Posts
6161
Joined
1/31/2018
Location
Mansfield, OH
US
Edited Date/Time
9/22/2018 8:49pm
Saturday i shattered my tibial plateu and broke my collarbone. The collarbone im not really worried about. Wondering if anyone else has had this injury and what the recovery is like? Im having surgery tomorrow. None of the orthos ive seen were able to say anything positive about the injury(like “it could be worse”) other than it can be fixed - its that bad.
A year later, had a scope done to repair the meniscus, remove bone fragments and scar tissue.
I’ve shattered my femur, ACL, collarbone, and this is by far the worst injury. Unfortunately... wish I could tell you other news and hope you don’t have the same problems. I can only straighten my leg so much, along with Day in and out knee pain. But still grateful to have two legs beneath me.
About two months ago, it
Hope everything goes well for you though an speedy recovery.
The Shop
Hope you feel better man.
Not without pain now, but still ride a lot and regularly run 5k's. Still have the plate and 8 screws in my knee.
While you are laid up get the book "Born to Run" and learn about the physiology of our bodies. It was a life saver for me after 5 yrs of pain post surgery. I have not had any further procedures done, just learned how to run properly to not do further damage to the joint.
I dont mean to minimize the rehab and effort to get it right as it was 6-8 months of hard work and pain to get back to being semi functional.
The surgeon told me that l will be able to lift my foot in 3 months, almost to the day l got 1mm of movement. l made up a heal-toe gearlever so l could change up on the bike.
I ended up putting pressure on my knee too soon, my artificial knee joint sank into the plateu, l had to have a full knee replacement and my shin bones are now 15mm shorter, when l buy new jeans l have to get one leg taken-up :-)
Get in as much PT as you can. That helped me a lot, but even walking was a struggle in the beginning. Cycling was probably the biggest help in my recovery, and I wish I’d started on it a lot sooner than I did.
It’s mostly pretty good these days, though I can’t quite lock it out straight. My knee didn’t suffer major damage, but it’s what I’d call a little on the sloppy side. It’ll take off sideways if I’m not paying attention.
A REALLY good orthopedic surgeon and a shit load of busting my ass in physical therapy I have 98% range of motion and my “good knee” hurts more daily than the one I wrecked. You can beat this for sure. Stay positive, and work to keep your range of motion in PT as much as you can.
Pit Row
I got the same plate and screws on the tib plateau that you see in the above xrays but no fixators and no huge scar, just two small incisions. Was in chair for three months and then crutches for another two months but it's all good now. That was seven years ago. I still ride, I can jog (slowly), I don't limp, and I don't hurt. All the plates are still there, the rod is still there and no pain.
Never went to a physical therapist, just did my own thing to recover; stationary bike, mountain bike, rowing machine, etc.
I recommend lots and lots of physical therapy. I also mountainbike 20-50km/week..
Had no bigger issues on the bike after the injury.
It's worse on the roadracingbike tough, I can't use my rear brake or move my foot easy, also need to release and stretch leg mid-corner sometimes to relieve some pain and get blood thru the vessels..
Recovery is tough, too little work and the joint will freeze up. Too much and it blows up and swells. I have almost full extension but can only bend a bit beyond 90 degrees. I'd like to have it looked at and see how the joint is, and whether further surgery of cleaning up the articular surface would give me more movement...but it really isn't stopping me from doing anything so I haven't gone down that path.
Hang in there man. We feel your pain.
Hang in there.
No weight on the leg for 3 months...walking in a brace for two months...then he has been doing whatever doesn't hurt.
Got back on the bike about a month ago. Not 100% yet...still walks with a bit of a limp. But is improving. Hardware is still in his leg. He's an underground coal miner, so he's on his feet all day at work...some days it doesn't bug him, some days it swells up and hurts.
He said not to cut corners on the physical therapy...in fact as soon as he could bend the knee enough he was taking casual slow bicycle rides every evening, gradually building up distance, in addition to the PT a few times a week. His surgeon said that certainly helped his recovery.
This is us on the start line of that race...about 12 miles later he was hurting.
Post a reply to: Shattered tibial plateu experience