What is stress fracture of the hip?
A hip stress fracture is a serious injury to the ball of the ball-and-socket hip joint. Stress fractures are injuries to the bone that result from overuse activity. Fractures occur for one of three reasons: • High-Energy Injury In high-energy injuries, the bone is broken because the force acting on it was significant. These injuries would include falls, car accidents and sports injuries. • Stress Injuries A stress fracture is due to repetitive micro-trauma to the bone. Over time, the body cannot keep up with the forces acting on the bone, and a fracture eventually occurs. Pathologic Injury In a pathologic fracture, the bone is abnormally weakened by some problem. Causes of pathologic fractures include osteoporosis, tumors and infections.
