smashed femur

[kdk1610]

One month ago I had a bad slip and fall while hiking and smashed my femur into 7 pieces. I'm bored and singing the blues. I'm looking for encouragement from anyone else who has had a similar injury. I have a rod and screws in my thigh and I cannot put any weight on that leg for at least another month. Any inspiring recovery stories out there to help me through my" blue period"??
Thanks in advance for any of your help, Dave.

 

[bobandgeri]

Wow! Sorry to hear about your injury. Can't help with a recovery story, but want to pass along our wishes for a sucessful recovery.

 

[roadtripper]

I don't have much of a story to share, but I can tell you the optimal conditions for bone growth that I learned from research related to the two tibial stress fractures I've suffered through.

Not sure if these are helpful to you or not, but here goes:

~ drink as little alcohol as possible
~ drop caffeine for the time being
~ get 150% of your daily RDA of calcium AND vitamin D (try to get these vitamins naturally and spread it througout the day). Remember that sitting in the sun is great for vitamin D
~ avoid NSAIDs (such as ibuprofen)
~ you could request an electronic bone stimulator, but I'm not sure how effective they are for femur fractures

Also, some other tips I can share:
~ join netflix immediately
~ spend more time on this website, summitpost.org, rocksontop, etc.
~ there are support groups on the internet for just about every type of injury. I joined a stress fracture support group and it was full of way more useful information than I got from any doctor.
~ Dr. Micheli @ Children's Hospital is considered an orthopedic legend for sports injuries.
~ return to activity very VERY slowly. It's a wise idea not to increase your activity intensity/duration by more than 10% per week for the first few weeks after you are given the green light to return to normal activity.
~ ask for a Bone Density test from an orthopedic doctor to check your bone health (and see if you are calcium deficient, etc.)

 

[DougPaul]

Ouch! Been there, done that. Recently...

In Feb 07, I broke my femur in two places: spiral fracture of the distal femur (just above the knee, lots of sharp fragments) and femoral neck where it joins the shaft of the femur and also broke my wrist. Treatment was a nail (pin) in the shaft of the femur, screws in my hip, and a plate in my wrist. I'm now doing light hiking and road biking. It will be a while before I'm 100%, but I'm coming along.

It was 11 weeks before I was given the go-ahead to put full weight on the leg and wrist. (I had to use a platform walker to get around.) It was about three more weeks before I could support full weight on the leg and walk without crutches or a cane.

There are lots of details in http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=15911.

Feel free to contact me directly (email preferred) if you have questions, etc. Good luck with it.

Doug

 

[WinterWarlock]

Sorry to hear that - that just sux...

I broke my hip in January '07 - only a few weeks before I was planning to go to the ADK's for the first time hiking. They didn't operate, but prescribed no weight bearing for four months. Apart from nearly losing my mind, I did recover and have been hiking this year...first time out was about eight months post-injury.

While off my feet, I tried to learn to paint Japanese water colors - with the beginner technique and all the pain meds, some of the paintings are pretty entertaining to see now!

Hardest thing for me was getting to used to my wife doing all the cooking, and other things around the house I usually do...

One tip my doctor swears contributed to my recovery - Jell-0 jigglers...and doses of glucosamine/chondroitin. Jigglers are awesome, and apparently the gelatin helps....

Good luck - and hang in there!

Scott

 

[Paradox]

Very sorry to hear this. Mine pales by comparison. I guess I better change my avatar!

 

[eddie]

I can't help with the femur, but I smashed my '75 Monte Carlo really bad, had no money for a replacement and cried for weeks. I don't think this will help you other than a smile! Hang in there and keep your chin up (and keep smiling). You'll be back before you know it.

 

[DougPaul]

I guess I better change my avatar!

Does this mean that I should put up one of my X-rays for an avatar?

Doug

 

[DougPaul]

Kdk1610:

One possible entertainment: studying your injury and treatment: http://www.wheelessonline.com/ortho/femoral_shaft_fracture

This is a pretty good orthopedic textbook--it certainly helped me to understand my injuries, treatments, and prognosis.

You may also need a medical dictionary to understand some of the terms: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ worked for me.

Searching on the technical terms ("intermedulary femoral nail", etc) will bring up more info.

Doug

 

[DrewKnight]

BTW, Doug... I think I knew your legend before I knew you, virtually speaking... I was out for Easter dinner with some friends in WV a year and change ago, and heard the amazing story of a very unlucky, then very lucky, backcountry skier who went down hard up on one of the way-out BC trails off Livermore Road... my dinner companion was the head of the local rescue squad.

Are you one and the same?

 

[DougPaul]

BTW, Doug... I think I knew your legend before I knew you, virtually speaking... I was out for Easter dinner with some friends in WV a year and change ago, and heard the amazing story of a very unlucky, then very lucky, backcountry skier who went down hard up on one of the way-out BC trails off Livermore Road... my dinner companion was the head of the local rescue squad.

Are you one and the same?

Could be.
But it didn't feel like I went down hard. No bruises--just broken bones...

And I was actually on upper Livermore Rd. (Called Livermore Tr on the newer maps.) My instructions to the evac crew were just to come up the road and they would run over me. I was between the upper hairpin turn and the junction with the Flume Skidder trail.


A blowdown jumped out and bit me--that is my story and I'm sticking to it.

Doug

 

[timmus]

I didn't get injured, but I got a bunion doublé surgery last October.

The best advice I can give you : get out there as soon as you can and be active. Get a wheelchair ! At least you will not get depressive staying inside.

I did a 3 miles winter hike 10 weeks after the surgery, and I didn't tell my doctor (he said 3 months without hiking). The physiotherapist couldn't believe my progress, and she was convince it was because I was walking a lot.

Anyway, it worked great for me.

Good luck with your recovery.

 

[king tut]

That sounds really awful, sorry to hear that. I had my ACL rebuilt and cartilage sewn up in my knee 12 years ago (Atlanta Olympics), the worst month of my life in constant pain. One of the only things that kept me going through the 6 months of re-hab was that it was my last year of skiing in high school. I ended up finishing 3rd in the state of Maine for overall in downhill and x-c skiing at the state meet, about 8 months after surgery. It's amazing achieving goals after injuries, where before them, you would take those accomplishments for granted. The re-hab will be awful, but your first normal hike will feel far more amazing than any hike that you have done before. Keep your eyes on the prize.

 

[Sasquatch]

Not only have I(shattered) , but also my son(spiral, really wish those bindings released) have suffered through broken femurs as a result of skiing accidents. I have the hardware, he had 1/2body cast plus skeletal traction. I was in college when I did mine and although the period after the surgery sucked, I was quickly back on me feet with crutches, then one crutch then a cane. I worked very hard in the pool, then biking, to rehab on my own. It certainly took some time to get my full court basketball game back up to form, but after 6 months I was in pretty good shape except the leg was really weak.
Back on skis 10 months later. Glen was in his cast a long time,several months,
but he was in 1st grade and once out of the cast he quickly regained strength with physical therapy and within a year his bone had completely remodeled showing no evidence of a break on x ray.
I don't know how old you are, but my time laid up was spent dreaming of all the skiing I missed( it was a good year) and I was real determined to have a quick recovery. Soon as the bone heals it is up to you how long it takes to get your strength back. Good luck!

 

[DougPaul]

I had my ACL rebuilt and cartilage sewn up in my knee 12 years ago (Atlanta Olympics), the worst month of my life in constant pain. One of the only things that kept me going through the 6 months of re-hab was that it was my last year of skiing in high school. I ended up finishing 3rd in the state of Maine for overall in downhill and x-c skiing at the state meet, about 8 months after surgery. It's amazing achieving goals after injuries, where before them, you would take those accomplishments for granted. The re-hab will be awful, but your first normal hike will feel far more amazing than any hike that you have done before. Keep your eyes on the prize.

In contrast, pain was not a problem for me (with the appropriate meds at the appropriate time, of course). I could sit and lie down without discomfort --pain was only a problem during certain movements. I did have some pain when the PT stretched the knee--there was a period during which the only time I took the meds was to visit the PT so she could lean on the knee as hard as possible. I actually kind of enjoyed the PT sessions...

I also had my nail (pin in the femur) fail (one of the screws securing it decided to come out...) beginning at ~2 weeks and replaced at 3 weeks. Knee flexibility and leg strength had been rebuilding nicely until the replacement. The replacement really knocked the stuffing out of the leg and rehab went a lot slower afterwards. Hopefully kdk1610 will not have to go through this. (Evidently some percentage of the nails will fail, but the doc would not give me any statistics.)

It appears to me that there is wide variation in the difficulty of recovery. In other words, YMMV.

Doug

 

[Sasquatch]

Pin Failure! I'm glad they hauled my ass to Dartmouth!

 

[DougPaul]

Pin Failure! I'm glad they hauled my ass to Dartmouth!

It isn't clear that the failure can be blamed on the surgeon, hospital, or manufacturer. In my case, a securing screw decided to unscrew itself ("self extruded" in the radiologist's report). (Save the jokes on loctite, etc--I've heard them all.) Some percentage of the nails fail--just be glad that your's wasn't one of them...

Doug

 

[Dugan]

Is fracture site sarcoma a factor in humans? I ask, because I found several studies including data about it in canines when researching treatments for Dugan-3.8-leg's blown CCL, but I've not looked for anything similar with human osteo trauma.

 

[DougPaul]

Is fracture site sarcoma a factor in humans? I ask, because I found several studies including data about it in canines when researching treatments for Dugan-3.8-leg's blown CCL, but I've not looked for anything similar with human osteo trauma.

My doctors never mentioned it to me.

A simple Google search yields:
"The occurrence of sarcoma in association with prior trauma is unusual, and an etiological relationship between trauma and malignant neoplasms remains uncertain."
from http://arpa.allenpress.com/arpaonline/?request=get-document&doi=10.1043%2F0003-9985(2003)127%3Ce186:GCFUSO%3E2.0.CO%3B2

Doug

 

[1ADAM12]

I hope you mend well and you can free some of your boredom up by reading trip reports here

Take care,
Adam