Hip fractures in cyclist - a six-year cohort study at a single large volume trauma centre

Abstract

Cycling has gained in popularity as a recreational activity and method or travel, in part due to its recognised health benefits in maintenance of good cardiovascular strength and also for environmental issues. As a consequence of this, there is unfortunately an increased number of cycling related injuries. One particular injury incurred is a proximal femoral fracture, but there is little information in the literature with regarding this and its management. This retrospective, single centre, observation study looks at the number of cycling injuries over a six-year period in those under the age of 80. 50 patients were identified at an occurrence of 4.5% of the hip fracture population. The majority were male (n=37, 74%) with an average age of 60. Operative treatment was used for 48 (96%) patients with the majority being treated with internal fixation (n=42, 84%) and arthroplasty for the remainder. Average hospital stay was 5.6 days. One patient continued to complain of pain and subsequently underwent a total hip arthroplasty. The mean follow up for these patients was 1033 days (range 1 year to 7 years). 47 (94%) had full return back to pre-injury levels. Given that cycling is likely to increase in the future, we recommend that early surgical fixation is a viable and functionally positive treatment management in these particular group of patients.

Objectives: The aim of this retrospective observational study over a six-year period was to assess the incidence of hip fractures in those under the age of 80 following a cycling related injury, the definitive management and primary index surgery opted and to report the radiological and functional outcome of these patients with at least 1 year of follow up.

Design: Retrospective, observational study SETTING: Large hip fracture unit, Level 2 Trauma Centre, single centre.

Patients: Patients under the age of 80 who sustained a proximal femoral fracture secondary to a fall and not attributable to pathological processes (namely malignancy and Paget's) were identified and followed up after 1 year.

Results: 50 patients were identified over a six-year period of which 74% (n=37) were male and the remaining were female. 48 of these patients subsequently went on for operative management. Two patients presented late (7 days and 42 days from surgery) and were treated conservatively. The average hospital stay for these patients was 5.6 days, with index surgery occurring on average within 22 hours of admission. Mean follow up was 1033 days (range 1 year to 7 years) in all patients. Radiological union had occurred in all patients. One patient showed evidence of avascular necrosis but was asymptomatic. All but three patients had achieved the same level of mobility as pre-injury levels. All patients had the same level of social dependency. One patient continued to complain of pain and subsequently underwent a total hip arthroplasty.

Conclusions: We demonstrate that the majority of our patients undergo surgical fixation and demonstrate good functional and radiological outcomes at a mean follow up of 1033 days. This is likely as a result of good pre-morbid status in these patients and good bone stock at index intervention. This study is one of the first to show this within the literature in this cohort of elderly patients. The number of cycling related injuries in the elderly population is likely to increase and our recommendation is that early surgical fixation provides good functional outcome in this subset of patients.