Repairing Hip Fractures

Baptist Health Lexington: Repairing Hip Fractures

Surgeon Janak Talwalkar, MD, discusses the options for repairing a fractured hip, explaining how the right treatment and therapy can ensure a full recovery.

Repairing Hip Fractures HealthTalks Transcript

Janak Talwalkar, MD, Orthopedic Surgery
Treatment options are based largely on where you fracture your hip because of blood supply issues. Certain fractures are treated better by replacing the hip or doing a partial replacement, whereas others are better served by trying to fix the fracture and maintain the native structures. The biggest risk factor for hip fracture is falling. About 30 percent of people over the age of 65 will fall. There’s a very small, small role for non-operative treatment for these injuries because it’s such a weight-bearing joint — it’s an important joint for people’s ability to get up and down. Time has shown us that the quicker we can do the surgery, so ideally we’d like it done within 48 hours of falling, but the less time between the fall and the surgery, the better the people are going to do, and that’s mainly because you can get them up with physical therapy. The surgery is the first part of it and sometimes the easiest part of it. The more difficult part is the recovery and the therapy and the exercises and medical recovery. For the most part, if people are fairly healthy going into the process and the problem, they can expect to make a full recovery. They may have some impairment functionally, but it’s certainly something that people typically recover from and get back to their regular lives.