Recent Blog Articles
Using weight loss or sports supplements? Exercise caution
Not yet ready for cataract surgery? Try these tips
Back to the future: Psychedelic drugs in psychiatry
Children not yet vaccinated against COVID-19? What to do
HIV rates rising: Could new forms of PrEP help?
Careful! Scary health news can be harmful to your health
Post-pandemic weight loss: There’s an app for that
Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia by telemedicine: Is it as good as in-person treatment?
Prediabetes diagnosis as an older adult: What does it really mean?
Is blood sugar monitoring without diabetes worthwhile?
What Is It?
Whenever a bone breaks or cracks, the injury is called a fracture. The leg has three bones that can fracture — the femur (the thighbone) and the tibia and fibula in the lower leg. When a fracture involves the knobby end portions of bones that are part of the hip, knee and ankle joints, the fracture is more complicated. This article describes only fractures of the straight shafts of the three long leg bones.
The femur is very strong, so it takes a lot of force to fracture this bone in healthy people. The femur usually fractures during high-impact trauma, especially in automobile accidents, industrial accidents, falls from high places or gunshot wounds to the thigh. If a low-impact bump or fall causes a femur to fracture, this may be a sign that the femur has been weakened by an illness, such as osteoporosis or cancer.
To continue reading this article, you must log in.
Subscribe to Harvard Health Online for immediate access to health news and information from Harvard Medical School.
- Research health conditions
- Check your symptoms
- Prepare for a doctor's visit or test
- Find the best treatments and procedures for you
- Explore options for better nutrition and exercise
I'd like to receive access to Harvard Health Online for only $4.99 a month.Sign Me Up
Already a member? Login ».
As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date of last review or update on all articles. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.