The most common injury in older people is a hip fracture. This is due to the fact that the bone structure is disturbed due to age-related changes, which increase every year. How to treat a person who has received such an injury, how long the recovery period after it lasts, read the article.
What is a hip fracture?
This is an injury due to the presence of osteoporosis in humans. In most cases, it occurs in old age, with women more often than men. Hip fracture can occur by an absurd accident. For example, a person stumbled and fell, and on an unbent lower limb. In this case, the knee cannot absorb shock. Due to the impact of the thigh, trauma begins to develop. In addition, a hip fracture can occur due to a blow to the hip joint. As a result of such an injury, the pelvic bones are damaged.
The result of a fracture of the femoral neck is damage to the skeletal part that connects the femur and its head. This is relevant for the elderly, as changes in the structure of tissues, including bone, occur with age. According to statistics, hip fracture is 6% of the total number of fractures.
How does the femur work?
The thigh includes limbs and the main body. The location of the femoral head is the upper part adjacent to the articular cavity. Below it is the neck. She and the body of the thigh are interconnected. The thigh has islets, there are two of them. One is adjacent to the patella, the other to the tibial bone.
What causes fractures in the elderly?
Risk factors include:
- Osteoporosis is a disease that causes bones to become fragile. The risk of hip fracture increases, even if the load is negligible. The height of their own growth can cause a fracture when a person falls.
- Oncological diseases increase the risk of injury.
- Physical activity is minimal or completely absent. In old age, not all people go to fitness clubs, health centers. Most of them do not even do exercises in the morning. As a result, weak muscles and lack of nutrition for bones.
- Obesity is a problem for mankind, and especially for the elderly. In many of them, the cause of excess weight is vascular disease, heart disease, and diabetes. But many elderly people who do not suffer from these ailments. The cause of obesity in this case is a low level of physical activity.
- Unbalanced diet. The diet often lacks products containing the necessary nutrients for the body.
- Menopause in the life of women. This period is characterized by fragility and fragility of bones. This is why women get hip fractures more often than men.
- The cause of injuries in the elderly is atherosclerosis, endarteritis, diseases associated with nerves, and others.
- Accidents on the roads, accidental falls are not excluded, and for working pensioners - industrial injuries.
Symptoms
A hip fracture in the elderly is accompanied by the following symptoms:
- There is pain in the groin area, but not severe. This is because the injury is pathological. Discomfort, of course, is felt, but the person is not very worried. At rest, the pain generally completely disappears, so people are in no hurry to consult a doctor for help, believing that it is not needed.
- Sometimes the function of the leg is impaired. Injury does not allow a person to stand, let alone walk.
- If you relax while lying down, the leg turns outward. This can be determined during inspection.
- The limb stopped turning inward.
- If you press on the heel or knock on it, pain occurs.
- After a hip fracture, a hematoma appears in the inguinal region.
Prehospital treatment
When injured, a person needs first aid. To do this, he is given an analgesic injection with the Ketonal drug, which is administered intravenously, as well as Novocaine as a local anesthetic. The hip joint is fixed on the side of the injury with a shield or splint. If necessary, blood pressure is adjusted, and anti-shock therapy procedures are performed.
Hip Fracture Treatment
Therapy for such an injury for the elderly is as follows:
- Conservative treatment of hip fracture should be carried out in a specialized department of the hospital - traumatology.
- For fusion to happen quickly, do skeletal traction. A person will remain motionless for a long time, approximately two months. Therefore, from the very beginning, the doctor is engaged in patient exercises that are designed specifically for each patient, taking into account the severity of the fracture.
- After the traction is canceled, the person will begin to move independently, but crutches will help him in this, since it is impossible to step on the injured limb.
- Only four months later, metered loads can be given on the leg, and then under the supervision of a doctor.
- After six months of treatment, you can try to walk on your own, stepping on a limb with a hip fracture. In older people, this causes great difficulties, as the muscles atrophy over a long period of treatment. Therefore, native people should provide assistance.
- Subject to a full course of therapy and rehabilitation, a person, as a rule, returns to the previous rhythm of life after seven months.
Surgical intervention
Conservative treatment of hip fracture in older citizens takes a lot of time. It is very difficult for people at this age to be without any movement for a long time, because various complications arise that are not compatible with life. If a patient with a hip fracture can be operated on, it is performed. But the person’s age, his general well-being, the presence of diseases that can lead to undesirable complications are necessarily taken into account. Medical experts believe that hip fracture surgery is a priority. The sooner you start it, the better for the patient.
To do this, resort to the use of osteosynthesis, this is when the fragments are fixed with metal structures: special screws, nails, screws. If the integrity of the bone cannot be restored, endoprosthetics are done - this is when a person’s hip joint is replaced with an artificial one.
Recovery time
Rehabilitation is a very important process. Many factors influence the timing of hip fracture recovery in older people, because this period can be extended for a long time. How much time will pass before the patient returns to normal life without any restrictions, the doctor determines, depending on the condition of the patient.
With conservative treatment of hip fractures in the elderly, the periods are extended to six months or even a whole year. After surgery using osteosynthesis, complete recovery occurs within three to five months, and this period begins from the moment when bone marrow forms in two to three weeks. If the patient has had endoprosthetics, the rehabilitation period is reduced in time and is only two to three months.
First days after surgery
After the patient wakes up, you need to lay the problem limb correctly. To spread the legs between them put a roller. The day after surgery, the patient is allowed to be active as much as possible with bed rest. The first dressing is carried out on the same day. In the future, this procedure is performed after two to three days, until the wound heals. Sutures are removed after two weeks.
Following a diet is a prerequisite for recovery. The first two days, the patient eats porridge on the water, jelly and dairy products. Food needs to be crushed to a puree state. The use of salt and sugar is strictly limited. To exclude vein thrombosis, the legs are bandaged with an elastic bandage.
The first two days you need to sleep on your back, no sides and abdomen. In the future, when the doctor allows you to take any position, when turning, use a roller, which is clamped between the limbs. For this, bent legs and knees are used. About a week after the operation, sudden movements are contraindicated.
What role does gymnastics play in rehabilitation?
The main path to recovery is motor activity. Therapeutic exercises are developed individually, taking into account the age and severity of a hip fracture in elderly patients. The value of the physiotherapy complex is as follows:
- In damaged tissues, blood circulation is significantly improved, the occurrence of pressure sores is prevented.
- The muscles of the pelvis and legs are strengthened, which prevents complications that arise with a sedentary lifestyle.
- Joint mobility increases.
- Resting on the leg with a broken neck of the thigh.
- Helps a person learn to walk after surgery.
- Regular physical therapy exercises help to fully restore working capacity and return to the previous life cycle.
Therapeutic exercise complex
Immediately after the fracture, exercises are performed simple and, of course, in a supine position:
- The straight leg gently rises and falls.
- A straight or bent leg is set aside.
- You can try to get up using a support or a walker.
- After a month, the patient can do gymnastics. Exercises are designed to strengthen the muscles of the legs and restore balance.
- The feet need to be bent and unbent. When extending, fix them for a few seconds in this position, then relax.
- Bend your toes and arms.
- To bend a non-injured limb in the knee so that the heels of the broken one do not come off the bed, and bend the forearm at the elbows.
- To pull up, holding on to the headboard, the pelvis can be raised slightly.
- Lying on the back, shoulder blades are reduced and parted.
- Circles are drawn in the air in one direction and the other, the leg is straight.
- In turn, the muscles of the body tighten and relax.
- The complex will be incomplete if it does not have breathing exercises.
Learning to breathe properly
To avoid stagnation in the lungs of bedridden patients, breathing exercises should be done. Examples of exercises are given below:
- Lie on your back and breathe in and out very smoothly. If you feel dizzy, you need to take a break.
- When you can make simple hand movements, they should be connected to breathing exercises. On inhalation, hands should be spread apart and turn your head left or right. When you exhale - clasp your arms around your chest and touch your chest with your chin. Inhale should be done with the nose, exhale with the mouth.
- Put the palms of your hands on your chest. Inhaling, straighten them forward, exhaling - return them back. When you exhale, the sound is pronounced "Ha-ah-ah," only loudly.
- When inhaling and exhaling, movements are made by hand, as when swimming in various styles.
- The right palm grasps the shoulder on the left side, and the left - on the right. A nose is inhaled, when you exhale, you need to turn your head to the right, and also say "II-and-and." Swap hands and repeat.
Breathe aperture
To maintain internal organs in good shape, you need to do the following exercises:
- One palm on the stomach, the second on the chest. When inhaling, the chest is motionless, and the abdomen is inflated. When you exhale, the stomach is drawn into itself, while vowels are pronounced, any.
- Put your fingers in the lock, put your palms on your stomach. Take a breath not with your chest, but with your stomach. As you exhale, stretch your arms up, unfold the castle with your palms in the ceiling, put them on the top of the head, and then again on the stomach.
- Hands apart, take a breath in the stomach. As you exhale, draw in your stomach and grab your chest. Exercise is difficult, it may not work out right away. But do not despair. Patiently continue to do it every day and learn, just do not stop doing it.
What does the rehabilitation period include?
Hip fracture in senior citizens requires a long recovery. It is necessary to regularly carry out a set of measures, thanks to which the joints - are developed, blood supply - improves, muscle tone - increases. Experts recommend performing:
- Therapeutic gymnastics. The complex is selected for each patient individually. At first, the doctor observes the performance of exercises, prompts, if that is not clear. You can use a bandage.
- Light hand massage, which sessions should be short in time. This procedure is necessary in order to exclude possible complications that are associated with the immobility of the patient. With the help of massage, blood supply is restored, muscles are relaxed, tissues are saturated with oxygen.
- Mechanotherapy, when exercises are performed using simulators.
- Courses of specialists in the field of psychotherapy. This is necessary for older people to quickly get out of depression.
- Physiotherapy, which include: ultra-high-frequency therapy, treatment with paraffin, mud, mineral water, electrophoresis, magnetotherapy. With their help, edema is eliminated, wounds heal, blood circulation is restored, a possible infection does not spread.
Rehabilitation using folk methods
Even ancient healers used various means to reduce pain and accelerate the healing of fragments. They are doing this now, the only difference is that today a person has the opportunity to consult a doctor.
- Ring magnets. They can be taken from filters or loudspeakers. The treatment is as follows: a magnet is applied to the skin in the area of the hip joint. In a clockwise direction they begin to drive them in the area of pain localization. 10 minutes are enough for the procedure.
- Mummies, vegetable or rose oil are mixed to get a consistency like a cream. The prepared ointment is rubbed into the skin several times a day.
- Raw potatoes need to be grated and attached to a sore joint. This remedy relieves pain.
- The leaves of a geranium flower. First they need to be dried, then pour boiling water. Leaves need two small spoons, water - a liter. The broth is used for baths and compresses.
How to care for the sick?
With a hip fracture in a person, conservative treatment is not carried out quickly. It takes many months to put the patient on his feet. How to care:
- Rub the skin. To do this, use camphor alcohol.
- Massage limbs and body.
- Exercise daily in the morning.
- The patient's body should not be in one position for more than two hours. A person needs help to roll over to the other side.
Complications
Compliance with bed rest for a long time often causes various complications. They can not be ignored, since they are more dangerous than the injury itself. The most common complications are:
- pressure sores;
- thrombosis;
- pneumonia;
- stroke, heart attack;
- muscle atrophy;
- necrosis of tissues, both bone and muscle;
- death.
After a hip fracture, the recovery time is very long. At this time, patients especially need quality care and support. To exclude the occurrence of all kinds of infections, it is important to comply with hygiene standards. Bedridden patients are most afraid of pressure sores. You can prevent their formation if under the back and foot of a diseased limb lay pads or rollers from a towel. So that the patient does not have pneumonia, you need to teach him to do breathing exercises correctly, and a laxative will help to eliminate problems with the intestines.
Prevention
The disease is always easier to prevent than to treat later, and for a very long time. You don’t need to do anything special, just follow the following recommendations:
- Maximum movements, sports are welcome for people of any age. Exercising daily in the morning is a way of life.
- Food should be balanced. The presence in the daily diet of foods containing a lot of calcium is a prerequisite for strengthening bones.
- Normalize your own weight.
- Timely treat joint, bone and endocrine diseases.