Rehabilitation of hip fractures: A review

Hip fractures are common in the elderly population and have a pronounced bearing on patients' subsequent functional capacity, their state of dependency, and their ability to live in the community; a significant proportion of these patients die during the first year following the fracture. Appropriate surgical treatment results in successful mechanical repair of the fracture, but both the short- and long-term outcome, in terms of the patients' ability to return to their prefracture status, are disappointing. Adequate after-care and rehabilitation following surgery improves the functional recovery even in those patients considered to have a poor prognosis. In order to enable hip fracture patients to continue living in the community, and to prevent long-term institutionalization, optimized facilities for surgical repair and an effective and efficient after-care and rehabilitation system are required, including home services.