PATIENT STORY

2 minute read

Schrödinger’s fracture of the femur

The collision Schrodinger had with the car caused serious damage to one of his hind limbs. His thigh bone (femur) took the brunt of the force from the collision and fractured into many tiny pieces.

While it may seem intuitive to attempt to piece the bone back together like you would repairing a piece of broken china, to do this with broken bones would destroy the blood supply to the individual pieces and the bone would die.

X-Ray picture showing Schrodinger’s shattered femur

To give Schrodinger’s fracture the greatest chance of healing, Noel had to disturb the fracture site as little as possible and apply a long bone plate along Schrodinger’s femur to bridge the fracture and allow it to heal undisturbed.

Schrödinger's story - fracture of the femur

The post-operative x-ray images are never neat and tidy with these fractures – but the aim was to create an environment that will give the greatest chance for the fracture to heal with minimal discomfort to Schrodinger.

After six weeks of restricted exercise Schrodinger’s shattered femur was well on its way to full strength again.