How do I know if an elderly person has broken their hip?

After a fall: pain in the hip or groin, inability to stand or put weight on the leg, and often a leg that lies shortened and turned outward. Some fractures allow limping — walking does not rule the fracture out. An X-ray settles it.

Why is surgery recommended for almost all elderly hip fractures?

Because the alternative is weeks of bed rest, and bed rest is what kills — through pneumonia, blood clots, pressure sores and rapid decline. Surgery within a day or two allows the patient to sit and stand almost immediately, which is what protects life.

What operation is done for a hip fracture?

It depends on where the bone broke and its blood supply. Fractures of the femoral neck in the elderly usually need replacement of the ball or the whole joint; fractures lower down are usually fixed with a nail or plate so the bone heals in place. The X-ray decides.

Is my elderly parent too old or frail for hip surgery?

Age alone almost never rules out surgery — patients in their nineties are operated on routinely, because lying with an unfixed hip fracture is more dangerous than an anaesthetic. Fitness is optimised quickly with the physicians, not waited for.

How can a second hip fracture be prevented?

Treat the osteoporosis that caused the first one — medication, vitamin D, strength and balance work — and fall-proof the home: lighting, rails, dry bathroom floors. The first fragility fracture is the warning; the response to it decides whether there is a second.

Hip Fracture Treatment in Kolkata

emergency orthopaedics

The Fall That Changes a Family's Year

It usually happens at home — the wet bathroom floor at dawn, the missed step, the slip on the way to the door. An elderly parent is on the ground, cannot rise, and the leg lies oddly — shortened, rolled outward. In that moment a family faces one of geriatric medicine's genuine emergencies, though it rarely feels like one because there is no blood and no drama. There should be urgency anyway. What happens in the next forty-eight hours strongly influences whether this fall is a chapter or an ending.

Dr. Pradyumna Chakraverty — MS Orthopaedics, KPC Medical College, Jadavpur; Assistant Professor of Orthopaedics, with an active trauma practice — treats hip fractures with the urgency they deserve, at Behala and South Kolkata.

The Uncomfortable Arithmetic of Waiting

The instinct of many families is to avoid an operation in a frail, elderly person — it feels like the cautious choice. In hip fracture it is the opposite. An unfixed hip confines the patient to bed, and the bed is where the danger lives: pneumonia from shallow breathing, clots from stillness, pressure sores, confusion, decline. This is why the worldwide standard is surgery within a day or two of the fracture — not because the bone cannot wait, but because the patient cannot. The operation is not a risk taken instead of safety; it is the safety.

Fix or Replace: How the X-ray Decides

"Broken hip" covers two different injuries, and they get different operations.

Femoral neck fractures break the bone just below the ball, cutting off its blood supply. In older patients the reliable answer is usually replacement — of the ball alone, or the whole joint in more active patients — so the patient stands on a solid hip within days. This connects to Dr. Chakraverty's hip replacement practice
Intertrochanteric fractures break lower, through well-supplied bone that heals willingly if held still. These are fixed with a nail or plate-and-screw system, preserving the patient's own joint
The frailty work-up runs in parallel, not first — sugar, heart and blood are optimised with the physicians in hours, not days, because the clock is part of the treatment

After the Operation: The Real Project Begins

Surgery is the shortest part of hip fracture care. Then comes standing on day one or two, walking with support, and the slow rebuilding of confidence in a body that has just betrayed its owner. Two follow-up conversations are non-negotiable in Dr. Chakraverty's practice. First, the bone disease that allowed the fracture — a hip that broke from a standing fall is osteoporosis proven, and it must be treated or the other hip is waiting. Second, the home that staged the fall: lighting, grab rails, footwear, the bathroom floor. The family that fixes both rarely returns with the second fracture.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know if the hip is broken?

After a fall: hip or groin pain, inability to bear weight, often a shortened and outward-turned leg. Walking does not rule it out — an X-ray settles it.

Why operate on almost all elderly hip fractures?

Because bed rest is what kills — pneumonia, clots, pressure sores. Early surgery gets the patient sitting and standing within days, which protects life.

What operation is done?

Neck-of-femur fractures usually need partial or total replacement; fractures lower down are fixed with a nail or plate. The X-ray decides.

Is my parent too old for surgery?

Age alone almost never rules it out — lying with an unfixed hip fracture is more dangerous than the anaesthetic. Fitness is optimised in hours, not waited for.

How is a second fracture prevented?

Treat the osteoporosis behind the first one, and fall-proof the home. The response to the first fracture decides whether there is a second.