Emotions Impact Recovery from Hip Fracture Surgery

A hip fracture is a common injury. People with arthritis, osteoporosis, and mobility problems are at greater risk. The most common cause of hip fractures in the elderly are slips and falls. One in 5 older Americans who suffer a hip fracture die within a year of the fracture. Hip fractures also account for over 300,000 annual hospitalizations in the United States, according to an October 2004 Surgeon General report.

It is well-recognized that a successful outcome from hip surgery partly depends on the skill of the surgeon. Researchers have learned that the patient's emotional state also affects the outcome. Orthopedic surgeons usually use two tests to assess progress following hip surgery.

• One of the tests is administered by the doctor and measures hip function (i.e., range of motion, mobility).
• The other test is a questionnaire which patients fill out in order to gauge various factors which may affect the success of the surgery.

You might expect that if the clinical test yields good to excellent results, the self-test would also yield positive results. This is not necessarily the case. According to a study published in the June 2007 issue of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, after studying 46 patients who were followed for at least two years after fracture surgery, the self-test demonstrated worse recovery than the clinical tests.

• The Many Emotions of Chronic Arthritis
• Guide to Hip Fractures (Orthopedics at About.com)
• Test Your Knowledge: Types of Joint Surgery

Digging deeper, researchers found that the section of the self-test which dealt with emotions accounted for the difference. In fact, emotional status was second only to mobility in determining how well a patient thought their recovery was going. Researchers concluded that underlying depression or new depression caused by injury or surgery may slow a patient's recovery. It is important to recognize that a patient's feelings are very important to a successful recovery. As an arthritis patient who has had multiple joint replacement surgeries, I also believe in the importance of positive attitude and goal-setting. There is more to surgery than the procedure itself.

More Related Resources:

• How to Prevent Slips and Falls
• How to Recover from Hip Replacement Surgery
• Osteoporosis: What Arthritis Patients Need to Know
• Proton Pump Inhibitors Increase Risk of Hip Fracture

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