A survey, by two methods, of the pain felt preoperatively by 100 elderly patients with an acute fracture of the femoral neck showed that most felt a great deal of pain and that a painless fracture was exceptional. No relationship was found between pain appreciation and the patient's fracture type or their age. One of the methods suggested that elderly patients with preserved mental function felt more pain, and the other that less pain was felt by those taking regular prefracture analgesia. The amount of analgesic drugs given to the patients in this survey seemed inadequate for their levels of perceived pain; accordingly regular measurement by nurses of the degree of pain felt preoperatively by patients with this condition is recommended, together with a greater medical review of the medication being prescribed.