Introduction
A femoral neck fracture is the fracture of the neck of the femur close to the hip joint, also called collum femoris in medical terminology. The injury usually occurs as a result of a fall or other force applied to the neck of the femur and is typical of older age. The risk of suffering a fracture of the femoral neck correlates to a high degree with the individual’s tendency to fall, which can be significantly increased by the factors of old age, frequent circulatory problems with a tendency to collapse, or the use of sleep or pain medication. A fracture of the neck of the femur occurs much less frequently in young people and is usually due to massive violence to the femur, such as in the case of trauma caused by traffic accidents.
Gender distribution of the femoral neck fracture
The presence of osteoporosis, which is associated with a reduction in bone density and bone stability, significantly increases the risk of fracturing the neck of the femur in the event of a fall. Since women of advanced age are affected by osteoporosis much more frequently than men of the same age, the femoral neck fracture occurs more frequently in the female sex.
Causes
The cause of a fracture of the femoral neck can be found in any force applied to the femoral neck. In the young organism, the femur bone, as the supporting component of the locomotor system, is designed to withstand extremely high loads. Rotational, bending and shearing forces, as they occur during running, jumping, but also during impacts and falls, are easily absorbed.
If the bone density and thus the bone stability decreases with age, usually additionally favored by osteoporosis, even minor traumas, such as falls in the home environment, can lead to a fracture of the femoral neck. If the thinning of the bone substance is very advanced, a spontaneous fracture can occur even under normal load. Young patients with a healthy bone structure usually suffer fractures of the femoral neck only under massive force. Typical here are traffic accidents such as driving into another car at high speed or falling with a motorcycle. If a fracture of the femoral neck occurs in a young person as a result of a minor trauma or even spontaneously without any particular force being applied, it is necessary to consider a pathological thinning of the bone structure, for example as a result of hormonal diseases or a tumor.
