The aftermath of a hip fracture can be devastating to a person's health. Mortality rates for hip fracture patients increase by up to 25 percent in the year following their injury. The proper diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation after a hip injury can have a profound impact on a person's life, or even help determine whether they continue to live at all. Identifying the manifestations of hip fractures is the first step toward addressing the problem and planning a regimen for recovery.
Ambulatory Changes
A hip fracture patient may completely lose their ability to walk after their injury due to the loss of stability in the fractured joint. In some cases, undisplaced hairline stress fractures of the hip, meaning fractures where the broken segments remain in alignment, may not cause any ambulatory changes at all, depending on the degree of the injury.
In older, osteoporotic patients, diagnosis can be hampered by the fact that the injury sometimes occurs in the absence of any identifiable trauma. Limb movement may appear normal upon physical examination, according to a study reported in the February 2003 medical journal "American Family Physician."
At other times, joint range of motion is impaired, with the degree of impairment reflecting the severity of the injury.
Localized Pain Patterns
Pain caused by a hip fracture can often be localized to the area directly over the joint. Patients sometimes describe the pain as severe. Examination of the hip will typically reveal tenderness over the head of the femur where it joins with the socket of the pelvis. In other cases the pain may manifest as vague discomfort in the lower back, buttocks, groin, thighs and knees.
A hairline stress fracture may cause hip pain that increases upon movement, or when placing weight on the joint in a standing position. The website Orthogate, published by the Internet Society of Orthopaedic Trauma & Surgery, explains that activity aggravates the pain, while rest eases it.
Diagnostic Imaging
Various diagnostic techniques reveal the clinical manifestations of hip fractures by providing doctors with a visual image of the bones beneath the flesh. X-rays are useful in diagnosing obvious fractures and ruling out other conditions. A bone scan or MRI may be necessary to reveal the more subtle visual changes involved with hairline stress fractures of the hip.
During a bone scan, radioactive tracers that are injected into the blood stream reveal more information than can be obtained through a traditional X-ray. MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, has an advantage over bone scans in that it does not expose the patient to radioactivity, and has as higher rate of accuracy in detecting hip fractures, according to the 2003 "American Family Physician" report.
