Optimization of Analgesia for Hip Fracture Patients

Hip Fracture is a common orthopedic emergency in elderly people, which causes moderate to severe pain. Until now, different methods of pain treatment have been used, including pain-killer medication, which given in to the vein, and a nerve block.. A nerve block is the defined as injection of a freezing/numbing medication (local anesthetic) around the nerve area in order to stop pain. Painkiller medications by themselves are not enough to stop pain, especially the pain that start with movement. At the Toronto Western hospital, patients with hip fracture will generally receive a fascia iliac block (FIB) within 24 hours of hospital admission as a standard of care. Fascia iliaca block is a nerve block done by injecting local anestheticat the level of the groin. This done to provide pain relief and is done either in the emergency room or in the inpatient area. Studies have shown that nerves supplying other areas in the hip may be blocked to relive hip pain fracture. Additional to this method, there is a newer type of nerve block, called the femoral articular branch block (FAB) that aim to block the nerves supplying the hip joint. This new block has been described based on better understanding of the anatomy of the nerves that control hip pain. This block consists on an injection in the groin at a similar location as the Fascia iliaca block except that the needle has to go slightly deeper (by a few centimeters) to reach a better target. Based on the current understanding on anatomy it is possible that this new technique may provide better pain control than a Fascia Iliaca Block. The purpose of the study is to investigate the degree of pain relief achieved by the two different nerve block techniques: 1) Fascia iliaca block (FIB) and 2) Femoral and AON articular branches block (FAB).