Femoral neck stress fracture in a sanitary worker

Abstract

Stress fractures of the femoral neck are uncommon, it is important to have a high index of suspicion in young active people who perform repetitive vigorous activity or have recently had an increase in frequency of such activity. We report a case of femoral neck stress fracture in a sanitary worker which was treated successfully with a dynamic hip screw.

Stress Fracture of the Femoral Neck in a Young Female Athlete

“…Stress fractures may arise as a result of either repeated abnormal stress on normal bone (''fatigue fracture'') or repeated normal stress on abnormal bone (''insufficiency fracture'') [1,3]. It may be due to either a pounding type of compression or muscular pulling resulting in an avulsion fracture [4,5].…”

“…It may be due to either a pounding type of compression or muscular pulling resulting in an avulsion fracture [4,5]. In athletes, the commonest locations of stress fractures are the tibia, tarsals and metatarsals [3]. The incidence of femoral stress fractures ranges from 0.4 to 11% [2].…”

“…The incidence of femoral stress fractures ranges from 0.4 to 11% [2]. They have been reported in the stress fractures of the femoral neck, but also intertrochanteric, subtrochanteric, femoral shaft and condylar fractures have also been described [3,4,6].…”

“…Standard radiographs can be of limited value because of the inability to detect subtle changes in bone structure [3, ]. Bone scintigraphy with technetium-99 methylene diphosphonate can be a helpful instrument where a fracture is suspected but is not visualized by X-ray [3,4]. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become more popular and could be seen as the investigation of choice [3,8,9].…”

“…Bone scintigraphy with technetium-99 methylene diphosphonate can be a helpful instrument where a fracture is suspected but is not visualized by X-ray [3,4]. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become more popular and could be seen as the investigation of choice [3,8,9]. CT scanning can be useful to detect the presence as well as to determine the extent of the fracture line [9].…”