FRACTURES IN THE ELDERLY PART I

We all have in our family an old man or an old woman, your father, your mother, your grandfather or your grandmother.
Due to their age the elderly have a decreased bone density so they can suffer different types of fractures, among the most frequent are those of the wrist, those of the hip (neck of the femur) and vertebral fractures.
Today we are going to talk about hip fractures.
The main cause of this type of fractures in the elderly are falls.
How to know if there is a hip fracture.
The first symptom is the pain, the person can refer pain at the level of the groin or on the outer side of the hip.
Another symptom is the inability to walk, when fracturing the neck of the femur the load-bearing mechanism is lost, therefore can not support the body weight
an important sign that does not occur in 100% of hip fractures, but that is quite frequent is external rotation and shortening of the affected leg

Sometimes it is possible to observe inflammation and bruising in the area where the trauma occurred.
What to do
My advice is to call an ambulance as soon as possible, not to mobilize the person because that will cause pain, in case it was necessary to mobilize it must be done keeping the two lower limbs together avoiding the flexion and abduction of the affected leg.
Once in the hospital they have to perform a rx to diagnose the type of fracture to determine the treatment

What is the treatment of hip fracture?
In general, the treatment consists of hip arthroplasty through the placement of a hip prosthesis.

The purpose of this procedure is to reintegrate the old man into his normal life as soon as possible and to walk again.
In this way we avoid complications such as pneumonia, pulmonary thromboembolism and all those diseases related to prolonged bed rest.
From the day following the surgery must start the physiotherapy.

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