Femur fracture is otherwise known as the break in the thigh bone. It is the part that may be found between the hip and the knee. Femur fracture has two kinds: open and close. Most of the femur fractures are closed fracture, which means that it does not penetrate to the skin as opposed to open femur fracture. This bone is basically strong and it takes a large amount of force or pressure to break it. A head-on collision, fall or other injuries with sufficient force may break the femur shaft. A person clinically diagnosed with osteoporosis or other diseases affecting bone density may be exposed to greater risks of developing fractures which requires the need for using a dangerous medical device as treatment.

Symptoms of femur fracture may be easily observed. According to orthopaedic experts, severe pain and inability to walk are among its primary signs. Bleeding in substantial amounts and discoloration within the surrounding area (which leaves a black mark) is also one of the symptoms of femur fracture.

Patients who are diagnosed with femur fracture stand at risks of developing blood clots. Swelling and immobility following the treatment may disrupt regular blood flow as indicated by medical data. Anemia or low blood count may also arise due to this condition. In cases in which the fractured femur breaks the layers of the skin, the risk of developing infection increases. There are also other complications that are rarely observed, namely nerve damage and compartment syndrome. The former may result in the numbness or weakness in the lower legs and the latter may compress the nerves, blood vessels in one closed space in the body.  Most often it happens in the thigh area where there is substantial bleeding and inflammation.

Surgical treatments for this type of fracture may also lead to surgical complications. Devices such as DePuy Pinnacle may destabilize the bone and results to severe pain and irritation. Nerve damage is also a possible surgical complication. Treatment for thigh bone fracture often involves surgery, rehabilitation and medication. Each treatment carries with it a potential adverse effect as for any other treatment citing opinions by medical experts. It is deemed best that treatment as well as its possible risks be discussed thoroughly by the patient and the health care provider.

For the duration of the childhood and adolescence, spirited sports activities such as basketball, may cause abnormal development of the femur in young athletes. Strenuous physical exertion may result to a deformed hip with reduced rotation and intense pain during movement, the Science Daily says.

Hip-straining sports activities may explain why athletes are more likely to develop osteoarthritis than more sedentary individuals, according to Dr. Klaus Siebenrock, who leads a medical research team from the University of Bern in Switzerland. Siebenrock and colleagues have published their work online in Springer's Journal  of Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research.

Siebenrock and his colleagues discovered that osteoarthritis of the hip was more predominant in high-level athletes than in those who do not take part in regular sports, reports the Science Daily online resource.

Osteoarthritis of the hip was also linked to higher-intensity activities and greater physical loading of the hip, Siebenrock was quoted as saying. He distinguished that other surveys have discovered that male athletes, specifically those who play soccer and handball, and take part in competitive track and field events relating to  running and jumping, are at better risk of early osteoarthritis of the hip, the Science Daily says.

Siebenrock and teammates made a comparison of  the occurrence of cam-type hip disfigurement among elite athletes during childhood and adolescence and age-matched controls. Cam-type hip misshapenness is a ailment categorized by abnormal bone development on the head of the femur affecting the contact between the femur and the hip socket. They observed at the physical condition and wide array of mobility of 72 hips in 37 male professional basketball players and 76 hips in 38 controlled participants who had not participated in high-level sports.

They secured proof of irregularity at the head of the femur, leading to peculiar interaction between the femur and the hip socket, in men and adolescents who played in an elite basketball club since they were eight years old. As a result, internal hip cycle was lessened and hip motion were more likely to be painful. These changes became more noticeable after shutting of the femoral growth plate through late adolescence. Overall, the athletes were 10 times more likely to have impaired hip function than the controlled ones.

"Our data propose that this hip deformity is in part a developmental deformity, and its manifestation in young adulthood may be initiated by environmental factors such as high-level sports activity during childhood and around the time of closure of the femoral growth plate.

Given the part of the irregularity in deteriorating instabilities in the hip, morphological sorts of the femur resulting from dynamic sporting activity are a key element in the higher incidence of hip osteoarthritis observed in athletes," the research concluded. Because of this, more former athletes undergo hip replacement to relieve themselves from hip pains due to osteoarthritis. Though, instead of getting  the ease, hip implants usually may aggravate  the patient’s condition which may  lead into the filing a "Pinnacle lawsuit".