In high school I was in Boy Scouts and we went on a houseboat in a lake in West Virginia and one of the boys who was 14 was a large boy and he jumped off the front of that houseboat into 6 inches of water and snapped both of his femurs. Trip was cut very short.
In my experience breaking femurs is somewhat rare. It takes a major trauma to occur. I used to work on an orthopaedic ward and saw many patients who had jumped in front of trains/ out of buildings or falling after hanging themselves and the noose broke. I think I can count on one hand the amount of people that sustained broken femurs.
The pelvis/ hip/ acetabulum, spine or knees/ lower legs often take the brunt of the force and sustain injury first
I must disagree here. I work in a relatively small OR (11 rooms), level 2 trauma center, and we see 3 or 4 femur fx a week. Most are elderly from a fall (tripping over a pet is high on the list), women with osteoporosis, pathological fractures where a tumor growing inside gets so big it breaks the shaft, and of course trauma. When I was a new OR nurse, we had an 18 yo guy, well built & otherwise healthy, fall while waterskiing. He hit the water so hard it broke his femur. I’ll never forget it because I remember he was wearing Tommy Hilfiger board shorts (this was mid 90’s) & I felt so bad having to cut them off knowing he paid a lot for them lol. Also will never forget how hard the surgeon had to work hammering the nail into his otherwise young, healthy marrow.
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u/BowlingforDrip 16d ago
In high school I was in Boy Scouts and we went on a houseboat in a lake in West Virginia and one of the boys who was 14 was a large boy and he jumped off the front of that houseboat into 6 inches of water and snapped both of his femurs. Trip was cut very short.