Surgery is the treatment of choice for patients aged 90 years and older with proximal femoral fracture. However, they have a lower rate of regaining pre-injury walking ability and a higher in-hospital death rate than younger patients.

How long does it take for a femur to heal in the elderly?

Most femoral fractures take about 4 to 6 months to heal completely, but you should be able to resume many activities before this time.

How long do you stay in the hospital with a broken femur?

Treatment methods included intramedullary nailing, open reduction and internal fixation, arthroplasty or other definitive fixation of femur fracture. Investigators used hospital length of stay as the primary outcome measure. Results showed patients had a median length of stay of 6.43 days.

Can a femur fracture cause death?

A femoral shaft fracture in isolation should not cause death. Yet a patient with a femoral fracture can die from this injury. Recall that bone is vascular and fractures let marrow contents (fat especially) out into the circulation. Fat could embolize to the brain or the lungs.

Why is the femur the worst bone to break?

Your thighbone (femur) is the longest and strongest bone in your body. Because the femur is so strong, it usually takes a lot of force to break it. Motor vehicle collisions, for example, are the number one cause of femur fractures. The long, straight part of the femur is called the femoral shaft.

What are the long term effects of a broken femur?

Long-term symptoms after fracture include muscular weakness, limited standing and walking, gait abnormalities, some intermittent pain, and inability to return to preinjury work. Surgical management is rarely needed to treat femoral stress fractures; however, surgical stabilization is recommended for recalcitrant cases.

Is breaking your femur the worst pain?

Your femur is located in your thigh, running from your hip to your knee. It’s long and strong and hurts like heck when you break it. In addition to being one of the most painful breaks, a broken femur can damage the large arteries in the leg and cause severe bleeding.

How long does a femur operation take?

The surgeon makes a surgical cut on the side of your thigh. The metal plate or nail is attached with a few screws. This surgery takes 2 to 4 hours.

How do they fix a broken femur?

In the most common surgery to repair a femur fracture, the surgeon inserts a rod or large nail into the center of the bone. This rod helps support the bone until it heals. The surgeon may also put a plate next to your bone that is attached by screws. Sometimes, fixation devices are attached to a frame outside your leg.

How long does pain last after femur fracture?

Knee pain was the most common and most severe source of patient discomfort 12 months after isolated femur fractures, and demonstrated moderate to good correlation with general and joint-specific functional outcome measures.

What’s the most painful bone to break?

Here’s a look at some of the bones that hurt the most to break:

• 1) Femur. The femur is the longest and strongest bone in the body.
• 2) Tailbone. You could probably imagine that this injury is highly painful.
• 3) Ribs. Breaking your ribs can be terribly distressing and quite painful.
• 4) Clavicle.

Can you walk on a fractured femur?

Sometimes, a really bad complete fracture will not be able to carry weight or otherwise function properly. Most of the time, however, fractures can indeed support weight. The patient can probably even walk on a broken leg —it just hurts like the dickens.

What is the fastest way to heal a broken femur?

Home remedies to speed up repair

1. Take protein supplements. As a large part of a bone is composed of protein, taking protein supplements can help the bone to rebuild and heal itself.
2. Take antioxidants.
3. Take mineral supplements.
4. Take vitamin supplements.
5. Take herbal supplements.
6. Exercise.
7. Avoid smoking.