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Non-Contact Femoral Fracture in a Collegiate Football Player
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Moore, Terri-Anne Cleary, Michelle A. Diaz, Thalia |
| Copyright Year | 2013 |
| Abstract | We present a unique athletic injury witnessed by the primary investigator who was compelled to convey the details of the incident to other Certified Athletic Trainers. This case is presented to increase awareness and ensure proper recognition, evaluation, and treatment of this potentially lifethreatening injury. Femoral fractures are usually caused by tremendous forces as a result of direct contact. The femur is one of the largest and most dense bones in the body and requires a great amount of force to overcome the mechanical strength of the bone and cause breakage or fracture. Accidents that may cause a femur fracture usually involve falling from a height, high-speed collisions in sports such as skiing or snowmobiling, or car accidents (DePalma, 1970). Various types of femur fractures encompass simple, spiral, comminuted, transverse, closed, open, pathological and stress fractures (Shultz, 1972). These fracture types can be further classified into femoral neck, intertrochanteric, subtrochanteric, supracondylar, and femoral shaft fracture categories (Derian, 1970). A review of the current medical literature revealed that the types of femoral pathology observed in sports can range from avulsion fractures involving anterior cruciate ligament injury, femoral neck stress fracture, stress fracture from excessive exercise, and fractures associated with decreased bone density (Clement, Ammann, & Taunton, 2002; Manketelow, Haddad, & Goddard, 2000). Gender specific fractures occurring in athletics include stress fractures in female athletes associated with nutritional factors and epiphyseal fractures typically observed in males ages 12 to 15 (Anderson, Hall, & Martin, 2000). The purpose of this case study is to report an unusual instance of a non-contact displaced transverse mid-shaft femoral fracture witnessed by the primary investigator during a football practice session. Background and Case Presentation The athlete (AG, to protect anonymity) was an 18 year-old male American football linebacker (height = 183 cm, weight = 89.4 kg) with no personal or family medical history of cancerous tumors or other bone disorders. The injury was witnessed by the athletic training staff early in the practice season of a new National Collegiate Athletic Association Division IAA football program. During examination, AG reported that after receiving and running the football, his foot established contact with the ground but became trapped under a fallen cornerback. AG attempted to free his foot from under his fallen teammate, and as he twisted his leg, he heard a loud snap. Athletic trainers on the sideline also heard the snap, which resembled a sound of a gunshot or a blown electrical transformer. Minimal contact was involved with this injury, inconsistent with the typical mechanisms of injury (Surgical Notes, 2001) As the certified athletic trainer and student intern approached the patient on the field, he was lying on his left side. During the initial assessment, obvious visual deformity and swelling were evident at the fracture site. No evidence of discoloration, impaired circulation, or diminished sensation was observed at this time. The displaced bone fragments appeared to protrude posterior-laterally without breaking the skin. AG remained on the field for |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1038&context=sferc&httpsredir=1&referer= |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
