Brooke Shields Broke Her Femur, and the Recovery Process Is Intense
By Chris BarillaFeb. 22 2021, Published 1:00 p.m. ET
Through a surprising social media post, actress Brooke Shields recently revealed to fans that she broke her femur, resulting in hospitalization and the expectation of a grueling recovery process.
Typically, a broken femur means a long recovery time which almost always includes physical therapy. Brooke is clearly in for a serious test of her physical strength with regard to this injury, but she appears to be optimistic. That being said, how exactly did Brooke break her femur? Here's what we know.
How did Brooke Shields break her femur?
In her post on Instagram, Brooke shared a video of herself in a hospital gown walking down a hallway with the aid of crutches. She captioned the surprising post with, "Broke my femur. Beginning to mend. No matter what your challenge is, make a positive choice, for yourself, to move forward. #BeginningisNow"
Neither Brooke nor her representation have further elaborated on the circumstances that brought about her injury. In the video she posted, the actress can be overheard repeating what a medical professional had advised her to do in order to mend properly.
"Only 20 percent weight," she leads off saying, referring to the amount of weight she could put on her leg currently due to the injury. "And the goal is to bend your knee each time a little bit, just so you're not dragging it," she further explained.
A femur injury usually requires a pretty serious recovery process.
Although Brooke didn't share the extent to which her femur was injured, it's a generally known fact that femur injuries are pretty serious and can necessitate quite a lengthy recovery process. According to Mount Sinai, "Recovery [from a broken femur] most often takes 4 to 6 months. The length of your recovery will depend on how severe your fracture is, whether you have skin wounds, and how severe they are. Recovery also depends on whether your nerves and blood vessels were injured, and what treatment you had."
Since Brooke hasn't fully elaborated on how severe the break is, we don't know exactly how long she'll be in recovery mode. However, her quickness to take to crutches and achieve some mobility is indicative of her immense willpower and the efforts of doctors and physical therapists so far.
In the short-term, Brooke may have to make some modifications to her home, as well as her day-to-day schedule. Mount Sinai hospital recommends that those recovering from femur injuries "have a bed that is low enough so that your feet touch the floor when you sit on the edge of the bed" as well as avoiding soaking "in a bathtub, swimming pool, or hot tub until your provider says it is OK." Here's hoping Brooke's recovery goes as smoothly as possible!
