# Broken Femur



## Delacrose (Aug 8, 2017)

Holla! 

Just wondering if anyone has any advice or experience that could help me with a character who has broken his Femur. It was caused by a high pressure fall and he also has a laceration in the same leg on the thigh muscle. thankfully it misses the major artery but he still stuffers high blood loss. Survives. Suffers a limp and on going pain after healing but I believe this is psychological. 
I have never broken anything so major - anyone have any advice for what that kind of pain is like? 
He will need surgery as well and I have never experienced that - being in the hospital for extended periods of time, being on pain killers in that manner. Any advice on that experience would be appreciated as well.

Thank you


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## elemtilas (Aug 14, 2017)

Delacrose said:


> Just wondering if anyone has any advice or experience that could help me with a character who has broken his Femur.



I think a better term might be "high velocity fall".

Of course, it'll hurt like hell. Particularly once the initial adrenaline rush wears away. I'm going to hazard the guess that by "surgery" and "hospital" and "pain killers" you mean rather more modern than a medieval hospital and some rot gut to dull the agony.

The surgery itself will be painless, on account of your hero will be asleep. Depending on the nature of the fracture, his bone could be repaired with a rod reamed and hammered down the middle of the bone; there might be extra plates screwed on to hold the splinters in place; there might also be some kind external fixation cage applied. For a while, he'll be sporting a splint (plaster or fiberglass) and bulky dressings.

Muscle tear during injury can be repaired as well.

If your plan is to miss the big arteries, then the injuries will have to be on the front, lateral side or back of the leg, as the femoral artery passes more or less along the medial portion of the thigh.

After surgery comes physical therapy. Passive range of motion to start, then weight bearing exercise, then perhaps further therapy to help regain and stabilise function.

For more details, you might check out websites on sports medicine.


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## SeverinR (Aug 15, 2017)

Femur Shaft Fractures (Broken Thighbone)-OrthoInfo - AAOS

Depending on time period and antibiotics, surgery was very risky.  Infection usually killed the patient.  
Without surgery, the person would suffer for a long period until the bone fused together in what ever position it set in or just never joins back and can't stand on that leg.
*The femur is the largest bone in the body, blood loss can be massive even if it misses the arteries/veins.
*If the fracture affects the blood supply, the tissue can die and cause gangrene, which must be cut off or it will poison the body.
*With the amount of weight the femur supports I don't believe it can be put in a  cast and return to normal. So surgery is usually the best option if there is antibiotics.

"On going pain.." It could be mental, but if it doesn't heal properly it can be real pain.


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## Russ (Aug 15, 2017)

There is a huge variety of types of fractures.  Displaced, non-displaced, compound, cominuted, complex etc, single and multiple.

The outcomes between have a significant variation.

Since the OP gives little info on the world the fracture takes place in it is hard to say much about the outcome.  With a good surgeon in the modern world you can have some great outcomes.

Do consider the issue of leg shortening though which can often happen after a serious femur fracture.


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## Garren Jacobsen (Aug 16, 2017)

So here is a story. I know a man that was once involved in a massive street brawl as a police officer. Some drunken idiots decided to hold a Denny's hostage in the late 70s. The cops were called and a massive street brawl ensued. One of the cops was a reservist. He was 50 inches tall and 52 inches at the chest, all muscle. In fact, he could pick up a motorcycle and put in on a desk. He was roid crazy and he hated people and feet.

Well, he gets one of the drunken idiots subdued and is ushering the idiot to the police car. But this barefoot bozo kicked him in the head. In a rage, he grabs the barefoot bozo by the knee-pit and the waistband of his pants and slammed his thigh into a part of the police car, shattering the femur. He screamed so loud that the brawl then ended.

Barefoot bozo ended up a quarter inch shorter on that leg. He had some internal bleeding and was rushed the hospital. He probably would have died without modern medicine. I would guess your character will forever have a limp because that leg will be shorter. This could develop into back, hip, and knee problems.


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## sPAm (Sep 13, 2017)

These days the risk of imun bacterias are a thing to. It wasn't as much back in the days but today bacteria are getting more immune to our modern medicine. He/she also needs physical therapy quite fast.


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