Comminuted femur fracture secondary to stress during the Boston marathon

• Published in: The Journal of emergency medicine Vol. 31; no. 1; pp. 79 - 82
• Main Authors: Farkas, Tracy A., Zane, Richard D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.07.2006
• Subjects: endurance athletes; Female; femoral fracture; Femoral Fractures - diagnostic imaging; Femoral Fractures - etiology; Femoral Fractures - surgery; Fracture Fixation, Internal - methods; Fractures, Comminuted - diagnostic imaging; Fractures, Comminuted - etiology; Fractures, Comminuted - surgery; Fractures, Stress - diagnostic imaging; Fractures, Stress - etiology; Fractures, Stress - surgery; Humans; marathon; Middle Aged; Running - injuries; stress fracture; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; stress fracture; marathon; running injuries; femoral fracture; endurance athletes
• ISSN: 0736-4679; 2352-5029
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jemermed.2005.09.009

We report a case of a comminuted femur fracture secondary to repetitive stress in a healthy marathon runner. Stress fractures are common orthopedic injuries that result from normal muscular activity on deficient bone (“insufficiency fractures”) or excessive, repetitive stresses on normal bone (“fatigue fractures”). Of recreational and professional sports, running accounts for a higher incidence of stress fractures, which have been reported to cause up to 15% of all injuries to runners. We report a case of a sub-trochanteric comminuted femoral stress fracture in a female marathon runner.