THE FEMORAL FRACTURE IN LONG JUMP / 中国运动医学杂志

ABSTRACT

This paper deals with three cases of long jumpers suffering from fracture at middle one-third of the femoral shaft. This kind of fracture is transverse and produced by indirect force at the landing moment. This is a characteristic fracture which we call a jumping femoral fracture.Physical examination reveals swelling with tenderness and deformity of the injured thigh. X-ray shows a transverse fracture and angulating deformity at middle one-third femoral shaft in all cases.Two cases were performed by open reduction and internal fixation with K?ntschcr or medullary nail, and one case was performed by traction through the intercondylus of the lower femur. All patients got good result after one year, but open reduction was better than skeletal traction.According to clinical observations, CT examination of the femur in normal person and experiment of the femoral shaft with fresh cadaver, the mechanism is based on the imbalance of the body rising high into the air, which produces both scissors stress and rotational force at landing. In the meanwhile the posterior group muscles of the thigh were more likely to be relaxed reflectively, leaving the femoral shaft unprotected.