Femur Fracture

What is a Femur Fracture?

In order to understand ‘what is a femur fracture’, you need to know what does the word femur mean. Femur is another name given to the thigh bone, the strongest and the largest bone in our body. Basically, the femur is a long bone that extends from the hip joint to the knee joint, and it is known to be a strong bone. Usually, a high amount of damage is required for causing a fracture as the bone is one of the strongest in the body. The most common causes of femur fracture have been seen as car accidents and falls from a height. There can be some other reasons behind a femur fracture, and they can bring about different types of fracture.

Femur Fracture

Types of Femur Fracture

There are three types of femur fracture and you would find that they are divided on the basis of the part of the femur that has been affected. The first type is known as the proximal femur fracture, and is commonly known as a hip fracture. The proximal fracture usually affects the upper part of the thigh, just next to the hip bone. The second type of fracture is known as femoral shaft fracture, a common kind of femur fracture that occurs due to car accidents and falls from great heights. Supracondylar femur fracture is another type of femur fracture that affects the bone right above the knee joint. The supracondylar is quite dangerous and can lead to a case of knee arthritis in the near future. You should take care of such a condition by proper surgery, and should also evaluate any kind of damage that has happened to the knee during this injury. Apart from the femur fractures that happen due to injuries, there is another type of femur fracture that can happen in rare cases.

Pathological Femur Fracture
The pathological femur fracture is another kind of fracture that happens due to completely different reasons. When a portion of the bone is weakened due to infections, tumors and other such reasons, it can lead to a pathological fracture. Usually, there are some underlying conditions involved in such a femur fracture, and you should take care of this underlying cause during the treatment of this fracture.

Useful Link: Wiki – Hip Fracture