Knee vs Femur

JoJmoto
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JoJmoto
Edited Date/Time 5/29/2021 7:36am
Which is the worst injury to have? I have never had either so I wouldn't know..

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ML512
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ML512 7/1/2015 3:12pm
7/1/2015 3:12pm
JoJmoto wrote:
Which is the worst injury to have? I have never had either so I wouldn't know..

In my opinion, most knee injuries are worse than breaking your femur.
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731chopper
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731chopper 7/1/2015 3:15pm
7/1/2015 3:15pm
That's a pretty vague question. Knee injuries tend to be much more complicated and on going where as a broken bone typically heals pretty well. But I sure as heck wouldn't want a broken femur that cuts the femoral artery.
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elementmx
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elementmx 7/1/2015 3:36pm
7/1/2015 3:36pm
depends on severity but if by knee you're referring to acl, i would say that.

I did a clean break on my femur and had a rod put in the next morning. Walking with a walker the next day, and without crutches a couple weeks later. Fully cleared within 3 months. Not all are that easy though.

But from what I understand ACLs are 6 months before you can really even use it.
JoJmoto
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JoJmoto 7/1/2015 3:37pm
7/1/2015 3:37pm
Yes I know they both would suck.. I have been fighting with if I should buy knee braces or not. These braces seem to cause a bunch of femur breaks. You hear about them more then you do of knee injuries. Not sure if its because the knee braces are saving knees and causing femurs or if alot more people then not are not wearing knee braces.

The Shop

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BobPA
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BobPA 7/1/2015 3:46pm
7/1/2015 3:46pm
I have done both and i would say a knee is worse

Pain wise the femur wins hands down, but I was up and walking 3 weeks after they put the rod in my leg (should have waited a bit longer but I was young).

When I blew my knee apart I did a partial ACL with a tibial spine fracture. 13 weeks in a cast from my balls to foot was no fun. When the cast finally came off it was a HUGE amount of therapy to come back to 100%....and I think I was 16 years old? I couldn't imagine doing it at 28.
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mxpro252
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mxpro252 7/1/2015 3:50pm
7/1/2015 3:50pm
I've shattered a femur and due to the length of the incision, that leg takes some work to keep at full strength. As a result, I've compensated a bit and 10 years later I have some other issues starting to pop up including knee pains. But i'd still rather not have to worry about a repaired knee. Seems like those are usually constant issues.
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kb
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kb 7/1/2015 3:59pm
7/1/2015 3:59pm
BobPA wrote:
I have done both and i would say a knee is worse Pain wise the femur wins hands down, but I was up and walking 3...
I have done both and i would say a knee is worse

Pain wise the femur wins hands down, but I was up and walking 3 weeks after they put the rod in my leg (should have waited a bit longer but I was young).

When I blew my knee apart I did a partial ACL with a tibial spine fracture. 13 weeks in a cast from my balls to foot was no fun. When the cast finally came off it was a HUGE amount of therapy to come back to 100%....and I think I was 16 years old? I couldn't imagine doing it at 28.
It will be 4 years ago the 31st of this month that I shattered my tibial plateau, It really sucked, I'd
take the femur any day.
JoJmoto
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JoJmoto 7/1/2015 3:59pm
7/1/2015 3:59pm
My son hurt his knee at the Regional in Texas as few weeks ago.. he does not wear braces. Now all the regionals are done, we are going Monday to get it checked out but I don't think it will be too much to worry about.

At the time it happened he was hurting pretty bad but now, I see him out riding wheelies on his bicycle and he even tried to run the other day and said it wasn't to bad. He does still have some pain on the inside of his knee when he weights the pegs while riding. But I think we may have got away with little to no injury. Now the debate has begun... So trying to get as much info as I can.. I HATE seeing these kids snap that femur, they screams are the worst!
JaredPartridge 7/1/2015 4:06pm
7/1/2015 4:06pm
I've never broken a femur, but after 3 ACL tears I know how miserable all of that is. From the initial onset of pain, to the uneasiness of a loose knee walking around, and then the 6-9 months of rehab and rebuilding before you can get back on a bike and feel ok about it. I've had some good crashes over the years, and maybe I just got lucky, but I never ended up with a broken femur let alone a bone bruise from a crash while wearing braces. I can say that after tearing one ACL twice and the other once, I'd wear braces even if I had broken a femur. The feeling of extra protection is worth it to me, even if it's minimal.
KTMShane699
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KTMShane699 7/1/2015 4:24pm
7/1/2015 4:24pm
Wear knee braces. Long bones tend to be more resistant to injury and also heal better than joints.

As horrible as my injury is (which is well covered on vital and doesn't need a rehash), I can imagine the injury to the knee joint would have been significantly worse without my knee braces.

It's been years since I've ridden without knee braces. And I won't ever ride without them. It's a piece of gear that if I forget at home, ends my day of riding. I just won't get on the bike without them.

Shane
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Ebs
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Ebs 7/1/2015 4:41pm
7/1/2015 4:41pm Edited Date/Time 7/1/2015 4:43pm
Bones usually heal, joints potentially won't. Femur breaks could kill, a blown out knee won't.

Take your pick.
crusher773
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crusher773 7/1/2015 4:46pm
7/1/2015 4:46pm
Knee is worse for sure. The pain doesn't stop for a long time.
Motoxdoc
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Motoxdoc 7/1/2015 5:05pm
7/1/2015 5:05pm
Any joint is worse than a long bone. Bones heal good....soft tissues (ligaments, tendons and muscles) not so good.
burnside
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burnside 7/1/2015 5:14pm
7/1/2015 5:14pm
Such a horrible question. Reading this thread was chilling.
motomike894
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motomike894 7/1/2015 5:44pm
7/1/2015 5:44pm
I've done both my knee sucked but was fixed right did the therapy been fine for ten years.

Broke my femur didn't heal months of excruciating pain a second surgery with new way bigger rod and now have broken screws stuck in it and couldn't walk normal for year.

So in my case the femur was horrible knee was nothing.
motomike894
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motomike894 7/1/2015 5:48pm
7/1/2015 5:48pm
This was what looked like six months after breaking it after it moved and broke screws etc



v1rus99
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v1rus99 7/1/2015 5:55pm
7/1/2015 5:55pm
I did a femur and was out for about 6 months and had to learn how to walk again.

I did it so high up that I had to be in a body cast. Once healed I was 100%

My cousin did his ACL. He can't play any ball sports or run ever again.

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oacjr
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oacjr 7/1/2015 6:14pm
7/1/2015 6:14pm
JoJmoto wrote:
Which is the worst injury to have? I have never had either so I wouldn't know..






They both hurt but the knee was career ending.
Knee Damaged 1977 riding CR250 Replaced in 2010
Femur broke 1972 Yamaha 125 Short tracker. Still have the plate in femur to this day.
= Old Professional Spectator
stokes557
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stokes557 7/1/2015 6:32pm
7/1/2015 6:32pm
JoJmoto wrote:
Which is the worst injury to have? I have never had either so I wouldn't know..

Tibial Plateau Fracture hands down the worst injury for an older rider. My right knee still only bends about 115-120 degrees five years on. Highly painful and long recovery time
Talispam
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Talispam 7/1/2015 6:33pm
7/1/2015 6:33pm
Worst injury you can have is a broken neck or back in some cases. Spinal cord injury is sadly pretty common in motocross, just go to any SX race and count how many guys you see in a wheel chair. The list of paralyzed fmx and mx riders or riders who have had spinal cord injuries and made miraculous recoveries is pretty damn long unfortunately. Look at how many top pros have broken their backs at one point or another, if you do some research it's pretty crazy how common it is. Whereas in the rest of the world of sports, broken backs and necks are extremely rare.
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brimx153 7/1/2015 6:37pm
7/1/2015 6:37pm
i ve done my acl,mcl,pcl,broke my knee cap,chiped a bone where the acl join s and menicus when i was 16 .tore my acl again twice after the first time .got it fixed twice. but the last time i didnt .i dont have any acl in my right or left now . i am 32 now . and still doing physio .cant bend my knee fully .and ill be looking at replacement knees in another 10 year s .if you hurt your knee bad enough .you ll never get it right again .
thephoenix 7/1/2015 6:46pm
7/1/2015 6:46pm
elementmx wrote:
depends on severity but if by knee you're referring to acl, i would say that. I did a clean break on my femur and had a...
depends on severity but if by knee you're referring to acl, i would say that.

I did a clean break on my femur and had a rod put in the next morning. Walking with a walker the next day, and without crutches a couple weeks later. Fully cleared within 3 months. Not all are that easy though.

But from what I understand ACLs are 6 months before you can really even use it.
Ohhh I had one of those bad femur breaks. It tried to drive itself like a nail and shattered as it collapsed on itself. NASTY break that took several internal pieces of titanium to fix, and I was in a wheelchair for 3 weeks, a walker for another 3-4, then crutches.
KTMShane699
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KTMShane699 7/1/2015 7:10pm
7/1/2015 7:10pm
stokes557 wrote:
Tibial Plateau Fracture hands down the worst injury for an older rider. My right knee still only bends about 115-120 degrees five years on. Highly painful...
Tibial Plateau Fracture hands down the worst injury for an older rider. My right knee still only bends about 115-120 degrees five years on. Highly painful and long recovery time
I'll agree with this. Going through my tibeal plateau fractures now. Got both sides of it. A whole lot of surgery and a shit ton of rehab where you fight so hard for a degree of improvement and then celebrate it like you won the lottery when you get it. It was a season-ender for me. Got about 30 minutes of riding this season and I'm done. Broke it on April 18th and with any luck I'll get to bear weight in early August! But I can't imagine the damage that would have been done to my knee without my knee braces. I have extensive bone damage from mid tib/fib up to the plateaus, but no ligament and tendon damage thankfully.

Total rehab time conservatively is six to eight months. Realistically, it'll be longer to really get the "full" recovery.

Shane
VilloFan951
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VilloFan951 7/1/2015 8:43pm
7/1/2015 8:43pm
I have a knee injury I ended up loosing all cartilage on my left knee on the outside. Had surgery 2 years ago and has never been the same since I ride with a special brace now and it still hurts all the time I might need a surgery
The Rock
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The Rock 7/1/2015 11:12pm
7/1/2015 11:12pm
Talispam wrote:
Worst injury you can have is a broken neck or back in some cases. Spinal cord injury is sadly pretty common in motocross, just go to...
Worst injury you can have is a broken neck or back in some cases. Spinal cord injury is sadly pretty common in motocross, just go to any SX race and count how many guys you see in a wheel chair. The list of paralyzed fmx and mx riders or riders who have had spinal cord injuries and made miraculous recoveries is pretty damn long unfortunately. Look at how many top pros have broken their backs at one point or another, if you do some research it's pretty crazy how common it is. Whereas in the rest of the world of sports, broken backs and necks are extremely rare.
In general back issues suck. Inversion tables and the Vax D table are my friends.
Fearo
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Fearo 7/2/2015 12:24am
7/2/2015 12:24am
Objectively, to the body itself, a bad femur break is going to be the worse injury. Not only do femur breaks have a (albeit very small) death rate, the loss of blood and possibility of hitting an artery or nerve damage is there also.

But in reality, a femur is still a bone, which should heal close to 100% when given enough time. The same can't be said about knee ligaments, where there dozens of different types of injuries and possible ways to fix them. As stated in this thread though, a bad knee injury could be the end of your ability to ride, whereas a femur injury will most likely not.
mxer512
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mxer512 7/2/2015 3:54am
7/2/2015 3:54am
I have torn my acl before ...And to be honest, the injury itself wasnt that bad. the worst part is the surgury and the recovery. Took me damn near 6 months before i was back to about 80-90%. idk about a femur break but it seems pretty clear that a knee injury is worse ...post op recovery wise anyway/ the initial break of a femure, i could imagine, would be pretty damn painful though.
mxer512
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mxer512 7/2/2015 4:12am
7/2/2015 4:12am Edited Date/Time 7/2/2015 4:13am
JoJmoto wrote:
My son hurt his knee at the Regional in Texas as few weeks ago.. he does not wear braces. Now all the regionals are done, we...
My son hurt his knee at the Regional in Texas as few weeks ago.. he does not wear braces. Now all the regionals are done, we are going Monday to get it checked out but I don't think it will be too much to worry about.

At the time it happened he was hurting pretty bad but now, I see him out riding wheelies on his bicycle and he even tried to run the other day and said it wasn't to bad. He does still have some pain on the inside of his knee when he weights the pegs while riding. But I think we may have got away with little to no injury. Now the debate has begun... So trying to get as much info as I can.. I HATE seeing these kids snap that femur, they screams are the worst!
def. go get him checked out .With a torn acl or minuscus. it can be painfull at first but when the swelling goes down some people actually still have pretty good function. I really didn't think mine was torn when i did it. Finally went to the doc 3 weeks after the injury for an mri and he broke the news to me. I waited 6 months till winter off season to get it fixed. In between i did a couple SX races. I now wear the thor force knee guards, Ive tried a couple differant actual braces but they all just seem too bulky to me. The thor force knee guards will help with hyerextension and have a low profile that is pretty comfy.

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