Orthopedics Forum - Femur Spiral Fracture On a Three Year Old

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Q: Femur Spiral Fracture On a Three Year Old

asked by: chris houseman on July 2nd, 2007

New User

Could you please help me with a question/concern? My son is three and suffered a mid shaft spiral fracture of his femur. The accident occured in a moon bounce when a much larger child fell knee first into his leg. As you can imagine I was terrified/furious to receive that phone call.

We took him to the emergency room and the orthopedic surgeon set his leg without using any hardware (a nail was considered) and placed him in a body cast covering his entire broken leg and half of the other leg. According to the doctor the break was sufficiently healed and the cast was removed at 5 weeks, however his broken leg is a little over an inch shorter than the normal left leg. The doctor said that this is normal and his legs should grow to equal length over time. Is this really normal and will it heal to a correct length?

It isn't that I don't trust the doctor's judgement, but I am still worried about how it will grow and his ability to lead a normal life, playing contact sports, etc. I am just concerned and I was hoping that I could get some advice from an outside source.

After having the cast removed he is unable to walk without being held up. It is a pretty heartbreaking hard process for everyone. What would be a normal recovery time and how long should it take him to walk independently. I am taking him to the YMCA to swim since there would be less resistance on his leg. No therapy was assigned because of his age and the idea that he will work within his own limitations.

Thank you for taking the time to read my message and for your future response. I am just very concerned about my son's well being and I want to make sure that I am doing everything I can to help him go back to leading a healthy active life as soon as possible.

Replies(7)

konigwolf

replied on July 2nd, 2007

New User

Hi, I understand the your feelings and frustration, my almost 5 year old broke his femur mid leg on an angle, 2 days ago. So we have had a large learning curve. The inch shorter sounds quite fishy, our orthapedic doc's and physio both reckon he'll be up to speed in no time (less than a month) after the bone is healed (about 4-6 weeks they reckon because of his faster childhood metabolism). He's currentley in traction, and sometime in the next week will be transferred to a cast (full broken leg, lower abdomin and upper leg of non broken side) for about 4 weeks. So I hate to say it but it does sound a bit hinky to me, I'd seriously consider a second opinion.

Andrew

ireland9906

replied on February 4th, 2009

New User

Get a second opinion

23 years ago, at the age of 8, I spiral fractured my left femur shaft. As a result, my left leg is almost an inch shorter than my right. I was in a body cast for 13 weeks (note: this was back in the 80's). At that point in time, the orthopedic surgeon made a possible suggestion of surgically "breaking" my non-injured leg in order to even the leg lengths out. Of course, my mother couldn't bear the thought of her little girl having another broken leg, so she refused. Growing up, I didn't have too many obvious difficulties--I limped when I was tired, but was never in pain. Then, in my late twenties, I started having more and more issues with my back/spine, and left leg injuries. I've been an active individual for years--wear a heel lift in my shoe when exercising, and when it will fit in my other shoes. The issue with the spine is that is curves out to the left and is slightly rotated (making it look like scoliosis), due to my right hip being higher than my left. In addition, I've faced an ongoing issue with achilles tendonitis in my left leg due to the extra stretching from the leg being shorter, despite wearing the heel lift (I WAS an avid runner). As of late, my right hip joint has been in a lot of pain...not sure if it's wearing out, or what. I now follow with chiropractic adjustments, followed with stretching, yoga, and resistance training to keep my muscles as strong as possible. My point here is not to complain or scare, but to provide a perspective from someone who is dealing with a childhood femur fracture 23 years later at the age of 31.

lmcdonald001

replied on May 7th, 2009

New User

femur injury left lump on leg?

My daughter came home from a pool party about 3 years ago...someone had hit their head against her lower thigh..there was no bruising..with little swelling. Since then, her leg noticably has a small bump just above her knee...very hard. Not discolored, nor painful.

She is a pre-teen, and her school sent home a letter informing me her scoliosis screen came back suggesting I have her checked. Her spine is straight, but her shoulder blades are uneven...she typically carries a very heavy tote on one shoulder...for years...so I thought maybe it could be that....my research recently has led me to maybe think she had some type of injury to her femur...which did not heal correctly, and now her growth may have been impared.

Has anyone had anything remotely similar? - by default, I am not one to run to a doctor. When she first sustained the injury, she never really complaned of it hurting...it seemed fine to me. Now I am worried...please help.

JavaMissus

replied on May 21st, 2009

Supporter

Have her checked out with the doctor...They possibly will X-ray her, but have it done now while she is still growing...This would be my best advice....Good luck...

Caroline

1timeuse

replied on July 1st, 2009

New User

I fractured my knee when I was around 7 years old. Being too afraid to tell my parents (they use to hit us for anything we did wrong) I chose to deal with the pain. Pretending it didn't hurt, I was actaully in quite a bit of pain for about 6 months. I remember I would not run during gym because it would start to hurt. I would rub circles around the pain for hours it seems like at a time. Eventually the pain went away but never fully. Whenever I participate in active sports, after a certain amount of time the pain would return. By the time I realize what I could do, it was too late. I am 32 now and I don't have any back or alignmnet issues but I do have occasional pain. Carry a heavy load here, bend down to change my car tires there (changing all 4 takes a few hours) these things will bring the pain back to remind me I should have just told my parents, took the beating, and got it casted correctly at the time.

Moral of the story, always know what your kids are doing even if they aren't saying it and don't ignore ANY broken bones cause they never truly heal nor does the pain go away if it was damaged enough.

My bumb on my knee is approx 1.5 inch in height, 1 inch wide and sticks out approx 1/2 an inch from what my normal knee looks like.

JavaMissus

replied on July 1st, 2009

Supporter

This is a great warning for everyone...Thanks so much...

Caroline

momin2

replied on August 3rd, 2009

New User

My brother is 4 years old it has been longer than a month that a heavy metal gate on him and he got his femur fracture a traction was put onto him and 4kg weight was put to then plastered his leg and after ten days the doctor removed it he said go and take an xray of his leg when we showed him the xray he said its okay not not to worry he called us after 2 days and he looked at the same xray and said we will have to operate him then we went to another doctor he said do not go for the surgery what should we do now?

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