Hip fractures are commonly called broken hips. You can break your hip at any age, but the majority of hip fractures occur in people older than 65. As you age, your bones slowly lose minerals and become less dense. This happens more quickly in some people than in others.  With dimished balance, strength, reflexes and eye-sight that can all occur with age, elderly patients are at higher risk of falling down and combined with weaker bones, the risk of hip fracture can become quite high.

Once a certain level of bone loss has occurred, a person may be diagnosed with a condition called Osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a thinning of the bones. The bone loss that creates and occurs in osteoporosis causes a gradual loss of density which weakens bones and makes them more susceptible to a hip fracture.

A hip fracture is a serious injury, as the complications can be life-threatening. Fortunately, surgery to repair a hip fracture is usually very effective, although recovery often requires time and patience.

Depending on the type of fracture that has occurred, the hip can either be “fixed” or “replaced”.  Surgery to repair a broken hip is called a fixation where the bones are pinned, plated or nailed together again with metal hardware.  With certain hip fracture patterns there is a high risk of a portion of the bone failing to heal and collapsing.  In these cases, a hip replacent is generally performed.  In the majority of patients, this is performed with a hemiarthroplasty in which only the femoral (thigh bone) side of the hip is replaced.  This procedure has less bloodloss, less stress on patients physiology and a reduced risk of dislocation.  However, hip fractures increasing are being replaced using total hip replacement in younger, more active patients.  In a small number of patients that were unable to walk prior to their hip fracture, consideration may be given to non-operative treatment as performing the procedure will likely not affect their long-term mobility and function.