Is it common for a toddler to fracture his femur by running and falling?

(March 23, 2010)

The femur bone which is the longest bone in the body is also said to be the strongest bone. The bottom of the femur bone joins with the tibia bone that enables the knee to join and this bone plays the crucial responsibility of bearing majority of the weight while performing activities that require a lot of weight of the body to be borne. Toddlers fracturing their femur bone is a rather common occurrence but the good part is that these fractures can be treated and healed completely with your toddler being able to walk and run around as normal as before. You will be surprised to know that the highest number of femur fracture cases is amongst toddlers below 1 year of age and those who are 2 years old where it is said that majority of these fractures are due to the result of an injury due to accident. It is, therefore, very common for a toddler to fracture his femur bone in the course of running. There were some cases in children who were between 4 to 11 months and also a very few cases in those between 12 to 20 months old.

Pain in the leg is the most evident symptom for a fracture where your toddler might have difficulty in walking or even bear weight on that leg because of which they are not willing to walk. The injured area might also be swollen and hurts on touching or pressing the same. Toddlers might not be able to tell what exactly is happening to them that is why it is important that parents look out for such symptoms.

Toddler femur fracture can be treated by applying a cast which is kept on for about 4 to 6 weeks. This duration might increase depending upon the age of the child as an older child may be required to keep the cast on for longer. In certain cases standard rods or flexible rods may be fixed in the leg depending upon the severity of the injury but this treatment is mostly followed in case of older children. There might be quite some pain that your child experiences and thus, it is essential that you take care of them and make sure that they rest enough as putting any strain on the leg might complicate matters further. Children are known to be mischievous and it is impossible to get a hang of them with the running around they do. They are thus, bound to fall in due course and hurt themselves.

Submitted by P T on March 23, 2010 at 11:21