Tibial Plateau Fracture Recovery

[modelprisoner]

where to start? thank you for this thread, first of all. ive read every single post from page 1. my injury occurred on may 30th 2014 (my 41st bday). spent the following 3 days in the hospital for pain management then home with an immobilizer. due to severity of my swelling, surgery wasnt scheduled until june 17th, 2014. i was in and out of the o.r. in three hours with one plate and six screws. a synthetic resin was used as filler instead of a bone graft. another two days in the hospital then home. one week after surgery my bandages were replaced and minimized then back home in the immobilizer. two weeks after surgery my 48 staples were removed (felt great)! also was told i wasnt required to wear the immobilizer any longer.. and this i recommend! you more than likely feel as though you need to treat your leg like glass, but honestly the less restriction in movement to your knee at this point the better! i packed it up that day and never looked back. theres no real way to talk you through the completely normal pain and aggravation that naturally comes along with every "step" of this surreal experience but it fades. started non weight bearing physical therapy 4 weeks after surgery 10/67. all quad stimulating exercises to awaken the muscle. after two months of NWB i was cleared for 50% weight bearing. once you can start using your bad leg a little you will start to recover at a much faster rate so dont push it. it will happen. ive been on the bike at pt, added weight training to the leg and upgraded my nwb floor exercises to standing with elastic bands. i have a few more sessions before i see my surgen on september 11th 2014 where hopefully ill be given permission for full weight bearing. if you dont have insurance, get it.. somehow ($25,000 so far) not including pt. if you dont have something nearby (sink, tub, windowsill) to brace yourself while getting on and off the toilet, find a handicap conversion. if you dont have a toilet on the floor you will be spending your time, get a bedpan jug. extend grabbers are nice. backscratchers are nice. get a bath chair!!! find a lazyboy recliner for free on craigslist. most of your medical type equipment, even wheelchairs, can be signed out/borrowed from any amvet or vfw. check with friends and family if they or anyone they know are members, its free. i know im going to remember so much more things to say as soon as i post.. such a weird weird injury. itll show you what youre made of. my leg will never be the same but its made me stronger.

[eddie33165]

I used to say the same thing after my injury. I would never be the same. Well, it's been 2 years and 4 months and all I can say is, "I was wrong." I've gotten to the point that I forget that I ever broke my leg, spent 4 days in the hospital, messed up my tibial plateau really terrible, had 22 staples, metal all over my leg and was non-weight bearing for 13 weeks along with a more than horrible first two weeks back home. My atrophied muscles are looking like my other leg. I ride my bicycle between 15 and 20 miles and run up the football stadium bleachers 10 times. I can climb towers, do all my lawn maintenance, jog and run. All this, six days a week. You need to be positive, persistent, and go to PT. Once you are home form PT you repeat all you did over and over again. The only one that has control over your injury is you. The last item that worried me was the lack of hyper-extension. This worked itself out. Although my PT was not even concerned, I always made sure that I stretch out my knee backwards. Nothing came of this until my badly atrophied muscle above my knee began to pull their weight. This took almost a year. So in retrospect, the only remembrance I have of this injury is a big ass scar on my leg.

[Jesshall94]

Hi, my name is Jessica and I'm 20 years old. It's been 5 weeks since I did my tibial plateau fracture in America and unfortunately had to fly home early before the end of my travels. I'm on crutches and my leg brace is now just been set to 70 degrees. I didn't have any surgery. I was wondering if anyone had gone through this like me and how long it took them to be able to full weight bare and walk without help from the crutches. Doctor is allowing me to 50% weight bare at the moment.

[modelprisoner]

Hi, my name is Jessica and I'm 20 years old. It's been 5 weeks since I did my tibial plateau fracture in America and unfortunately had to fly home early before the end of my travels. I'm on crutches and my leg brace is now just been set to 70 degrees. I didn't have any surgery. I was wondering if anyone had gone through this like me and how long it took them to be able to full weight bare and walk without help from the crutches. Doctor is allowing me to 50% weight bare at the moment.

are you doing physical therapy? 5 weeks seems super early for any weight (based on all ive read) but if you didnt have surgery then i can only assume the fracture is hairline/minimal.. healing occurs faster when you can weight bearing. once that brace comes off, i would be more focused on range of motion. that must come first before weight... im 2.5 months out of surgery and am still 50% wb. hopefully cleared for full weight next week!

[Steff87]

Hi all, been a while since I last posted.

I am almost 13 months post tibial plateau fracture. I starting working again 4 months after my break (I'd be homeless on sick pay otherwise!!), and had a couple more operations in the meantime. I walk with crutches at work (because no one will buy a motorbike from a girl in a wheelchair) and use the wheelchair to get about at the weekend and longer distance stuff. I wake up in pain and I go back to sleep in pain. My mobility peaked about 4 months after my break but has steadily gone downhill the last 9 months, I'm guessing my body is tired of compensating for everything being in the wrong position. Its all a bit pants to say the least.

My next step - high tibial osteotomy to correct my tibial slope (as it now slopes in the wrong direction). I'm nervous but desperately counting down the days hoping I can walk again, its been a bloody long year!!!! I still remain postitive (you may have read one of my earlier posts saying I was going to ride my motorcycle in July from Alsaka to Argentina - well that never happened but maybe next year!)

Next time I check in post op (date is 14th November) I will let you know how it all went. I hope January time I will finally be walking without crutches and a leg brace, after over a year of them I'm sick of it!!!!!!!
I'm really ready to work my ass off, just need the doctors to put my bones in the right place.

Good luck everyone, keep with the physio and stay positive :-)

[rgcarnegie]

Like many of you, I had never heard of a tibial plateau fracture until I got one 24 days ago. I'll be turning 50 during the time I am required to be non-weight bearing. I was not required to have surgery as my TPF is non-displaced with minimal depression. However my orthopedic doctor has indicated I have a fair prognosis and this concerns me. I want my leg to work like it always did when this adventure is over.

[Clare]

Hiya
I have a fractured tibia plataeu which needed surgery. Do people say you have a broken leg or a broken knee when strangers ask whats happened?
Anyway I see my doctor on Thursday and will be 6 weeks post-op on the day. Really hoping he says I can start weight bearing, too optimistic?? Is there signs of knowing yourself if you can weight bear, for example I don't have any pain in my leg at all now just a little stiffness in my knee until I do a few exercises. Not that I would try weight bearing until the doctor says but I was just wondering.
Also when does the brace come off? Is this when weight bearing starts or do you wear it until later on in the recovery.
Thanks to anyone who can answer my questions!

[modelprisoner]

Hiya
I have a fractured tibia plataeu which needed surgery. Do people say you have a broken leg or a broken knee when strangers ask whats happened?
Anyway I see my doctor on Thursday and will be 6 weeks post-op on the day. Really hoping he says I can start weight bearing, too optimistic?? Is there signs of knowing yourself if you can weight bear, for example I don't have any pain in my leg at all now just a little stiffness in my knee until I do a few exercises. Not that I would try weight bearing until the doctor says but I was just wondering.
Also when does the brace come off? Is this when weight bearing starts or do you wear it until later on in the recovery.
Thanks to anyone who can answer my questions!

hi clare... i say broken leg. doc will hopefully start you out at 50% partial wb. the immobilizer can stay off once your staples are removed. my surgery was on june 17th 2014 (plate/6 screws) and i was finally cleared for full weight bearing on september 11th 2014. so expect 3 months.

[Clare]

Hi modelprisoner thanks for replying! How are you doing now since you have been able to fully weight bear? I am worried that I will have completely forgotten how to walk ha.
I was hoping to be back to normal by Christmas but since 3 months would take me to the 4th December I can't imagine il be in heels that soon afterwoods! I will never take walking for granted again!

[modelprisoner]

Hi modelprisoner thanks for replying! How are you doing now since you have been able to fully weight bear? I am worried that I will have completely forgotten how to walk ha.
I was hoping to be back to normal by Christmas but since 3 months would take me to the 4th December I can't imagine il be in heels that soon afterwoods! I will never take walking for granted again!

youre welcome clare!
im doing well enough lol. did you require fixation (plate/screws etc)? thats why its crucial not to weight bear too soon. your leg needs all that time to produce new bone growth so the hardware doesnt prematurely fail. once i was fwb it was definitely strange. initially youll only be allowed to walk as tolerated. and possibly half days at work (4 hr shifts) depending on your job (desk or standing). this will only be possible if you start physical therapy asap. nwb exercises to start to awaken your atrophied thigh muscle. muscle and range of motion has to be there before weight is appled. take your time and follow the rules.. it will go by before you know it! my biggest issue was foot pain once walking.. top of my foot (like the feeling after walking on a beach lol). it will be a bit before you can rock any type of shoe hehe. heels!!!

[Clare]

Ye I have got screws and plates not sure how many, I didn't want to know the details!
Luckily I have a desk job so should be ok for full time once I go back. I have been signed off for 8 weeks tho so I have another 2 weeks to go. At what point did you go back to work?
I have been in physio since the beginning just keeping the knee moving so far I suppose there is not much else that can be done when non-weight bearing. How often did you go to physio?
This might sound stupid but what does walk as tolerated mean? - walk til it hurts? Til when it's uncomfortable?
Ha ye il put the heels back in the box for now! Thanks

[modelprisoner]

[QUOTE=Clare;4334196]Ye I have got screws and plates not sure how many, I didn't want to know the details!
Luckily I have a desk job so should be ok for full time once I go back. I have been signed off for 8 weeks tho so I have another 2 weeks to go. At what point did you go back to work?
I have been in physio since the beginning just keeping the knee moving so far I suppose there is not much else that can be done when non-weight bearing. How often did you go to physio?
This might sound stupid but what does walk as tolerated mean? - walk til it hurts? Til when it's uncomfortable?
Ha ye il put the heels back in the box for now! Thanks

my first day back was october 2nd. so 3 weeks after cleared for full weight. and my job is the opposite of a desk job. youre still going to have redness and swelling so as walking as tolerated is exactly what you said!.. youre still going to want/need to elevate/ice your knee/leg after full weight bearing for sure. i went to pt twice a week until a month ago. cut to once a week. they left a few things up to me after healing and progression happened. do the same exercises at home!

[powdork]

I used to say the same thing after my injury. I would never be the same. Well, it's been 2 years and 4 months and all I can say is, "I was wrong." I've gotten to the point that I forget that I ever broke my leg, spent 4 days in the hospital, messed up my tibial plateau really terrible, had 22 staples, metal all over my leg and was non-weight bearing for 13 weeks along with a more than horrible first two weeks back home. My atrophied muscles are looking like my other leg. I ride my bicycle between 15 and 20 miles and run up the football stadium bleachers 10 times. I can climb towers, do all my lawn maintenance, jog and run. All this, six days a week. You need to be positive, persistent, and go to PT. Once you are home form PT you repeat all you did over and over again. The only one that has control over your injury is you. The last item that worried me was the lack of hyper-extension. This worked itself out. Although my PT was not even concerned, I always made sure that I stretch out my knee backwards. Nothing came of this until my badly atrophied muscle above my knee began to pull their weight. This took almost a year. So in retrospect, the only remembrance I have of this injury is a big ass scar on my leg.

That's good to hear. I broke mine on 2/12/14. My healing started off at a record pace as I pushed it in a big way. With a plate and 9 screws I started back to work (as a waiter with 8 hour shifts carrying heavy trays) after roughly two months. Also had my first time back on skis at roughly 3 months. After about 4 months things evened out and while I feel I am doing more, there seems to be more pain as well. I mountain bike alot. I climb alot. i recently went on a two week vacation where I skied on pumice fields, skied on sand dunes, and skied on man made snow at abasin. The last one concerned me as I was able to briefly feel what it was like to need my knee to recover from a lost edge. It was not pleasant and probably wouldn't have done the trick if I was in a no-fall zone (which is the case alot) But the biggest problem is that after sitting for 5 minutes I feel like my leg can't bear weight at all. And regular walking hurts. I hear that it takes 18 mos to fully recover but sometimes I feel as though I'm moving backwards. I want to be able to jump off big things skiing and have my knees absorb the impact and I just don't know if that will ever happen. On the plus side my knee is looking more and more like the other and I have found positions to sleep in where I wake up and can step right on it without pain.

[Skiobsessed]

Powdork Are you still doing any PT stuff or mainly just activities (mt bike, climb, etc). Its been harder to keep up w/PT the more normal activities I can do but I think the boring pt excersises really do help if u force yourself to stick w/em. Do you think your increase pain is due to your hardware or just the injury/atrophy? I hope ur able to land some big jumps this season!

[powdork]

I haven't been doing any pt and I think that may be a big part of the problem. The days I get up and go the gym early are the days I feel best all day. Another current issue is that I've been out of work (seasonal closure) and for extra funds i've been cutting trees, chopping them and selling the wood. getting the trees from the forest to the car without a wheelbarrow leads to a lot of pain. i've always felt with all my bone injuries all my life that activities that cause pain afterward usually result in the injured part becoming stronger several days later. i'm not certain that's the case this time around. time will tell.
i am at a point now that i can start going back to the gym on a regular basis so i'm stoked for that.

I have wondered if the hardware has something to do with it but i'm not sure how I would know. it could also be arthritic but i don't know what that feels like either.
i'm scared for my first crash skiing but i also think getting past that will be huge.

[powdork]

One thing I keep forgetting when replying but always notice when i' walking is how out of alignment my leg looks now. the knee on the the injured leg is bowed considerably inward when i walk. not sure if this is a function of alignment or whether i have developed this with my hip or somehow else to compensate for something. seems like i should talk with the surgeon about it.

[Skiobsessed]

Powdork I think the knee falling inwards is due to both the injury and the muscle weakness but its more so caused by weakness so PT will help with that a lot! If I remember I think your fracture was on the lateral side (same as mine) and having it there will naturally give the knee a tendency to bow inwards, BUT with PT and a lot of strengthening the muscles around the knee you can retrain it to be aligned better.
In my PT we did a ton of stuff to counteract that problem, when you do squats and lunges you have to really focus on pushing that knee outwards. You want your toes pointing straight ahead and the knee pushing out, it will feel weird at first like you are really pushing it too far outwards but in reality it is just straight. You have to get used to the way straight feels and what you have to do to get it there: Another thing you can do is squats with a band around your legs, the band will enhance the problem of pushing the knee inwards and you will have to do even more to pull it out. This retrains your muscles to align that knee have it track better. And it improves a ton the stronger you get.
Its super important that you work on this because Ive been told the knee falling inward is the easiest way to get an ACL injury and I know you DEFINITELY do NOT want another injury after how insanely long this one takes to come back from!!! Id talk to dr and PT about it but I really think you can do a lot to fix that problem with the right excersises!

[Skiobsessed]

Also if you have pain in the outter side of bad knee that is also likely due to the knee bowing inwards. So the more you work on pushing it out the better that will get.. Anytime you feel that pain on the outter side if you focus on pushing the knee out it will usually fix.
Do some squats in front of mirror, toes straight, and really watch your knee alginment closely, focus on what it feels like to push that knee out and make it straight in the mirror.. Then work on duplicating that feeling with everything and anytime you feel pain on outter side thats a time to check and make sure your knee is not falling inwards

[modelprisoner]

One thing I keep forgetting when replying but always notice when i' walking is how out of alignment my leg looks now. the knee on the the injured leg is bowed considerably inward when i walk. not sure if this is a function of alignment or whether i have developed this with my hip or somehow else to compensate for something. seems like i should talk with the surgeon about it.

do you have a lot of cracking/popping when you straighten your leg to get up to walk? i noticed the inward bow too. the issue is that there is no more cartilage on the lateral side (injured side) of my bad leg. ligament on the inside is stretching/working more to compensate, causing discomfort. the outer ligament has become shrunk from no use. was determined i needed a type of brace to counteract and hopefully get the inner ligament to stretch back out some and strengthen. just started the brace in november so i have a few more months to go before i'll see any improvement. arthritis is inevitable so im hoping the brace prolongs the need for knee replacement longer than 5 years from now. exercises help

[RegCT]

Just an update on my recovery.

March 7, 2014 TPF. Multiple fx. 3mm displaced. 12 screws and two plates. 3 months zero weight bearing.

First day back was opening day at the ghee last weekend. Skied both days. Then skied big sky opening weekend Thurs-Sunday bell to bell. CRUSHED. So fucking stoked. I make a few more turns now than before this happened, but can still keep up with my friends who don't suck at skiing.

No hardware pain unless temps get below zero. The biggest issue is that my quad is so weak I cant put my ski on more than once without having to reach down and pull the heel up.

I thought I would never ski the same as before and that is not turning out to be the case.

Hang in there.

[Skiobsessed]

Same here. 10months post injury. Just skied 4 days bell to bell, bumps crud steeps everything was do-able. A little less agressive than before but thats mostly confidence. Knee held up much better than expected and very little pain! It seems impossible at the begining of this injury but it does get better so hang in there and do PT!!!!!!!

[powdork]

do you have a lot of cracking/popping when you straighten your leg to get up to walk? i noticed the inward bow too. the issue is that there is no more cartilage on the lateral side (injured side) of my bad leg. ligament on the inside is stretching/working more to compensate, causing discomfort. the outer ligament has become shrunk from no use. was determined i needed a type of brace to counteract and hopefully get the inner ligament to stretch back out some and strengthen. just started the brace in november so i have a few more months to go before i'll see any improvement. arthritis is inevitable so im hoping the brace prolongs the need for knee replacement longer than 5 years from now. exercises help

minimal popping but what i did have was weird. when i would sit with my leg straight for a few minutes and then move to bend it i would notice a band of (muscle, ligament, tendon, something) that seemed to wrap in front of the knee and stop it from bending. i would stop the motion and hen restart it and whatever it was would be out of the way. i've been at the gym pretty much every day for the past month and the knee is much stronger and that doesn't happen at all anymore.
one thing that scared me was my first couple BC days this year in early december. The snow was super crusty and nasty and i instantly realized i couldn't be close to the skier I was before unless I made changes. Now the future looks much brighter.

[clc]

Hello!
New to the thread and I'm so glad I found this site. I'm a 24 year old healthy and active female that suffered a displaced tibial plateau fracture and torn meniscus on the lateral side from playing soccer. Had surgery immediately and had 1 plate and 6 screws put in. I'm 7 weeks post op and I'm still non weight bearing . Unfortunately due to the holidays I haven't been able to see my provider in about 4 weeks and I'm starting to get worried that I should have been seeing a physical therapist by now...? I work at a medical clinic and have spoken to the amazing PT guy and he gave me some exercises to do at home while I wait to see my doc to get a referral. I have basically full ROM and don't have pain except for in middle of my knee when flexing my quad. Anyway I'm just wondering if anyone has any info on where I should be this far along post op? Thanks anyone who responds

[powdork]

6 weeks post-op is fairly standard to start bearing weight for tibial plateau fracture. i don't know how the meniscus tear changes that.
plus i'm not a doctor.

[Maker]

clc...it totally depends with this injury because the severity is hugely different for folks.

6 weeks seems pretty standard....others it can take 12 weeks (which is where I was).

follow your doc's PT advice....if he says you can push forward hard with PT do so. preventing muscle loss asap is hugely important along with ROM

Steve