“I’ll be back,” said Tony Hawk after the professional skaterboarder took a hard hit and his femur.
But, will he really?
Your femur — the leg bone between your hip and knee — is the longest, heaviest and strongest bone in your body. It takes tremendous force to break your femur. A broken femur is a serious injury that requires immediate medical care. Broken femurs are treated with surgery and physical therapy. It can take months for your broken femur to heal. If you have a broken femur, you won’t be able to put weight on your injured leg therefore walking will be difficult or impossible depending on the severity of your injury.
Sometimes we can treat broken femurs with a splint that will cover the whole leg and goes up toward the hip. This is usually done as a temporary step to help with the pain and keep your broken femur still until surgery. If you’ve broken your femur, surgery is almost always necessary so that broken bone will heal properly. Surgery is usually within 24 to 48 hours after injury. Physical therapy will be ordered throughout recovery. It can take four to six months to fully recover from surgery.
Unfortunately, many people suffer broken femur due to falls and some people suffer reinjuring the femur because they are not careful after healing. Taking the following precautions to decrease your risk of falling will help prevent reinjury:
- Stairs are difficult for someone who is recovering from femur surgery. Consider setting up a temporary sleeping space and portable commode on the first floor for the injured person so he/she doesn’t need to climb steps. Put railings on both sides of the stairs if unavoidable.
- Eliminate things that they might trip over, such as loose cords and throw rugs.
- Install handrails in the bathtub or shower and near your toilet.
- Make sure your home has lots of light by adding more or brighter light bulbs.
- Keep items within reach so they can be easily reached without using a step stool or ladder.
- Use non-slip mats in the bathtub and on shower floors.
Tony Hawk has a long road to full recovery where he'll be able to do the tricks he is most famous for. Learn more about Tony Hawk’s accident here:
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