 Poster: A snowHead
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Snowheads may have seen my recent Hokkaido trip report, highlighting Mrs MA's broken leg and evacuation by mountain rescue 
The road to recovery looks like a long one. Since getting back home, Mrs MA has had an operation (16 days ago), where four screws were put into the break, at the top of the tibia. We are advised that that went well. The specialist has said that the ACL is intact but may have been affected by the break. The position on that is to be determined.
Since the injury (a month ago), Mrs MA has been unable to put any weight at all on the leg, so has been completely helpless (unable to even carry a cup of tea) on her crutches. A spare bed has been installed in the dining room for downstairs living.
We have use of a wheelchair but it's quite a carry on to get out of the house - the step-over to get out of the front door is tricky and we then have a step up on the garden path. We then need to prop up the leg on the wheelchair (using pillows). Then there's getting in and out of the car.
From being such an active skier, mountain biker and hiker, Mrs MA has said she feels like she's in prison. A woman can only take so many episodes of Homes Under the Hammer and Bargain Hunt! Still, she remains very positive and determined about her recovery.
We understand that weight bearing will begin next week after a hospital visit in two days' time. The hospital is to (hopefully) outline the plan in terms of rehab and recovery.
I'm sure there must be a fair few  who have come back from similar, or worse long term injuries. Let's be having some tales of hope and positive recovery! 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@mountainaddict, have you seen my TPF blog? Her progress sounds normal and things have to be done at the appropriate time
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Also...private physio plus 4 gym sessions every week. Check your travel insurance ...there might be cover for some private physio...I had £500
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@mountainaddict, I have nothing to contribute except my sympathy and very good wishes for as speedy a return to normal as possible.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I found crutches difficult - some people leap about on them with no problem. I couldn't bear any weight on my left leg (broken pelvis) for a bit. My brother in law and sister were staying when I had the accident, then other pre-booked friends arrived for the following week. After they left very good friends in a neighbouring building could do shopping for me, and joined me for evening meals, which was lovely. A huge triumph was being able to make a cup of tea in the small kitchen area, then stand still and transfer it across to the table. Then crutch myself over between the table and my comfy Ikea chair and transfer the tea to a side table there. I couldn't carry anything in my hand whilst moving, but I did have a cloth bag I slung round my neck so I could transport, for example, a sandwich or a book or a wine glass!
It helped enormously being in a small apartment all on one level. It would have been far harder at home, in a house on 3 levels and it's always dispiriting having a "bed downstairs". I could shower myself and get in and out of bed (not without learning to completely relax the muscles of the "bad leg" and lift it with the other - which was always a bit fraught and there were slips and curses). I had friends in another apartment who did bits of shopping for me once my visitors had gone and joined me for evening meals, which was lovely. I could stand up with one crutch, on the good leg, and do some simple cooking to contribute to the meals - soup, etc. I did struggle sometimes when my carefully placed crutches fell over - especially in the night when I had to get up to the loo. Loud curses followed. Because it was one level I didn't have to persevere with using crutches on the stairs - which some people manage with aplomb. I was hopeless, but in my defence the stairs outside the apartment were covered in ice - I was terrified of slipping. Going out was out of the question - I was in a 40 sq m apartment for weeks but it was OK - I have a high boredom threshold! Or, in other words, I can loaf around doing very little for hours on end!!
I read a lot, and watched UK TV in the evenings - late, because of the time difference. Fortunately I had some decent choices and quite a lot of recorded stuff. I have never yet been desperate enough to watch daytime TV but I did stay up later than usual with the time difference as all the good UK telly was on late. I stayed in bed as late as possible in the mornings. It did take me a long time to do something like make a pan of soup - helped pass the time! I also wrote a lot to friends and family. And there was Snowheads!
I hope Mrs MA will soon find she can do more, and can get some satisfaction from working out little ways of accomplishing things which would normally be dead simple.
Some good physio will be essential - quite apart from the injury, moving about on crutches is absolutely not good for you!
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A further thought.... if this fracture was a "low impact trauma" has there been any suggestion that Mrs MA should have a Dexa scan to check for bone thinning?
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@mountainaddict, sounds nasty but good that the op went well. When she’s ready for crutches, some tips I got from friends for my own spell crutching around…
A bike bottle cage (attached with cable ties/ duct tape) is helpful (also for pints of beer!)
Handlebar tape can help mitigate blisters if you have soft office worker hands
A sling bag (eg Patagonia atom) was ideal to carry other odds and ends.
Speedy recovery! It won’t feel like it and when you’re used to lots of outdoor sport the gym/ rehab routine is tedious - but as holidaylover said, vital - I put some effort into finding new challenges in the gym to keep positive… and I definitely emerged stronger than pre-injury which was a bonus…
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I had a freak accident where I broke 4 metatarsals in my left foot. Had steel rods inserted into my foot (later removed) to aid the correct healing
Non weight bearing for 3 to 4 months.
Got pretty good on crutches after all that time. And being pushed around in the customer wheelchair at the local Sainsbury's was a novelty.
When I eventually could try walking it was difficult for a few weeks and it took quite a while to get back to a normal walking. My leg muscles felt pretty weak for months.
I didn't get any physio, the doctor just said keep walking.
I think the plaster came off around the beginning of October and I went boarding the following March. During that holiday I took it a bit easier than normal. The year later the accident was a distant memory.
I know the my injury was different but I wanted to say Mrs MA will get through it. Just need to keep trying to be optimistic.
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Thanks all Some good tips and advice there.
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| if this fracture was a "low impact trauma" has there been any suggestion that Mrs MA should have a Dexa scan to check for bone thinning? |
Not mentioned. We'll ask about that.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Colleague who wrecked her knee was so happy she put herself through the torture of physio, once she then saw how long it took the lazy ones to recover.
Dad had a mini stroke and was diagnosed diabetic about the same time (likely they were linked). He went from being a proudly active and fit 80 year old to a drooling hobbling 81year old with bags full of pills to eat morning noon and night. After a few months of shock he said sod it, I’m taking all medical advice, meds, physio, lifestyle changes etc. Just does things a bit slower now but still gets them done and retains his feeling of independence and dignity. Don’t look at what you’ve lost, look at where you can get to.
Good luck.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Most NHS people are [quite rightly] focused on stopping fat people who have "had a fall" from being in care for the rest of their lives. That's very different from those of us who break things by falling. My requirements have always been to get me back playing on the snow as quickly as possible. It's a different mindset, although it may be the same one which makes them fat and me fit. Anyway, with my two breakages I threw money at the private NHS people and exercised the **** out of myself... and got back to full performance in no time at all.
I think it's a question of attitude. You can give up, or not.
It's going to take time and it's going to hurt, but personally I'll not be quitting until I'm dead - there's plenty of time to sit back and relax after that point.
--
I thought crutches quite interesting, and would probably have worked out how to do tricks on them if I'd not ditched them quite so fast.
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As recorded at some length somewhere else in the forum, I shattered my left hip into six bits 3 years ago (ironically on an adaptive ski course, but not even in snow). Replacement hip; 2 jubilee clips; and some screws/nails. No weight bearing for 6 weeks. Stairs and thresholds became frightening. Mrs SL had to work from home (before it became fashionable) as I could not be left. Just as I became fit enough to be left lock-down started.
Oh a camera type bag around the neck combined with a sealable thermos mug proved useful.
Anyway my advice, for what it is worth, is do anything the physio says, and ask them for more. As @Phil W suggests most people don’t do as they are told. Don’t take a day off. I still do the exercises (and more - weights, static bike) today. I also asked the physio if it would be sensible for me to juggle standing on the bad leg. She decided it couldn’t do any harm, so I still do that today and I think it has improved the leg’s stability (I could juggle before the accident). Worth Mrs MA having a go in due course. Anyway I managed to get back on skis in the indoor slope within 6 months.
It’s actually been a positive thing in some ways, although I would not wish it on someone. I made a determined effort to loose weight to protect the bad leg, and that weight has stayed off as well as my general fitness improving. The whole thing probably brought me and Mrs SL closer together.
Got back to skiing in the mountains last year and just completed my 34th day this season with another 4 weeks to go. Hill walking; mountain biking; tennis (probably the most difficult to get back in the groove for); and fencing all followed.
It can seem pretty disastrous when it happens, but the light at the end gradually gets brighter and you learn stuff along the way.
Good luck to you both.
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You know it makes sense.
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| mountainaddict wrote: |
| .....From being such an active skier, mountain biker and hiker, Mrs MA has said she feels like she's in prison. A woman can only take so many episodes of Homes Under the Hammer and Bargain Hunt! Still, she remains very positive and determined about her recovery.... |
That's a big positive, if she can channel that frustration into some type of regimented training plan once she's able to, be it on a static bike, stair master etc
Are you close to a gym where you can take out a flexible membership?
I've had to both pre and rehab numerous times over my many years of smashing myself up and fortunately, I did have a solid background of training 5+ times a week etc be it cycling/running so was able to adapt that mindset to getting back to full fitness.
And keep a diary of what you're doing, along with wearing a heart rate monitor and or even go the whole hog and buy a Garmin like the Fenix 6 which has a whole load of functionality to motivate you as you can see how you're improving.
My own POV is that physios are great initially but sooner or later you're going to be on your own working up from hiking around the block to 3hr Sunday hikes at pace.
If you have a Park Run near you they are brilliant too, at first walking, then walk jog etc etc to full-on running and improving week on week with loads of similar people around you, one of the best things in the UK!!
Best of luck
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@mountainaddict, I ended up non weight bearing for a good month.... partialy due to being sent home from A&E when according to surgeon who finally operated I should have been operated on straight away... good news is due to having enough funds so self fund the MRI and report to jump straight to urgent surgery needed!
Anyways once I was back able to train I found I kept pilling muscles doing what I felt was a really easy gym sessions. To get past that hump I found aqua aerobics classes invaluable, got me to a level of muscle build up I could then work out in the gym.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@mountainaddict, …no specific advice re rehab for a mrs MAs injury but here is the HOPE of which you ask.
Me
Trashed ACL at twenty one
Serious concussion and broken collarbone at 40
Grade 3 shoulder separation at 51
Broken back L2/3 wedge fracture at 51
After rehab am still at 65:
Climbing
Mountaineering
Mountain biking xc and DH
Skiing
All at a reasonably high level
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Recovery from injury is a better prospect than recovery from old age and the morbidities which accompany it.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I’ve broken lots of things over the years as I rode and trained horses for a living, and have had micro fracture stem cell treatment on my knees and feet.
All required intensive rehab. As said above, do the exercises as much as you can. When you start walking, consciously use equal effort and follow through movement in each side, even if it means walking more slowly at first (helps to avoid a permanent limp or imbalance).
I started with pool walking when I had my knees done. It was a great way to ease myself off crutches and braces. Just walked up and down as far as I could in one lane. (Interestingly, I was never the only one doing it- knee and hip replacements and fracture recovery- all there at various times.)
I am absolutely fine now. Hike, swim,cycle, ski - all lots. I’m 66.
But I learned that keeping my weight down is super important and I work and at staying below 9st. It makes a big difference. (I’m only 5ft 1).
Lots and lots of good wishes. Look forward to next year. She’ll get there.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I did an ACL 11 months ago to the day. I was devastated, it was very depressing, I was very tearful for quite a while. Then I accepted it, and knuckled down to all the physio. It was helped by the fact that I had the time to do it because I don't work much in the summer - I work at a dry ski slope. Got tentatively back on skis on the dry slope in September, and yesterday I came back from my first trip back on snow.
Not as serious an injury, obviously, but it seems like it's going to be a long haul, and it kind of is, but you do get there in the end. Along the way there are lots of little milestones where you find you can now do something that you couldn't do a few weeks earlier, and they all keep you going and remind you that you will get there eventually.
Good luck.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@mountainaddict, good luck to Mrs MA. Sympathy and empathy for both of you.
Plenty of hope though! Mrs PB suffered an undiagnosed (missed on X Ray) broken tibia 18 months ago.
After 18 months on crutches, waiting for an op (despite going private because the NHS wait would’ve been 2 extra years) her leg was bent 18 degrees from true.
2 months ago had the op. Tib and fib both broken. Taylor Frame with 8 pins/rods through the bones fitted. 6 weeks of frame rod adjusting and the leg is almost straight again. About 9 more months of frame wearing to strengthen the broken bones.
The first month in particular was tough. Since then, very encouraging milestones. Static bike exercise. Walking well over a mile now. Down to one crutch when in the house. Been on a short break away with friends, taking a wheelchair for occasional rests abd tricky bits. Knitting for England. Sleeping improving.
I’ve been knackered. So much so that I’ve had to clear off skiing, for a rest, leaving it the the butler.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I wish your wife all the best. Pain and rehab can be very demoralising at times but I would agree with one of the earlier posters. Do everything the physio says and ask for more. I found that some physios can be cautious and within reason it’s good to push if you can. A bit of pain and discomfort are worth going through. The key is finding a balance between pushing and doing damage.
Don’t take a day off the rehab - small improvements add up over time.
I say this as a wheelchair user currently 11 weeks post my second shoulder dislocation. It can be brutal at times but if you somehow see it as a challenge to overcome that can help.
Just a final thought: if you think your rehab is not working or doesn’t feel right, get a second opinion. The NHS and insurance provide great support for these things but don’t always settle for the first option.
Good luck
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| Quote: |
When you start walking, consciously use equal effort and follow through movement in each side, even if it means walking more slowly at first (helps to avoid a permanent limp or imbalance).
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Fantastic advice. I remember the first time I went to Tesco (these little milestones are such an inspiration......). Hanging on to a trolley and having to go really slowly to walk symmetrically. My usual walking pace is very fast and it took a lot of self-discipline to keep the pace down to one I could maintain without limping.
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Great stuff folks! Thanks ever so much. Exactly the kind of responses and encouragement we'd hoped for. So much so that, after going through them all with Mrs MA, she's very encouraged and even more determined
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@mountainaddict, crutches are not all the same!
I trashed my tib and fib and after an operation for a metal pin and multiple screws I was given this type of crutches
https://www.puravita.ch/de_ch/herdegen-gehhilfen-evolution-grau-1-paar
Please forgive the lazy googleation that was simply the first place I found them...I'm sure they are available in the UK.
Anyway...so easy to use, very comfy (in a relative meaning) too.
On return to the uk I was given nhs ones.
OMG they are sh!tty!
If I'd stuck with nhs ones it would have been terrible
So as a starter I'd suggest buying better crutches
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Those look just like the ones I had - the doctor in Les Saisies initially lent me a pair of his own and then in due course I got some from the pharmacy and returned his. But I was still hopeless with them - really scared of slipping and the resultant inadvertent ouchy weight-bearing. The doc did very helpfully tell me it was OK for me to weight-bear. When I looked incredulous he said he didn't mean I should, or that it wouldn't be painful, just that I shouldn't be scared of doing further damage. I found that helpful, as I did slip occasionally (when a crutch skidded on a bit of damp floor, for example). It was acutely painful, but only momentarily. Just as my original crash had been - acutely painful, but once I was sitting on the snow with my skis off I had no pain at all - the lovely young pisteur carefully felt all over asking "ca fait mal?".... I could honestly answer "Non" to everything, but I just couldn't stand up. I was shocked to be told I'd fractured my pelvis - I would have expected it to be far more painful, having never had a fracture before. Once I was home and sitting in a comfy chair I had no pain at all, thankfully, and never bothered with all the painkillers which, in true French style, I was given in quantity. I did the thrombosis injections, though. I have had far, far, more pain from soft tissue injuries including twisted knees and a bad fall playing table tennis just before lockdown. That had me up at 2 am, sitting against ice packs to try to reduce the pain in my back. Went on for months.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@rungsp, the problem with those is if you need to use your hands for something. At least the shitty NHS ones wraparound your arms
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Mrs Ski now telemarks with two repaired ACLs..
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You know it makes sense.
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@kitenski, 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Mr G can beat that X ray hands down, as it were: radius and ulna, 9 hour jigsaw game in surgery to put the pieces back together. Wrist alone in 35 pieces. A week afterwards, was 1-handedly rebuilding the bike which nearly cost him his arm.
I lost both ACLs and MCLs 6 years ago. No surgery. No crutches, no wheelchair, just don't slip on the polished wood stairs or up the tiered steep garden  Just get on with it a bit slower and a lot stiffer, and do whatever you can manage and find a way around what you can't.
A long road back, a lot of pain, 9 months before swelling went & had full if stiff kneel flexion. Still getting better and stronger now. And still fell and mountain walking, still boarding and skiing, still playing racquet sports. Rest of body lets me down before the knees & legs, usually.
Determination and perseverance will get her back doing what she loves; adaptation or limitation as and when needed, especially in the early stages, but still enjoyment.
And lots of appropriate exercise.
Just be careful with the psychological aspects: that can take more time, even if the body's ready.
In the meantime, take the opportunity to rest, learn something new (a language?), read, relax, meditate, research, plan, write, draw, listen to music, play an instrument, sing... Endless possibilities. There are more ways to fill the day than daytime TV.
It'll all be over and done with soon, hopefully. It could be a lot worse.
All the best 
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Poster: A snowHead
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| pam w wrote: |
| Quote: |
When you start walking, consciously use equal effort and follow through movement in each side, even if it means walking more slowly at first (helps to avoid a permanent limp or imbalance).
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Fantastic advice. I remember the first time I went to Tesco (these little milestones are such an inspiration......). Hanging on to a trolley and having to go really slowly to walk symmetrically. My usual walking pace is very fast and it took a lot of self-discipline to keep the pace down to one I could maintain without limping. |
Someone in a pub saw me in plaster and gave me that piece of advice. Total stranger. I didn’t realise how valuable it was until I started walking again, especially on uneven ground.
I always pass it on.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Many, many, years ago when I was a small child my mother badly twisted her ankle. Took weeks and weeks to heal - it affected our lives in various ways. She told us our GP (typical Welsh family doctor called Emrys) had read her the riot act about NOT limping. Also told her to keep exercising the ankle - any time she was sitting at the table, keep that foot circling. He was ahead of his time. So I grew up with that advice.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@pam w, the family anecdotes are coming even thicker and faster than usual at the moment!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Hope it isn't cancelled because of the doctors' strike.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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That's extremely odd. We had the X-rays of my OH's triple by-pass stowed behind the wardrobe for years - nobody would have known if we'd taken photos of them. I also have electronic versions of an MRI on my knee (which I paid for). Again, I could have used it for this year's Christmas card. Had I sent any......
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After my first ACL rupture, but before I knew WHAT the issue was, I was waiting for my referral appointment over it. My knee gave way on me coming down stairs in a shopping centre and we went to A&E. They took an xray showed no bones broken, but as I already had the consultant appointment date, but with a different hospital (we were at Camberley A&E but my consultant appointment was in Reading), they gave me the xray to take with me to give him. My guess the rule over no photos is due to concern about them then being attempted to be used for diagnostic purposes.... the person who said No photos possibly hasnt thought about the why.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@mountainaddict, I think that this forum is a little subset of the wider population in that most of us just dont say "ah well, thats it".
Our lads ski trip this season, we had me with one metal hip, 2 x dodgy knees and the other hip definitely deteriorating, another with a bad hip and another with a terrible back. One of the other guys blew his knee out on our third day, and will miss most of his cycling season.
But we are all mid 50s, active and will carry on with the various sports til we fall over. The alternative is to put on weight, feel unfit, sit in the sofa and watch life drift away - no thanks.
Your wife is clearly part of the same category that says "I have been injured doing a sport I love, I will take the pain of the physio and ops and come back stronger" and good on her for that.
She (and you) will have low days, there will be frustration - but there is a target; next ski season (and cycling before that). Its about incremental steps, walk round the house, walk along the road, walk round the block, cycle etc...........but do all the physio and stretching, its vital.
Good luck.
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Ruptured an achilles and found neoprene on the crutches helped my hands (I have very soft skin and blister easily) and a small rucksack carried what I needed as I struggled around.
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FAQ
It's HER leg FFS! 