Would like to hear from others who have gone through broken femur recovery and rehab
Broke mine last Sunday in velodrome accident. Bad break, plate and screws installed Monday. Today is day 4 post surgery. Yesterday I was barely able to get out of bed, with help of 2 PTs, and sit in a chair.
I know it’s going to be a long process. Would appreciate hearing from others who have gone through it. PM or post here. Thanks.
I broke my Femur on Jan 13th, it was a clean break, right in the middle of the bone. I’ve got a rod in my femur and 3 screws. Closing in on 4 months post-accident for me
First 2 weeks are going to be pretty bad. Getting up an moving around was very painfull and you can’t really do much for yourself. I was on the bike (trainer) again at 3 weeks post-surgery, barely pedalling, but it was nice to do something other than sit on the couch. At about 2 months I was riding decently hard, 3 months I was training almost normally and just started getting back to some light running.
Physical therapy has been painfull but very helpfull in getting back to full strength. You’re going to loose a ton of muscle mass from your legs, and probably become weak in muscles you didnt know you even had, so make sure you do all the weird exercises you’re perscribed.
Hope you have a speedy recovery
Mike
Times have changed…for the better. When I busted my femur (along with both arms and knee) from hitting a telephone pole. I was in traction for nearly 3 months and had to wear a leg brace for a year. It was over a year before I was able to ride again. The fear was not to risk a crash and re break the femur…soooo Take things slow, and be careful…you will be fine.
Take care!
I crashed while racing a crit and had a clean femur break. I was 54 years old at the time, I’m 58 now. I spent 5 days in hospital, titanium rod, was walking two days later, 6 weeks of physical therapy, (don’t slip the therapy) back on bike in 8 weeks, 100% recovered in 18 months.
In my own anecdotal experience poking around, it seems like plates tend to be a slower recovery (both from the initial break and from HWR, if elected). That could be b/c of the type of break, or the surgery itself or whatever. Dunno, purely anecdotal. Also, if you have articular involvement, that can play a role, too.
I had two breaks in Jan. 2010–the first was surgically induced, so a clean break about 75% of the way through m frothe lateral side of the shaft. The second was accidental, and on the medial shaft. I had a condylar locking plate and 9 screws with a bone allograft.
Mine was a bit different b/c the second break complicated the recovery from the first in that they had done the initial procedure to reaglin my leg, so any shifting/movement anywhere would jeopardize the angle of correction…so it earned me two+ months on bed rest. Which, of course, delayed my overall recovery.
I was on crutches from January to Mid/late-May. Cane into June. I was able to start very easy, no resistance spinning…I want to say in May-ish, maybe? My first outdoor ride was on July 1, easy road riding, no big or out of saddle climbs, etc. I did a 40-mile MTB race mid-September. It was a laid back effort and pretty slow, but no issues completing it (aside from still being a bit out of shape). In March 2011, I started back to running. I did a couple of dus that season. I would say I was full-strength probably 24-30 months out?
It was sort of a long recovery, and overly tedious, simply b/c I couldn’t afford to have the correction shift at all, so I needed to take it uber easy. This was recovery about #254 for this leg, so I wasn’t in a hurry.
Firstly, my condolences, rehab will be tough (mostly because improvement is so damn slow) but unless there’s some complication you’ll be back biking by 4-6mos, not 100%, more like recovery pace but you’ll be able to do way more than you think you can right now.
I broke my hip Nov last year riding a mtb, fell on a root, hit the hip just right, ouch, subtrochanteric fracture, fancy word for broke the femur just below the knuckle that fits to the hip. Nov/Dec used a walker mostly transitioned to cane at end of Nov, activity was mostly just pt (couldn’t lift leg, couldn’t swing leg, mostly anything was a pain including shower/bm), began to swim/spin/aquajog at 4 wks, not too much 30/45 mins at a time, fatigue was a problem, had to take naps after nearly any exertion. By Jan I added walking and mountain bike a bit. By Feb I was 8-10hrs/wk between swimming/spinning/biking/walking/aquajog and PT. Walked a 10k at the end of Mar and did swim/bike of NOLA 70.3 in April. Starting to run a bit now and that’s coming around slowly.
+2 on the loss of strength in the leg, I remember swinging my legs over the side of the bed one morning (huge accomplishment for me at the time) about 2 mos after surgery and noticing my surgery quad was about half the size of my good leg, really shocking. You’re probably younger than me (62) so I’m confident in thinking you’ll be back sooner than you think IF nothing goes wrong. What can go wrong? a big danger is overdoing it before the bone heals, wait til the doc pronounces you healed (it was 16wks for me). Healed doesn’t mean you’ll be 100% but at that point you’re good to try most anything. Be patient, be active, do the pt, good luck.
+2 on the loss of strength in the leg, I remember swinging my legs over the side of the bed one morning (huge accomplishment for me at the time) about 2 mos after surgery and noticing my surgery quad was about half the size of my good leg, really shocking. You’re probably younger than me (62) so I’m confident in thinking you’ll be back sooner than you think IF nothing goes wrong. What can go wrong? a big danger is overdoing it before the bone heals, wait til the doc pronounces you healed (it was 16wks for me). Healed doesn’t mean you’ll be 100% but at that point you’re good to try most anything. Be patient, be active, do the pt, good luck.
thanks for all the input and recovery stories. My break was bad – not clean. So I imagine it’s going to be worse. I can already relate to feeling like it’s an accomplishment to swing your legs over the side of the bed. I’m 52, so not exactly young although the docs here keep saying that. I am however pretty fit from 20 years of bike racing. Ortho surgeon said the size of my quad actually made the surgery more difficult. Problem right now is I have a lot of swelling in the leg, absolutely no muscle strength, and have not yet been able to get up and move on my own (with a walker, eventually crutches). It has been an accomplishment to get from the bed to sitting in a chair, with assistance. Quite a difference from 5 days ago when I did a 20km TT at 28.5mph. (that is the last back door brag I will be able to throw in for some time I imagine)
Where was the fx? Guessing intertrochanteric. Extracapsular (no joint involvement)?
Seek PT clinic or therapist with deep pool for aqua jogging.
Break was nearer the hip joint but didn’t involve the joint. Yeah, I imagine I will seeking some good pt once I can get over this initial difficulty
For those who have been through this, and maybe any docs out there …
I am day 5 post-op and am still having lots of trouble just getting out of bed and standing with the help of a walker to move to the bathroom. I made it about 10 feet today before getting dizzy and lightheaded and needing to sit down in a chair. Then all I wanted was to get back to bed and go to sleep for an hour.
There is some disagreement between nurses/PT and ortho staff on whether this is a problem or not. PT/nurses say … with my fitness I should not be having this issue at this point. Wife is RN also. They are saying that older and much less fit patients don’t have this problem at this point.
My HCT was 37-something when I came in. Dropped to 26 after surgery, then even after a unit of blood 3 days later it went down to 23-something. So there is some thought that this might be the source of the dizziness and fatigue. But there is not agreement on what to do about it.
Anyone else who’s been through this have a similar issue?
thanks
The femur loses a lot of blood when broken…(my leg first 2 weeks in traction looked like a watermelon…)…Also if you are on any full strength pain meds perhaps they are a contributing factor to how you are feeling…
I was 19 when I was busted up and all I did was sleep for the the first few days/weeks…especially since I was doped to the gills on demerol…
Everyone is different…check with your doc…but give yourself some time…5 days is not all that long.
For those who have been through this, and maybe any docs out there …
I am day 5 post-op and am still having lots of trouble just getting out of bed and standing with the help of a walker to move to the bathroom. I made it about 10 feet today before getting dizzy and lightheaded and needing to sit down in a chair. Then all I wanted was to get back to bed and go to sleep for an hour.
There is some disagreement between nurses/PT and ortho staff on whether this is a problem or not. PT/nurses say … with my fitness I should not be having this issue at this point. Wife is RN also. They are saying that older and much less fit patients don’t have this problem at this point.
My HCT was 37-something when I came in. Dropped to 26 after surgery, then even after a unit of blood 3 days later it went down to 23-something. So there is some thought that this might be the source of the dizziness and fatigue. But there is not agreement on what to do about it.
Anyone else who’s been through this have a similar issue?
thanks
Brain,
Super bummed to hear about the femur. I broke (nearly shattered) mine last summer. It takes a while, but it does heal.
I have a spiral fracture up the diaphysis and also a break in the neck. I have two rods, one up into the “hip” (head/neck) and one down the length of my femur. It’s affixed with two pins and a bunch of mesh that was used to reposition all of the spiral fracture. Apparently, my break was bad because the part of the bone where the big muscles attach was broken, so I couldn’t put full body weight on it for a LONG time.
That said, I am 10 months out right now. After about six weeks, I was able to swim with a pull buoy. At ten weeks, I was able to spin on a trainer with low resistance. At 14 weeks, I was cleared to ride outside but my knees couldn’t handle it. I spent the first 16 weeks with crutches and the next 6 weeks with a cane. It took a while, but I don’t have a limp and my leg doesn’t hurt.
Obviously, they’re watching your crit - make sure to keep an eye on it. The first time I tried to sit up, I passed out. Again, twelve hours later, I tried to stand up and passed out again. My hematocrit got pretty low, and was at 19 before they pumped two units of blood into me.
It is a long process. Take it one day at a time. Ask yourself, what can I do today to make my recovery faster and more complete? Is that PT? Is that core work? Is that stretching? Is that sitting in bed all day watching a movie because your knees hurt so badly?
Also, when you get back into cycling, that’s a really good time to tweak your bike position. I’d been haunted by my femoral leg length discrepancy (saddle sores and muscle fatigue), and even though the bike made it worse, it hasn’t bothered me since. Just for the record, I have been averaging about 13 hour weeks on the bike all year, including touching 20 a couple of times. I am allowed to run now, but it just feels janky when I try in normal shoes, so I’m not sure if I want to try.
Keep on keepin’ on. Before too long, this’ll just be another way to pick up chicks.
The femur loses a lot of blood when broken…(my leg first 2 weeks in traction looked like a watermelon…)…Also if you are on any full strength pain meds perhaps they are a contributing factor to how you are feeling…
I was 19 when I was busted up and all I did was sleep for the the first few days/weeks…especially since I was doped to the gills on demerol…
Everyone is different…check with your doc…but give yourself some time…5 days is not all that long.
thanks. I had already decided today to start coming off the pain meds if I can, thinking that the groggy, drugged feeling might be contributing to the dizziness. We’ll see how that goes.
I have a spiral fracture up the diaphysis and also a break in the neck. I have two rods, one up into the “hip” (head/neck) and one down the length of my femur. It’s affixed with two pins and a bunch of mesh that was used to reposition all of the spiral fracture. Apparently, my break was bad because the part of the bone where the big muscles attach was broken, so I couldn’t put full body weight on it for a LONG time.
That said, I am 10 months out right now. After about six weeks, I was able to swim with a pull buoy. At ten weeks, I was able to spin on a trainer with low resistance. At 14 weeks, I was cleared to ride outside but my knees couldn’t handle it. I spent the first 16 weeks with crutches and the next 6 weeks with a cane. It took a while, but I don’t have a limp and my leg doesn’t hurt.
Obviously, they’re watching your crit - make sure to keep an eye on it. The first time I tried to sit up, I passed out. Again, twelve hours later, I tried to stand up and passed out again. My hematocrit got pretty low, and was at 19 before they pumped two units of blood into me.
It is a long process. Take it one day at a time. Ask yourself, what can I do today to make my recovery faster and more complete? Is that PT? Is that core work? Is that stretching? Is that sitting in bed all day watching a movie because your knees hurt so badly?
thanks. This is super helpful to know. I passed out once, and came close another time. The PTs were right there though. I told them I was starting to see stars but I don’t think they believed me until my eyes rolled back in my head 
Good to know this isn’t out of the ordinary. I’ve accepted that this is going to be a long process, given what I’ve been hearing from people – here and through other channels.
Your 16 weeks on crutches is consistent with that the ortho is telling me. They had to go through a lot of muscle – the result of 20 seasons of bike racing and more prior to that of just riding.
I had tib- fib smashed by a guy in a truck - 2 plates and 16 screws. 16 weeks non weight bearing and was riding indoors about 2 weeks after that. A few more weeks fur the scabs (abrasions) to disappear so I could swim. Another 4 weeks to get on the bike and ride around the neighborhood and another month before a “real” ride. I think was around October so 8-9 months before I could jog at 18 minute per mile pace. 2 subsequent surgeries and total of 2+ years of rehab and recovery. Running came back most slowly and I have never been able to run as fast as I used to. I tried, not always successfully to think of my rehab as “training”. Good luck. hope the 16 weeks goes quickly.
Would like to hear from others who have gone through broken femur recovery and rehab
Broke mine last Sunday in velodrome accident. Bad break, plate and screws installed Monday. Today is day 4 post surgery. Yesterday I was barely able to get out of bed, with help of 2 PTs, and sit in a chair.
I know it’s going to be a long process. Would appreciate hearing from others who have gone through it. PM or post here. Thanks.
Here’s the initial report of my femoral neck fracture last Nov 26. There are a few follow-ups on my blog as well:
http://endorphins-for-breakfast.blogspot.com/2012/12/busted-down-on-cambell-street.html