Broken femur - recovery

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@davidof, Superman!

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Lovely. Well done. snowHead

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Impressive.

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Incredible recovery. That's some hard work you've put in to make that !

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Fortunate I would say.

This is my last xray.

So they basically chisel a bit of the top of the thigh bone, screw in some great big rod then another rod into the humeros with a self tapper from BQ to hold it in place. Makes me fell ill looking at it!

femur

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This repair looks quite different to the Xray you posted at the start of your journey. This is the fix that I have had, but they couldn't reduce the fracture enough so there is a large piece of bone still sticking out. Can't figure a way to post pictures.

A real testament to your fitness. Incredible recovery

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@davidof, well done indeed!

Almost a good a recovery as my dog Laughing

Actually he was 21 weeks in total.

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@Weathercam, your dog is much younger but possibly had a more complicated injury. Always amazed at how quickly animals recover although we don't really know what aches and pains they have and just live with.

About 2 and a half months after my accident I finally managed a small ski tour. 520 meters up in about an hour. Making tracks in 5 to 10cm of fresh snow with a couple - they did most of the work. That was enough for me anyway, even if I'd had more time I couldn't have climbed more.

The ski down was ok. The first pitch was not too steep even if I was a bit concerned. There was then a steepish section with heavier powder for some reason and I was a bit on the back of the skis but the snow got a bit lighter and I recentered and gained a bit of confidence and the rest of the ski was fairly easy. It helped being first down before the slope got cut up - there were about 50 people climbing up when I skied down.

Baby steps. Whole summer to refind some form. I'm unable to run at the moment so nice to move a bit faster.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11081393183

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@davidof,

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I was trying to think of any lessons or useful information for others from all this. Perhaps it brought home that you need to think about the future and where you live getting older. Our house has a small step on the ground floor - just a couple of cms but for the first couple of weeks this was quite a hurdle. The staircase was also too steep. So next house will either be a bungalow - but with completely flat floors, no lips or anything, or an apartment and not in the middle of nowhere but near services.

Clearly you can recover fairly quickly, even from a major bone break but obviously joints, tendons etc are trickier.

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Back to running today. I've been walking quite a lot, up to 12km but not running. I did a 1km walk to warm up, ran 3k then walked 1km home. I was pleased to be able "run" but a bit dissapointed with the pace, around 6m50s/km whereas I'd been under 5m/km before my accident - perhaps 5m15s on the circuit I did today due to some small false flats.

My doctor thought my return to work had hindred progress over the last 6 weeks with too much sitting around. She thinks I should blow off work and focus on me; she's right but at the same time there are bills to pay etc.

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So pleased your doing so well.Im now 4 months post op, still having to use crutches. Saw consulted last week and sadly he kept talking about life changing injury. Hard to stay positive Eh oh!

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@Teletart, Sad

so sorry to read that. I hope that you start seeing a real improvement soon.

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@Teletart, did you have a more complicated break than mine? I heard that Chris Froome is still limping 5 years on from his accident but he had a very nasty break.

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I think a bit more complicated than yours. A large bone fragment and displaced fracture., surgeons in Austria said nasty fracture and here in Norwich life changing.

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@Teletart, keep us up to date with your progress. Hope you see some more improvement over the spring/summer and get off crutches.

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Hi David. a quick question. Are you using walking poles for your hikes/runs? I'm finding I can now walk a couple of kms fine without pole aid, but much longer than that and I end up limping - I guess I run out of power on the muscles at the side of the hip. I would agree that getting in as much walking as possible, alongside the physio's exercises, is the way to recover quickly. I don't think I get out walking enough though - too much going on, like you having to work.

@aalexander, I did try nordic poles when I was still on crutches but it wasn't a good experience but I will probably go back to them now you've reminded me. I have the same issue you have with eventually limping, which as others have said above, is not good.

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I broke my hip in a skiing accident on 27 Mar 24 so keen to contribute my experiences over the last 9 weeks plus ask some qs - not sure of the etiquette though - shall I add my story here or create a new thread?

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Ouch, I broke my Femur on Dec 30th so 5 months post op. Very interested to hear how others are getting on. I still need crutches to walk anywhere except around the house.

Thanks davidof - I'll try not to turn it into a thread where I witter on about my problems Very Happy

I am a 54 year old male and learnt to ski at 34 - I have been to Les Arcs once or twice a year since 2005 and I'd say my skiing level is intermediate - do all reds at Les Arcs (except Clair Blanc for those that know it) and the easier blacks. I am/was of average fitness - could run 5k in about 30 mins.

27 Mar 24 (let's call that Operation-1 (O-1)_- I had an embarrassing fall just after turning off the piste that runs into Arc 1950 to go to the boot room of the Prince Des Cimes apartment block (I estimate I have skied that bit 200+ times over 20 years) but somehow I didn't make the turn and landed on the snow covered rocks that look lovely in the summer and not so good close up after falling on them. I hit them hard with impact to the outside of my upper left thigh.

Felt impact pain on the outside of my leg and quickly realised I couldn't move my left leg - I tried to shuffle forward but it just didn't respond. If you imagine me sat down with my legs out straight in front of me if my toes were pointing to the sky the pain was tolerable but if my foot fell outwards or inwards I had an excruciating pain on the inside of my groin. This was a problem because I had no control over my left leg - if my foot wanted to fall to the left or right I could only stop it by holding my leg with my hands.

From phone call to the pisteurs to arriving at hospital in Bourg was two hours and pain was difficult for that time with no pain relief until I got to hospital but ten mins after arriving I had some some morphine and it was under control from then. Even so I told the doctor it would be impossible to take off my boots and new salopettes and they gave me what I found out later to be ketamine and they removed my boots and salopettes with no fuss from me as I was experiencing the wildest trip ever.. Ketamine is very effective.

Xray and MRI later and I was on my way to my room - had an operation to insert a gamma nail at 4pm the next day - Thurs 28 Mar (O+0 day).

I stayed five nights in total - two past our scheduled flight home and we left on Mon 1st April (O+4) by ambulance to Geneva, plane to Gatwick and ambulance to home.

The care I had at BSM hospital was fantastic and I am very grateful to all the staff there that helped me. I am a bit old school but don't mind admitting I arrived there broken physically but also scared and frightened. Not only did they fix me physically but as importantly their care and kindness made me feel safe so fixed me mentally as well. Even now thinking back to my five days there I feel very emotional about that time.

Anyway, French surgeon told me absolutely no weight on my injured leg for four weeks and then for next two weeks a max of 5kg on it (which is just a momentary shuffle on it for example to turn round in the house). Then I need an x-ray and if all is well the UK doctors would give me the go ahead to put weight on. He stated that the risk was the nail shearing if I put weight on it too early.

Got home and booked private physio sessions (paying myself) with the physio I have been with for years and got an appointment at the NHS fracture clinic for 22 April (O+25) - it could have been a week earlier but delaying meant I was assigned to a consultant that my physio has a good relationship with which made sense for rehab work.

At hospital they couldn't understand why I had been told to put no weight on it for so long and said they would have had me doing that earlier. They could see the advice in my French notes but asked if it was advice specific to my broken hip or just "how they did it in France" - it didn't seem specific to me and I got the impression that was the norm in France. They said they could see no reason on my pre and post op x-rays and on the x-ray they did that day (showed signs of healing and the nail was inserted in a good place - dead centre on one plane and slightly high on the other but no cause for concern) so I left there with the go ahead to gradually put weight on it over the next few days.

Hope these pics below work - on the left is my x-ray on admittance to hospital, in the middle is after the op the next day and on the right is my UK x-ray on O+25.

I understand the bit of bone floating on the first pic is what was my lesser trochanter which has been knocked off by the break - I saw a member of my consultants team and he said it would be left where it is and shouldn't cause a problem - you can see post op its moved position and seems to have settled as its in the same place on the O+25 x-ray on the right. I accepted that at the time and joked that if it can't be left hanging about it must be very much the lesser of the trochanters but I have since learnt that it is also the insertion point for the psoas major and iliacus muscles so I am a little confused what it being "knocked off" means for those muscles but will ask the question at my next fracture clinic appointment on 7th July unless anyone knows here Smile

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I'll post a bit more a bit later on my progress since then and where I am at with my recovery so far.

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@Bungle, hope your recovery is progressing. Mrs NBT had a shoulder dislocation / fracture dealt wit by the hospital at BSM and as a result we can also vouch for the staff there, although as the worried husband who was unable to find out what was going on I might prefer if they staff were able to communicate more effectively and efficiently the progress and even perhaps the location of the patient. Nonethless we were seen and fixed and thankfully on the way home in one evening. THe point I wanted to make though was that Mrs NBT was told to wear her sling for 6 weeks minimum and it was a very big and sturdy slking which effectively immobilised her arm. The UK physicians and physios were much keener for her to remove the sling at an earlier point so as to help with movement, and it's noticeable that the slings used in the UK are very lightweight compared to french slings. My feeling is that the french system is somewhat behnd the UK in terms of how quickly patients are encouraged to start moving on injured limbs - I recall 25 years ago when my father had a hip replacment, it was total bed rest for 6 weeks, while my uncle had a hip replacement 2 weeks ago and was mowing the lawn this weekend - there's a view that mobility is crucial, and I can see that.

good luck all!

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@Bungle, I was told to put weight on my leg the next day. The surgeon claimed that with it pinned I could walk on it excepting the pain. On the second day they had me go up and down stairs on crutches then i was out the door - they needed the bed space and indeed there was a spate of accidents in the city the next week and they were very busy.

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@davidof and @nbt - That's interesting - my French surgeon was very clear no weight - danger was the screw could shear - it makes sense that it may depend on the angle of the break I guess - more vertical being more shear danger but certainly felt like the French side was far more cautious than the UK Consultant. Amazing they said next day for you @davidof - they must have seen your videos surely Very Happy

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Further update on where I am at now (O +64 days).

I have progressed stretching and strengthening exercises so laying on the bed and bringing the foot on my injured leg up to my bottom bending my knee and also leg raises of my injured leg - had to start with a towel under my knee but after couple of weeks was able to raise the leg without the towel. Also use a band around both legs when stood up and raise the injured leg out to the side - have progressed through red to yellow and now green bands which is all good. I can get my foot up to within a hands width of my @rse now but it won't go further at the moment with the limiting factor being my quad and what I think is the ITB - painful on the outside of my upper thigh and down at the knee.

I also overdid things when I stupidly pulled the cord to start the lawn mower (Mrs Bungle mowing) and put my injured leg forward to "pull against" - that was the start of a week of frustration as it felt like I had "hurt the bone" on the outside of my left hip where the incision for the rod into the femur was. Physio has explained that the muscles are all messed up - tight, under used - still healing from accident and surgery. She had been doing massage of quad and glute so did massage of ITB which she also said was tight anyway (I have had release treatment on them a few times pre this injury) so she gave that some work as well and it did help but a day or two later the pain returned and tbh I had a week where I felt i had gone backwards and I didn't handle it that well tbh.

Around this time I also did some proper reading on just how serious this injury can be and it shocked me a little - I had originally thought 6 weeks no weight bearing then a couple of weeks practice on crutches then get rid of those and I would be back on the train and in the office and I can start jogging a bit after that. Reading more including some of the experiences on here and I started to appreciate how optimistic that would be for me.

My UK consultant also reset me when he told me I should expect some pain and occasional swelling for a year and that after a year my recovery would be pretty much complete as in it wouldn't get much better from wherever I was in a years time but I had to understand that I may never get back to the level I was at before the accident - hopefully I would but there are no guarantees because its a major injury, I had been through major surgery and I have to give it time. Again my naivety but that shocked me a little as in my head it was - ok so 12 months tops - I'll do it in 6-9 but if its a year before I am skiing again or even if I miss next season cos Its delayed it's not a massive issue - it had always been a "when" not an "if" to me.

Anyway at the next visit physio restated I was doing very well and the only issue here is my unrealistic expectations and she offered to get the needles out to do dry needling to help release the ITB and that was helpful and had a lasting effect and I was able to resume walking with one crutch (pre lawnmowergate I had done 200m with one crutch for a week and then was doing 500m with one crutch for 3 or 4 days). I took a week off from walking and then resumed with 200m and it was better again.

During these walks I also walk about 10 steps 2 or 3 times with no crutch and I can do that but it is with a heavy limp - best way to describe it is that I keep my injured leg straight all the way from top to bottom whilst there is weight on it and then move my good leg forward - I feel that is to avoid all the muscles in and around the hip doing the work they are supposed to do to stabilise things whilst walking. Whilst it allows me to walk without a crutch it doesn't feel like long term it's a good thing.

At the moment my physio is away so my last appt with the ITB needling was Mon 20th May (O+53) so with the weather being crap, MrsBungle being away and me left with google (always dangerous) I decided to ease off the 200-500m one crutch walking and do some lengths of the kitchen walking without a crutch and walking properly with no limp and I can do this but it makes what feels like pretty much every type of soft tissue in and around my hip scream a bit and the next day I get the soreness in multiple different places - groin, front of hip, in the glute and the outside of the upper thigh too but it feels like soft tissue and I think the fact that it moves around is a good thing - does that feeling resonant with anyone else from their recovery?

I've been told pain 0-5 out of 10 is ok and I should continue and 6-10 is not OK and I should back off so after three days of about 20 lengths of the kitchen a day walking properly with no crutch it's at a 6/10 so I have reverted back to the crutch but also make a conscious effort to try to walk without a limp but with the crutch bearing the weight and the soreness is easing off now and I am back to physio next week so will take a steer from her then.

What I am not sure about is whether this pain is through inaction in terms of the work the muscles do to stabilise you when walking in which case making them to start to have to work makes sense or in fact its just too early and they are still damaged from the accident and surgery and I have to accept I need to be with the crutch for longer.

You may have guessed I have a very analytical overthinking mind which is great for my job but not at all useful when dealing with the recovery from this injury Smile

I know all cases are different and I need to see how it goes but am also interested to hear if the experiences above are similar to what others have experienced. Have people also experienced the muscles and ligaments and tendons being really sore when they try not to limp at this stage (O+64) and do I really just need to let them heal a bit more and be patient like every medical professional plus MrsBungle says Very Happy

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I think it sounds like your doing much better than me. At 5months Post op, very similar fracture but through both greater and lesser tracanture. With large bone flake on outside of leg.
My consultant keeps saying life changing injury..
I've been trying to concentrate on what I can do, rather than what I can't.
Feb, walking up to 3km with crutches.
March, snow shoeing on cross country ski tracks with both crutches.
April cycle on turbo trainer, need stool to get on and off. 10 days snow shoeing in Norway on xc tracks. Still with crutches.
May. 40 min on turbo trainer, mid maystarted to ride my own bike. Difficulty getting on and off
Been swimming since week 5. Indoor and put doors. Sea can be tricky with waves. Need to remember to empty the water out of crutches.

You guys are all way ahead of me. I'm 62 mrs

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I've just started running again. I tried in May but couldn't walk for the week after !

I was doing 1k splits at under 5 minutes before my accident, 55m30 for 10k (ok not exactly fast but I don't like running much but it is practical).

I can run about 3km now. Out of two runs in the last week fastest split at 6m26s.

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@Teletart, yes that sounds really nasty, I don't like the idea of a bone flake. Keep up the good work, I'm amazed you are sea/open water swimming.

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@davidof, great stuff re the running - even the thought of it seems way off for me so far but it's a target for sure.

@Teletart, how are you doing now a couple of months further on?

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I thought I would pop back on with a progress update. My break was 27 Mar and op 28 Mar so I am just over 18 weeks post op now (4 months 1 week).

Basically I would describe my recovery so far as follows:

Weeks 1-5 - getting out of bed, getting off of two crutches and no weight bearing to two crutches and weight bearing to one crutch - could walk 200m with one crutch at week 5 - felt really good about things.

Weeks 5.1 to 12 - get incredibly frustrated by lack of progress trying to get off of one crutch - do a couple of days of exercises and have to stop for 2-3 days - in reality I was trying to do way way too much too quick for the level of soft tissue damage I had and I wasn't fun to live with or a very good patient. Even though I was told up to 12 months recovery I don't think I ever properly accepted it at this point.

Week 12 consultant appointment where I complain about still being on one crutch - he says he is going to be brutal with me and he was - said that a bad ankle sprain will take 12 weeks to heal - what I have done is an order of magnitude worse than any ankle sprain and I may still be walking with a stick 12 months after the operation and if I am I may always walk with one - its a potentially life changing injury and I need to fully accept that and start judging my progress on two week windows not every day.

Week 12.1 to 18 - been able to do my band exercises and other rehab pretty much each day and have altered my expectations - things have been pretty good for 90% of the last 6 weeks - feels like I have turned the corner on the level of healing being complete allowing me to do rehab each day with only 1 or 2 two day rests being needed through overdoing it a little too much.

I can now walk 3 or 4 km with one crutch - the restriction is my hand aching not my injury but that's because the crutch does the balance work and allows the soft tissue in and around my hip not to have to. I have to say I had no comprehension of the amount of work those muscles and ligaments etc do just to stop you falling over when you stand up and walk. When you break a hip you suddenly become very aware.

With no crutch I have walked 400m max. I try to do that with as little a limp as possible and its not bad - there is still a limp and the muscles in the groin area (front) are very uncomfortable which progresses to the glutes as well, last 100m is more of a limp as the soreness increases but overall its improving each week.

This week I have been able to walk up the stairs "properly" by taking each leg from the step below and placing it on the step above. Coming downstairs though I still struggle to put my injured leg from the step above and behind to the step below my good leg - I can put it on the same step but its a stretch too far at the moment to go directly to the step below.

Rehab continues - I am doing fire hydrants and other exercises to open the hip up together with adductor and abductor band exercises - squats with the band, raises of my injured thigh with a band etc etc plus also two leg glute bridges - I cannot do single leg bridges yet. I can only recently do a straight leg raise when laying on my non injured side and I did two sets of 20 and then it was painful the next day so backed off for a few days. One complication is that the consultant thinks I will have irritation where my screw sticks out of the bone further than he would like - I see him again in September when we will consider putting me on the waiting list for removal of the gamma nail if its still causing me problems if so that would not be removed until 1 year post op. However four weeks ago I could not lay on my injured side for more than a few seconds and now I can for quite a while so maybe removal won't be needed - we will see.

I still have weekly physio sessions with dry needling each week in the muscles that are tight to increase blood flow and loosen up tightness - that's been really good.

One thing i did not do was have a good look at supplements and have been advised to take omega 3,6,9 for soft tissue repair which I am looking into.

I am hoping to ski in March next year (12 months post op) but we will see (and will need any removal of the implant to be delayed) - at the moment it feels I am a long way from that but Mar is a long way off as well. Any unexpected twist or turn or banging my foot on the French door steps is still very unpleasant and painful - walking in predictable straight lines I can cope with so feel like there is still pain and tenderness to heal. That's going to need to improve a lot before I go skiing lol

If anyone else has this injury I hope this will help - I went through a rough time mostly self induced by deep down my inability to accept the seriousness of the injury (even though I said I understood and nodded when told) and the lengthy recovery time associated.

I would also say that everyone's injury and therefore recovery will be different so try to take your time and listen to your health professionals and accept it will be a long road - I said outwardly that I understood and accepted all of that and in reality I didn't and it gave me a lot of frustration and down periods between weeks 5 and 12.

If I can help please feel free to post qs here or PM me with them if you prefer - this forum has helped me a lot and I'd like to help others with this really quite nasty and serious injury if I can.

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It's a long slow progress, with no real idea of what the final out come will be. My UK specialist keeps talking about coming to terms with life changing injury. However on a more positive not, 7 months post op there is a lot I can do.
I needed crutches for 6 months, I could do so much more with crutches than without. I had 2 weeks in Austria in June and was able to cycle and do some gentle dhort mountain walks with the crutches. I tried walking poles but that didn't work for me. Getting on and off the bike painful.

Moving on I am back in Austria and able to cycle further, and with hills. No longer using crutches but need walking poles for anything up and down. Managed 4hrs the other day.

Balance is not good and any prolonged balancing on bad leg is very painful. Longing for the day when I can put my clothes on without having to sit down or hang onto some thing.

I have a biomechanics appt when I get home. Leg shorter after op, perhaps cause of rolling gait.

Hope everyone can see positive progression.

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@Teletart, I feel the same about not knowing the outcome - even now on the back of four or five good weeks I struggle not to worry how I would feel if progress just stalls at this point?

and also re the clothes - this small thing really resonates with me - for a while I couldn't lift my injured leg up to step into my shorts so i remember getting skilled in lassooing them over the end of my injured leg but have been able to "lift and step my injured leg in" for quite a while now but having stood on my good leg and put my bad leg in, I then still have to sit down to put my good leg in which is bl00dy annoying!! - just don't have the strength and balance to "stand crouched" on my injured leg and do it. My ability to stand on one leg on my injured one is gradually improving though so I am hoping maybe one day I'll be able to put my shorts on without having to sit down on the bed.

I wish you all the very best with the continued recovery and glad to hear there is still improvement happening.

@Bungle, Thanks for posting that, I'm sure it will of interest in the future for anyone researching this "life changing" injury.

I'm taking things a bit easy over the summer. First of all it is too hot and secondly I need to lose the weight I put on while I couldn't move... this is my immediate challenge.

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@davidof, I know the feeling - I actually lost six pounds in the two or so weeks after my op as my daughter made healthy lunch meals for me and my lack of mobility meant the fridge was out of reach - then I got mobile and I had a lot of “snackcidents”. I’m now needing to lose a few pounds too Sad

This week though I was really pleased to be able to get back on my bike - only 5k but did it three nights and a little soreness but iced and it was fine. Tbh the most difficult part is getting on and off. Great to be back on it whilst we still have some light evenings.

I have also managed to climb and descend the stairs putting each foot from the stair behind to the stair ahead rather than having to bring the trailing foot only level with the leading one so that’s a good progression too.

Starting to realise just how much strength I have lost in my glutes and quad on my injured leg - slowly building it up but will be slow as it can’t do very much work before it fatigues at the moment.

Overall though some pleasing progress. Smile

Help!!

Broken femur - recovery

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