Hip fractures are painful injuries that possibly require surgery to repair along with a long period of rehabilitation. Depending on the age and physical well-being of the accident victim, he or she might never make a complete recovery. The victim must learn to live with and accept a new normal for them. Even after the injury is healed, victims of hip fractures from car accidents often experience aches and pains well after their surgery has healed, and the muscles have strengthened. They are never quite the same again, and their once active life may become sedentary because walking, jogging, playing golf, or even working simply causes too much pain and discomfort.
Hip fractures frequently occur in car accidents. Although the hips and pelvis carry the weight of the human body around, the forces imparted on the bones in a car crash cause terrible fractures or even shatter hips and pelvic bones. Most low-impact car accidents will not break the hip of another motorist. However, pedestrians, bicycle riders, and motorcycle riders are particularly vulnerable to breaking a hip from the initial impact of the vehicle striking the body, the resulting crash on the ground, or a combination of both.
Motorists involved in certain types of accidents might be more prone to suffering a broken hip than other accident scenarios. For example, a person in a T-bone crash could experience a shattered or broken hip if the other car strikes the door where the victim is sitting. Also, a rollover collision can cause a broken hip. If the victim is unrestrained, the rolling over can violently throw the body off of a hard and unforgiving object in the car or outside of the car if eject, thereby breaking the victim’s hip bones. Lastly, truck accidents may cause tremendous damage to the occupants of a smaller vehicle. Truck collisions often inflict the most damage on the occupants of a passenger car rather than on the truck driver. Anyone involved in a collision with a big rig runs the risk of suffering a broken or fractured hip.
