Why does it take so long to recover from a broken femur?

Why does it take so long to recover from a broken femur?

Broken femurs go through stages of a natural healing process that can take four to six months. Here’s a breakdown:

• Days 1 to 5: When you break your femur, you also break the blood vessels that supply blood to your femur. Those broken blood vessels form a hematoma, or blood clot, at the point of your fracture. The blood clot makes a temporary frame that helps your femur to heal. Your immune system reacts to the injury, stimulating cells that remove damaged tissue and stimulate healing.
• Days 5 to 11: Your body begins to develop a network of cartilage connecting the lined up broken sections of your femur. Your body also starts developing woven bone, or new bone.
• Days 11 to 28: The cartilage network hardens while you develop new blood vessels and more new bone. While this continues, your bone beings to remake itself, eventually becoming normal bone. This process can last months to years.