The Gory Details

Everything you wanted to know about hip fractures

NOTE: Some of the links from here on go to x-rays and fairly explicit descriptions of the fracture from online orthopaedic textbooks. So... probably not for the squeamish. Moving right along.

What is hip?

The immortal words of Tower of Power. But, more to the point, what is a Garden III hip fracture? The Garden Alignment Index is a grading scheme for hip fractures. The scale goes from 1-4, getting worse as the number gets bigger. The closer you get to the head of the femur, the worse it gets. My fracture is between III and IV. A Garden III fracture is a complete fracture with partial displacement, requiring a reduction (follow links from the alignment index for more details). Below, from left to right, are examples of what a hip should look like, what it looks like with a Garden III fracture, and what it looks like after the addition of screws. Click on a picture to make it bigger. Note that these are not my x-rays, although they look very similar (except that I have 5 screws instead of 3). In the good hip, you can see the definition of the head of the femur. In the fracture, you can see... well, you can see that it sure doesn't look right. In the "after" shot, you can see that the screws are in, and the shape is correct. X-rays are very hard to scan. I tried to scan mine. It didn't work.

Note that some browsers have trouble with these images. If this is the case, you can try these links to see a normal hip, a Garden III fracture, and a hip after screws.

What is hip? Garden 3 Fracture After screws

Success Rate

What did I mean in the story when I said there's only a 60% chance of success? Well, following this link will show you the complications of hip fractures. This is pretty scary stuff, so... I warned ya. Suffice it to say that there's more to healing a fracture than getting bones to knit back together. It may be 2 years before we're 100% certain that the procedure was a complete success.

What happens if it doesn't succeed? Basically, there is only one solution at that point: Total Hip Replacement. We do not want to go there! This is why my surgeon is being particularly conservative, and there is a very good chance that it will succeed.