A Patient's Guide to Stress Fracture of the Hip
Introduction
Stress fractures of the hip once most commonly affected military personnel who marched and ran day after day. Today, stress fractures of the hip are more common in athletes, especially distance runners.
There are two types of stress fractures. Insufficiency fractures are breaks in abnormal bone under normal force. Fatigue fractures are breaks in normal bone that has been put under extreme force. Fatigue fractures are usually caused by new, strenuous, very repetitive activities, such as marching or distance running. Most stress fractures of the hip are fatigue fractures. The stress fractures this article refers to are fatigue fractures.
This guide will help you understand
- how a stress fracture develops
- how doctors diagnose the condition
- what treatment options are available
Anatomy
What is a stress fracture, and what part of the hip is involved?
The femur is the large bone in the thigh. The ball-shaped head of the femur fits into a socket in the pelvis, called the acetabulum. When a stress fracture occurs in the hip, it usually involves the femoral neck, the short section of bone that connects the head of the femur to the main shaft of the bone. The femoral neck is a thinner part of the femur. Stress fractures are hairline cracks in the bone that can grow larger over time if not treated properly.
The femoral neck has to withstand extreme force even during normal activities, such as standing still. The normal contraction of muscles during walking makes this stress even higher. Running triples the stress on the femoral neck.
Surgeons put fatigue fractures of the femoral neck into three categories. Compression fractures occur on the underside of the femoral neck. Tension fractures occur on the upper side of the bone and can cause more problems than fractures on the underside of the femoral neck. In displaced fractures, the bone cracks all the way through, and the two bones no longer line up correctly.
A displaced stress fracture is a very serious problem in a young adult because it may lead to damage to the blood vessels going into the upper end of the hip bone. This can cause a very serious complication known as avascular necrosis (AVN) of the hip.
Patients with fatigue stress fractures of the hip are also likely to have muscle and tendon injuries and swelling of the synovial lining (the lubricated lining) of the hip joint.
Stress fractures can also happen in the shaft of the femur bone, the greater trochanter, and the pelvis bone. The greater trochanter is a large bump below the neck of the femur. The buttock muscles that move the hip connect to this part of the femur.
To read this guide in its entirety, please continue to eOrthopod.com: Stress Fracture of the Hip
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