Mr Charles Haughey's active lifestyle can be expected to contribute to a speedier recovery from his broken leg, according to the consultant who treated him on his arrival at the Mater Hospital Casualty Department.
A "man who goes out riding horses" and is active would tend to have a "better prognosis" than an inactive person, Dr Peter O'Connor said yesterday. "Total recovery from something like this is very difficult to predict. It depends on a patient's general medical condition."
Mr Haughey laughed when told by Dr O'Connor that he had "the same lesion as the Queen Mother", who also recently broke her thigh. The break, known as an interthroncanteric fracture, occurred at the top of the thigh where the neck of the femur joins the femur shaft.
The formation of blood clots is a particular risk when an elderly person becomes immobile, with the risk increasing the longer the patient remains in bed. "Orthopaedic surgeons face this on a daily basis," Dr O'Connor said, and would use anti-coagulant drugs to reduce the risk.
"Early mobility is the thing," he added. A patient such as Mr Haughey would typically be sitting out of the bed within days and be walking within weeks. It was important that the patient get up and about as quickly as possible to regain confidence, Dr O'Connor said.
The injury was unlikely to have been caused by brittle bones, he added. A fall from a horse could have caused a similar injury in a 20-year-old.
The Queen Mother, in contrast, broke her leg after stumbling.
