Most people will experience a broken bone at some point in their lives. The most common bone that is broken is the clavicle, or collarbone, below the shoulders. This is usually attributed to falls and other injuries that are the result of an active lifestyle and by the fact that the clavicle is in a high-impact area with little support around it.
However, as we age, there is another fracture that is common: the hip. About 300,000 older adults (age 65 and above) are hospitalized each year due to hip fractures. Let’s look a little deeper into the anatomy, injury, and treatment options for this misunderstood bone in our bodies.
Many people would have a hard time locating the hip correctly on their bodies. Most consider it to be more of a region instead of an anatomical location. The hip is actually a combination of bones that form a joint near our pelvis. It is one of the body’s largest weight-bearing joints and is formed where the pelvis meets the top portion of the femur in the thigh.
This ball and socket joint has two main parts: the femoral head (a ball-shaped piece of bone located at the top of your femur) and the acetabulum (the socket in which the head of the femur fits snuggly inside). Around this, thick bands of tissue, called ligaments, connect the ball to the socket and thereby stabilize the hip and form the joint capsule.
The inside of the joint is lined with a thin coating that produces a viscous liquid called synovial fluid that cushions the friction between muscle, ligaments, and bone. Your body has this synovial fluid at all major joints. In fact, cracking your knuckles is simply pushing out air bubbles that are stored in the fluid.
Fractures to the hip are a serious injury with complications that can be life-threatening.
As already noted, the risk of hip fractures increases dramatically with age and is a combination of factors such as weakening of the bones with age (osteoporosis), multiple medications, poor vision, or balance problems. The signs and symptoms of a hip fracture are usually easy to spot.
There will often be severe pain to the groin or hip along with an inability to move the leg after the fall. Also, the affected leg will typically look shorter than the other and might be rotated to one side in an unnatural position. Because of the large number of important blood vessels that travel along and wrap around the femur, a broken bone in the hip region can be a true life-threatening emergency.
About 95 percent of the hip fracture cases will require surgery that involves either repairing the fracture or replacing the bones of the hip joint entirely. You should know that hip injuries can come in many shapes and forms from simple dislocations to full-blown replacements. It is impossible to know the extent of the injury without x-ray (which no one has in their homes).
Many times, elderly patients will not report possible hip injuries. Their fear is that they will be bedbound for an extended period and lose their independence or that a hip fracture might mean that they can no longer care for themselves at home.
If you are a family member checking on an elderly patient, be sensitive to their concerns about what this injury might mean. I have responded to countless patients who have fallen, have an obvious injury to the hip, and only want to be sat up in their chair. Reason with these patients to seek proper medical care. As mentioned, it can be a true life-threatening emergency when your hip-hop turns into a hip-pop.
Stay safe out there.
