Femoral fractures
The femur is the longest and strongest bone in the human body. Its main function is to support the body's weight during various activities, such as walking and running. The femur is generally divided into different anatomical parts according to their shape, function and location; the proximal part, composed of the femoral head, neck and trochanters, articulates with the pelvis to form the hip joint; the diaphysis, cylindrical in shape, provides the origin and insertion of several muscles; and the distal part, is composed of the two condyles which articulate with the tibia and patella to form the knee joint. Fractures affecting this bone can result in very different symptomatology, depending on the injured district, the mechanism and the severity of the fracture. Due to the high resilience of the femoral bone, these injuries are generally caused by high-energy traumatic events in young, healthy populations, such as road accidents. In older populations, or in subjects with specific pathologies that make the bone more fragile (e.g. osteoporosis), femur fractures can also occur during low-energy mechanisms such as a fall. Because of the different mechanisms of injury, patients may present with very different symptomatology. Patients generally present with localized or irregular pain.
The management of patients suffering from femoral fractures is highly dependent on the location of the lesion (proximal, diaphyseal or distal to the femur), the specifics of the fracture itself (e.g. displaced, non-displaced, etc.) and the characteristics of the patients affected by the fracture (e.g. age). Due to the traumatic nature of these injuries, femoral fractures are generally treated surgically, with several possible procedures always discussed between the patient and the medical team. Following surgery, a rehabilitation program is required to optimize results and minimize post-surgical complications. At Foxphysio, your rehabilitation process will be structured in different stages and will take place in four different environments: the pool, the gym, the movement analysis and re-education room and the field. In the early stages, the main objectives are to re-establish homeostasis by reducing pain and swelling, to recover potentially affected hip and knee mobility, and to gradually restore function to the lower limbs. In the intermediate stage of rehabilitation, regaining strength and endurance in the lower limbs becomes the priority, as does optimizing the overall quality of movement to learn how to distribute the load efficiently between the various joints.