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  1. #101
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Posts
    57
    I had surgery on 4/15. Displacement was 1-2 cm, so a plate and some screws went in. First week after surgery was spent with the knee ~20 degrees, second week have been flexing up to 40 degrees and working on straightening it out whenever possible. The hardest part is getting enough rest, as little tweaks in the night can wake me up. I'm glad to see other people's stories, and I am looking forward to starting PT.

  2. #102
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Posts
    1

    Crippled Cosmetologist LOL

    My injury was 2/28/11; 1st run on the 3rd day; I struggled with 151's so rented the next shorter the 2nd day& felt great the 3rd morning so used my 151's. BIG MISTAKE. Not getting any younger, 47. Gorgeous powder day...making fresh tracks,( snow to my shins, I've skiid deep powder many times) & a left turn & I was DONE! The usual endos with the yard sale. I got off the mountain with the help of the ski patrol, I had nothin under my left knee, I really thought I just twisted it really bad, but could feel the swelling under my ski pants. All I wanted to do was get ice on it. I was on the back side of Keystone on Anticipation. Refused medical treatment...got back to Kansas, went to get an x-ray on the 4th of March & found out I needed surgery. Tibia plateau fracture. Found a surgeon, finally had surgery on 3/14/11. A plate & 8 screws. OUT-PATIENT. Do NOT let them do this to you!! I recommend you wait for an OR in a hospital!!! Since I am in Kansas I can tell you they don't get many of these, even my surgeon said my x-ray was "impressive". I would post pics if I knew how. Anyways, I'm 8 weeks out from surgery & I believe I will be able to weight bear in 2 weeks. Just wondering about what to expect with the pressure & pain. Thanks in advance, Crippled Hairdresser

  3. #103
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Posts
    354
    +1 for this injury. Happened end of April in Alaska 3 days in to my heli trip. flew home to NYC with nothin but tylenol.

    10-12 screws plus 1-2 plates in my right knee (cant remember the exact numbers from the doc). bone broken in 8-10 pieces. Meniscus torn as well but we think the ACL/MCL are ok.

    2 weeks post-op with a long road ahead.
    60% of the time, it works every time.

  4. #104
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Livingston
    Posts
    544
    Quote Originally Posted by Maker View Post
    +1 for this injury. Happened end of April in Alaska 3 days in to my heli trip. flew home to NYC with nothin but tylenol.

    10-12 screws plus 1-2 plates in my right knee (cant remember the exact numbers from the doc). bone broken in 8-10 pieces. Meniscus torn as well but we think the ACL/MCL are ok.

    2 weeks post-op with a long road ahead.
    S, Tony here. Still boggles me that you made that flight home on Tylenol only. You are one tough dude. Heal fast, hope your work has not been impacted too badly. Good to hear some positive news on the connective pieces. Long road indeed, but you are strong, and young - You will be back.

    If you cant stand having those Atomics around and want to sell them off, they fit my boot just fine!
    Life is tough. It's tougher when you're stupid

  5. #105
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Posts
    354
    The atomics will be sold as well as a bunch of others...I will PM you when I get to a point when I can actually pack and ship them.

    Of course, I hurt myself as soon as I get my quiver dialed.
    60% of the time, it works every time.

  6. #106
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Posts
    3
    I had surgery 15 weeks ago today for my tibial plateau fracture. I have been walking without assistance (walker or cane) for about 3 weeks- have a slight limp especially when the leg gets tired. The experts (doctor or pt) cannot tell me when I will be able to go back to my job where I stand on my feet for 6-8 hours a day. The doctor ok'd me to stand for 1 hour at work about 3 weeks ago. Work can't comply. The experts just say everybody is different. I am 56 years old, so maybe since you are young you will heal faster. My pt told me after 4 weeks and I was to go for my next doctor's appt. to prepare myself mentally if the doctor said I couldn't weight bear yet. That was the best advice, because come to find out I couldn't weight bear for another 4 weeks.

  7. #107
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Posts
    3
    Your knee will feel heavy and stiff- like about 50 extra pounds and yes pain and wobbly. Just listen to your pt -do the exercises. I still have heaviness and stiffness in the knee not so much pain. Although yesterday I went shopping at our local Wal-Mart yesterday for abount an hour and a half and my knee was killing me. Couldn't wait to get home and put it up. I was testing my leg out because I work standint and walking on concrete floors.

  8. #108
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Posts
    1
    its been 6 weeks since surg. and swelling and pain are minumal. i can walk with a limp and no crutches. full flex and extesion with knee but my ankle is stiff. is this ok or is this to early to be walking. again no pain good mobility.

  9. #109
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Posts
    57
    Damn man, I'm 7 weeks out from surgery and not expecting to walk for another 3 or 4 at least. Guess it is all dependent on how screwed up everything in there is. I don't know how it feels, but if I had the doctor's blessing to walk but was still limping, I'd probably be trying to ramp it up very slowly, and crutching the rest of the time.

  10. #110
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Posts
    4

    14 weeks post op - Looking back

    Quick recap -skiing fall, plateau fracture, plate, screws, bone graft, torn lateral meniscus. Surgery was on 2/25/11. Thought I'd write this because not many people check back in after they're given the go ahead to walk and be active again.
    I'm now 14 weeks post op, been walking for about 4.5 weeks. Things are going very well now. I walk 95% normal with no pain. My PT says I still limp but its a muscle memory thing. The strength test on the biodex machine says my injured leg is about 35% deficient in strength. I've been riding the road bike quite a lot. Trying to put in good miles, but I can tell that the left leg is weak and it gets tired pretty quick. I rode 40 miles with my wife 4 days ago and that overdid it. Not the knee, but my hip, I think since my quad is weak I was letting my leg compress into the hip socket more and push the pedal from the hip. I still plan on racing road races and MTB races later this summer. Just bought some supplements from GNC to help build the muscle over the next 2 months or so. I'm in the weight room 2-3 times a week doing leg extensions/curls/squats and 2 x a week small muscle stuff and balance/core workouts.

    Things I wish I would have done differently - 1. Worked out harder during my 9 weeks post op (before I had the go ahead for weight bearing). I pretty much laid on the couch and didn't really do too much, occasional quad sets and leg raises. The thing I notice the most as far as muscle loss was in my hips/glutes/quad. Wish I would have done some lateral leg raises (the kind when you lay on your side) and more quad sets. That would have made walking so much easier during the first 2.5 weeks. Also, I didn't get into PT until after I was weight bearing. Wish the Dr. would have gotten me in there sooner even though he said it wasn't worth it. - it would have forced me to workout more and preserve more muscle.
    2. Instead of going from 0% weight bearing to 100% in one day and trying to make that work - walked more with 1 crutch for awhile. The bottom of my foot hurt the most when I tried to walk because the fat pad atrophied. I had to go back to 1 crutch for about 10 days to help ease into it. However, I still developed a "learned limp" as the PT puts it and I have to concentrate on trying to walk without sinking and swaying to my bad side.

    The knee is somewhat stiff and I'm about 5 degrees off from the good leg. It aches after lots of activity but not much. There is still a long way to go, and I know it won't be truly 100% until close to 1 year, but I'm going to push it. Haven't tried anything close to a run and probably won't for a very long time yet.

    So for everyone reading this - hang in there, it gets better, and it is possible to make 100% recovery.

  11. #111
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Posts
    3
    I had surgery 17 weeks ago today for my tibial plateau fracture on my leg . I was released from the doctor and graduated from physically going to physical therapy this week, but have plenty of home exercises to do for the next year or so. I was given the go ahead to start back to work 2 hours a day and increase 1 hour a week as the leg tolerates. I have full range of motion thanks to physical therapy which I started shortly after my surgery and a good physical therapist. I am taking walks outside to build up my weight bearing plus the home exercises to strengthen my muscles and build them back up especially the "butt" muscles. I didn't realize how important they are to walking and how weak they got just sitting around waiting for the bone to heal. Just want to say thanks for your comments and advice.

  12. #112
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Austin, Texas
    Posts
    11
    An update for those wanting some light at the end of the tunnel. I am 9 months post op from Tibial Plateau.

    I can do just about everything except run full speed. I was told by doctors not to jog for exercise anymore so I have taken up biking and swimming. I do this exercise in my spin class where you clip in your bad leg and spin just it for a set amount of time and RPM then you switch legs. My bad leg is still significantly weaker than my good one.

    I just recently tried running some short sprints and i can do it for short distances albeit not very fast. I cna do squats but have some trouble with lunges but it gets better with time. I have some occasional pain but nothing a bag of ice and some advil wont cure.

    For those who are going through this I will reiterate what an earlier poster said. My biggest mistake was not doing some sort of upper body workouts. It doesn't make sense to sit around.

    good luck folks!

  13. #113
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Posts
    3
    I'm 39 years old and broke my tibia plateaux 9 days ago playing soccer - I had a ski trip planned 3 weeks from now so that's off!
    Basically I charged towards the ball got it first but some monkey ploughed through me forcing my femur into my tibia - with a bit of a twist. Required a plate and 7 screws.
    I'm currently in a brace with crutches and 1 week out from surgery - have pain occasionally but can be quite severe if I even slightly twist my knee - such as trying to put on socks. Surgeons have also said that there is some cartilage damage. I had no idea how nasty this injury was until the surgeons started talking about screws and plates. I feel pretty confident about my recovery but would have to admit that this has scared the crap out of me. I asked the surgeons about my long term prognosis and they said good - I asked if i might be in pain and they said possibly due to cartilage damage - I also asked if I would have arthritis at 60 and they said yes. In some ways I'm more worried about the cartilage damage as they said that cartilage can't be regenerated - I don't think they repaired it during surgery but I could be wrong. My questions if anyone can answer are: Can cartilage be repaired ?- for example ive heard of people having the meniscus trimmed. Are other people out there worried about arthritis after recovering or hobbling around in their 50s /60s / 70s ? or is this a side issue as the bone needs to heal first and foremost. By the way I live in Australia, - I get the feeling alot of Americans /Canadians use this site. I'm seeing my surgeon in 2 weeks time to look at my progress and to possibly work out a time for me to go back to work.
    Good to see so many positive people on this site fighting through some severe fractures. I need to be more positive at present I think. It looks like most people recover even if it takes a year!

  14. #114
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Posts
    3
    Maker
    Thanks for your response . Seems like you're making great progress
    Do you have cartilage damage? Are you also concerned about arthritis / pain when walking again? I suppose were lucky were living through a time of great medical advances
    I'm in a brace at present which allows up to 90 degrees. I can get my knee close to this. I wasn't given any advice about physical therapy since leaving the hospital. I had physios helping me in hospital but that was mainly for crutch assistance. I'll get on to my surgeon /phisios today to see what I should be doing

  15. #115
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Posts
    3
    rang up the phisios yesterday - they said no strengthening etc... except knee bending until week 6 to give the injury a chance to heal properly. - I suppose there's different ways of dealing with this injury

    good luck on the partial weight bearing
    are you going to return to skiing / or other sports when you make a full recovery? I'm probably going to hang up the boots but see how I go skiing - less impact than soccer

  16. #116
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    3
    Hi all, I normally wouldn't post on a site like this but your information is very helpful to me so I'll add my experience to the knowledge well.

    I sustained my TPF playing beach volleyball in Mexico, May 17th 2011. (I have to put in I have an aversion to doctors and a high threshold for pain.) I though it I had hyper-extended and dislocated my knee with a possible blow ACL. Without travel insurance I basically waited it out until I got back home. I didn't go to a hospital there. I got home a few days later, then spent the next week in the hospital getting a number of x-rays, CT and MRI. I was diagnosed with a type V TPF. In laymans terms, both inside out outside of the tibia breaks off, and the part between is curshed down and depressed. Kinda looked like gravel. Finally had surgery May 29th 2011, where they put in 2 plates and 7-8 screws. It's not that clear but this is the best X-ray I have of it.



    I was in hospital for about a week after, and discharged with instructions to wait 8 weeks before putting any weight on it. During this time I'm supposed to work on range of motion, I had from 15' to 60' range of motion on discharge, and could not use my quadriceps at all. At about 3 weeks post op the swelling came down considerably. During that time I was using mild electrical muscle stimulation to help fight atrophy. I still could see a lot of muscle atrophy happening, big size difference between my legs. Now at one month post Op I can nearly extend my leg strait, and flex to over 105' My strength is coming back noticeably over the last week as I've been doing my own physio type exercises because the doc won't send me to physio before I'm weight bearing. A bad call I think, doing as much as you can short of sharp pain is always better in my books. I've started doing the walking motion using crutches to reinforce proper motion, and slight weight bearing. Again, the docs caution I shouldn't be doing this for another month. I am determined to beat the gloomy recovery estimates they keep throwing at me. What happend happened, what happens now is largely a matter of willpower.

  17. #117
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    3

    update

    Surgery - Feb 25 about 18 weeks or 4 months ago

    I can walk pretty good now but I can't run yet of course. man this sucks I hate how you lose all your muscles in the leg its such an important thing and it gets cut to the size of half. I'm really trying to recover and rebuild those muscles cause that's all I could do and keep a smile on my face cause I'm trying hard to keep my sanity but we'll get through this better days are ahead.......

    .......tommorrow is gunna be different I swear this time

  18. #118
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    3
    As I read some of your stories, there is some hope yet! Here's my story.

    I sustained a Tibial plateau fracture in my right knee and a Tibial plafond fracture in my left ankle. This happened as a result of a fall and the straight down ward force "crushed" my right tibial plateau (2 plates - 16 screws) and broke my left tibial plafond into "6 pieces" (1 plate - 10 screws).

    The accident happened on May 2. I had surgery on ankle May 10th and surgery on my knee May 17th. My ankle is 8 weeks post op and I can start some weight bearing next week using a air cast boot. I have about 50% ROM motion in my ankle and my calf muscle is coming back nicely. With PT I'm hoping I get more ROM back. I'm not too worried about ankle for ROM, only the cartilage issue, but that will remain to be seen in due time.

    My concern right now is my knee with the Tibial Plateau Fracture. I am 7 weeks post op and surgeon said I can remove brace for most of the day as I lay in bed and do small non weight bearing exercises. I am still 5 weeks until weight bearing on right knee. My surgeon says he wants me to start moving knee but I only get about 30 deg motion. Almost full extension but only 30 deg bending. I will start working with a PT next week on this knee but as I feel right now this darn knee will never bend much more than it does now.

    As I read all your stories about full ROM with in a few weeks and walking at 8 weeks, I just wonder how that can be. I guess there are many different degree's of injury and most are not stated with the stories, so is very hard to compare. I am very anxious to get up and mobile as this laying in bed for most of the day becomes very boring.

    I'm in small town Canada and physio is almost non-existence. I am wondering .... when some of you did your rehab did you need to be in a resident program or just drop in daily? It seems when I do some simple exercises with my left ankle it swells and hurts after. I can't imagine doing exercises more than once a day. Then like I mentioned before my right knee as this point seems almost a lost cause. I guess time will help things but at the same time I hear a person should be aggressive with the PT.

    Any comments or advice would be appreciated.
    Last edited by Cobraent; 07-09-2011 at 12:46 AM. Reason: spelling error, grammar

  19. #119
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    3
    Quote Originally Posted by Cobraent View Post
    As I read some of your stories, there is some hope yet! Here's my story.
    My concern right now is my knee with the Tibial Plateau Fracture. I am 7 weeks post op and surgeon said I can remove brace for most of the day as I lay in bed and do small non weight bearing exercises. I am still 5 weeks until weight bearing on right knee. My surgeon says he wants me to start moving knee but I only get about 30 deg motion. Almost full extension but only 30 deg bending. I will start working with a PT next week on this knee but as I feel right now this darn knee will never bend much more than it does now.

    As I read all your stories about full ROM with in a few weeks and walking at 8 weeks, I just wonder how that can be. I guess there are many different degree's of injury and most are not stated with the stories, so is very hard to compare. I am very anxious to get up and mobile as this laying in bed for most of the day becomes very boring.

    I'm in small town Canada and physio is almost non-existence. I am wondering .... when some of you did your rehab did you need to be in a resident program or just drop in daily? It seems when I do some simple exercises with my left ankle it swells and hurts after. I can't imagine doing exercises more than once a day. Then like I mentioned before my right knee as this point seems almost a lost cause. I guess time will help things but at the same time I hear a person should be aggressive with the PT.

    Any comments or advice would be appreciated.
    There are most definitely differences in these kinds of injuries. They are a complex fracture so don't be concerned that others are healing faster or slower than you. Just focus on the fact that you ARE healing. I know how you feel about ROM on your knee. For me it was the same, It feels like you hit a hard-lock with lots of pain when you try to flex. You have to keep trying to flex it though. The swelling inside the knee joint takes a lot more time to go down than the surface swelling, and yes it will and should swell up after you do your physio exercises. So the goal is to do minor physio as often as you can, but not to the point of sharp pain. The exercise that it helping me out most in getting flex back is while laying on your back lift your leg up keeping your knee strait. Once your knee and quads can hold this comfortably, and do sets, then pull your knee to your chest and let your leg bend at the knee. You can use your hands to stabilize and control your flex. Just let gravity pull your lower leg down and stretch the joint. Hold there as long as it feels ok, then release. It you are wearing a G2 type brace you can set the lock limit just beyond where you are comfortable, but where it will help if you flex too far. The reason I like the brace is that it has measurements of degrees of flexion. So you can see the progress as you go. By doing this as often as I could, I moved between 30'flex and about 110' flex by about 5' a day. My progress slowed considerably after that, but I'm still working at it trying to get as close as possible to full ROM.

    As far as physio goes, what you really need from the docs is to get ideas of what kinds of physio exercises you can do. Whatever physio sessions you get from them will only cover a small part of the day. I think you should be doing light physio all day long, not heavy physio for short times. Light stuff helps heal, if you push hard for a short time then rest the remainder of the day, then you do damage, and try to heal in your resting position. Light work all day helps your ROM, and heals to accommodate how you move.

    Above all don't give up on it, your knee will be with you the rest of your life. Now is the time to help it heal. I'm unable to work with my TPF, so I consider my whole job right now is to do physio, all day every day.

  20. #120
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    1
    Warning: This is going to be a long post, but I'm going to try and provide a lot of detail.

    Wow...looks like I'm the first motocrosser on here. I had an accident at my local track going through some whoops (series of small bumps that you skim over the top of). My front tire dropped down causing me to flip and my ankle got stuck between a bump and my bike. The bike then slammed down into my knee shattering my T.P. As others have described, I felt several distinct pops and knew as it was happening that it was going to be bad. (Odd since I've never broken a bone before.)

    Timeline/Projected Timeline
    6/10/11-Shattered tibial plateau and tore ligament in ankle (not sure which)
    6/15/11-Surgery to repair damage. T.P.-12 pins, 2 plates Ankle- 2 pins (I had to wait because I fired my original surgeon and hired the best orthopedic surgeon in Southern California. Also, I was told they usually wait to allow swelling to go down and bleeding to stop a bit.)
    6/18/11-I was released from the hospital
    6/21/11-I left the house for the first time on crutches
    6/23/11- I quit taking all medications (pain, sleep, anxiety)
    7/4/11- First post op doctors appointment. 100% Extension 110% Flexion
    7/6/11-Started swimming and working out at the gym again with my personal trainer (all upper body and core workouts. I am not allowed to kick with my injured leg while swimming either.)
    7/11/11- I went back to work full time. (I work as an Executive Chef. I am limited to mainly managerial work and administrative work, but at least I'm out of the house.)
    7/25/11- Next doctors appointment. We will be x-raying my leg to look at how the bones have mended.
    9/7/11- I should hopefully be able to start weight bearing. (Because my T.P. was shattered, I was told it would be a long time before I could begin weight bearing. It takes time for all of the fractures to mend and since the bone is less dense at the ends, it is easier to re-brake. They wait so long to give the bone more time to calcify and harden.)

    Advice to anyone suffering from this injury:
    -Make sure you are confident in your surgeon. The orthopedic surgeon who was assigned to my case was a moron. He shot down all hope of recovery for me and basically told me I would be an arthritic cripple for life. I fired him, interviewed 5 other orthopedic surgeons and finally settled on my current Dr. He did an incredible job on my injury and the prognosis looks good for a 100% recovery. At 5 weeks out I already have made incredible progress.
    -Quit the pain meds. as soon as the pain becomes tolerable. They are highly addictive and can cause severe constipation, among other things. Also, dealing with the pain in the begining will help you to be more prepared during physical therapy when your leg will most certainly be very painful.
    -Push yourself, but don't be stupid about it. If the doctor okays you to bend your leg, push hard at it. If he tells you not to walk, then sit your butt in a wheelchair or get crutches. Pushing certain things too soon can lead to bone deformities upon recovery.
    -Get a passive motion machine for your home (if you can afford it). Lucky for me my insurance covered it for the first month. My surgeon absolutely stressed the improtance of getting my leg to 90 degrees mobility within the first week. The day after surgery he had me on the machine up to 40 degrees. You do not want your joint to lock up.
    -Stretch every day morning and night. Your muscles will atrophy, but that does not mean they have to become useless and stiff. The more you allow them to tighten the harder it will be to start walking and bending.
    -Exercise as soon as you feel comfortable doing so. Exercise increases the blood flow throughout the body. Increased blood flow=increased recovery.
    -Take your vitamins. I recommend doubling your calcium during recovery and also taking a glucosamin chondroitin supplement. Glucosamin is supposed to help improve healing in injured joints and can fight arthritis.
    -Get out of the house and do stuff. Laying on the couch being depressed most certainly will not help anything. You are injured and crying will not change it. Allowing yourself to get depressed will only make it harder. (I know this one is hard. I spent the first 2 weeks feeling depressed and sorry for myself and it sucked. Quitting the medications really made a difference with this one. Within one day of quitting the meds. I felt a million times better.)
    -For scarring, start using cocoa butter or body butter as soon as the doctor takes the stitches out. It softens the scar tissue leading to smaller, flat scars. Once the scabs have disapeared, start using bio oil twice daily. It's basically a vitamin oil and it has drastically decreased the thickness and redness of my scars.
    - Ice and elevate every day. I have two wrap around ice packs. One for my leg and one for my ankle. Whenever I am home my leg is iced and elevated. I am 5 weeks out and I still do this religiously. It helps with the swelling and any residual pain.
    - Get a massage or accupuncture. The muscles throughout your body are overcompensating for the injury. They will be soar and some extra tlc does wonders to make you feel better.
    - Drink a protien shake daily. I have one of the trainers at the gym to thank for this. Even though the muscles are not being worked out, drinking a protien shake will keep them a little more built up. I am at 5 weeks of no use and I have less than an inch of atrophy.
    -Do leg lifts. Do leg lifts to prevent complete atrophy. Do them to the front, back, and side. You can do circular leg lifts. There are plenty of exercises to keep you from losing it all.

    Everyone's experience is different depending on who they are and what shape they are in. To give people a vague idea to compare against, here's a brief description of me and my activity level.

    I am a 23 year old female. I am 5'4'' and weigh about 120 lbs. At the time of injury I was racing my dirtbike 2-3 times a week (6-8 hour sessions), training with a personal trainer 2 times weekly (30 min. sessions), taking 2-3 spin classes a week (hour sessions), and hitting the gym 6 days a week. I have no previous injury to any other body part. I also apparently have a pretty high pain tolerance.

    I hope that this information helps anyone who is going through this. This website has been a godsend for me. I was given a very bleak picture by the original orthopedic surgeon who saw me in the emergency room. He told me I would probably never recover full mobility and that I would be crippled by arthritis for the rest of my life. He also told me I would probably need knee replacement in my 30's. I immediately fired him. He was not confident that he could repair my knee and I wanted someone who was confident they could. I found Dr.Jeffrey Smith here in San Diego and he did a beautiful reconstruction. He seems to believe I will make a 100% recovery. I will be having all of the pins and plates taken out just before the end of a year.

  21. #121
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    8
    Time for an update I guess. Surgery included 12 screws, 1 plate on Dec 2nd 2010. As of 7/18/2011 I've been able to run, bike and board (running is a BITCH mostly from the hardware pain). Atrophy is still present although I would rate my recovery at 65 to 75 percent of original. I still can't get full bend in that knee yet, but it continues (very slowly) to improve. Trust me when I say that I quit reading most of these horror stories and just started to do what I could for my recovery, for everyone with a recent injury like this I will say that with time and persistence you'll recover (the TIME aspect being the big question)but I KNOW what your going through. My next appointment isn't till this September where once again I will try to get the metal out early but I don't think the Doc will consider it until a full year has passed. Until then living on ALEVE and lots of riding. Hang in there crew!

  22. #122
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Posts
    354
    anybody on here get back to full 140 ROM? I am 9 weeks out from surgery and I am stuck at 130 ROM....progress has come to a screeching halt.
    60% of the time, it works every time.

  23. #123
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    3
    Update:
    I'm about 2 months post op, and it looks like I'm healing well. I have some small jagged bits in the lateral joint surface that may cause me some problems. It still feels tight and stiff on that side of the knee. Also the area where the fibula meets the tibia is sore. There is pain in my kneecap when I go to full extension. The doc says kneecap area pain is common just because of the atrophy of the quadriceps. I can put all my weight on the leg now, and can flex enough to bring me heal about 7' from my butt. I'm advised my the doc now to ease off using my crutches over the next couple weeks, and my knee brace can come off in about a month. He says in 2 months time I can start exercising to recover some of the muscle loss.

    Overall I'm pretty happy with my progress so far.

  24. #124
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    3
    I was told that if I get to 120 ROM, that I would be very fortunate. I'm 10 weeks post op and 3 weeks from weight bearing and I'm at 50 ROM right now. I'm hoping in the next few weeks things improve. It's only been 2 weeks since my brace was unlocked. Your stories are very encouraging!

  25. #125
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    1

    Tib Fib Fracture

    Quote Originally Posted by treemaker View Post
    I had surgery on my broken tibial plateau in early March (I'm 24 years old) while bike riding. The displaced fracture required a plate and 5 screws. I also had a meniscus tear.

    It's been just over 2 months since surgery. I've been doing lots of PT for the past 8 weeks and just recently got the clear from the surgeon to start bearing weight! My extension is good (nearly 100%) but I'm still not able to flex (bend) my leg all the way. I'm currently able to walk with a limp a bit around my apartment (about 25% of the day) without much pain, however pain begins to build up around the knee after a day of walking around a bit. I'll be able to increase my weight-bearing time week-by-week, reaching 100% in about 3 weeks. I just wanted to get some input on how much more recovery time I should expect to face. I've done lots of research and have gotten lots of different stories on recovery. Will I not be able to run for a whole year? Any thoughts would help. Thanks!
    im 28 had my accident on March 31st of 2011. i had a level 6 tibula plateau fracture on my right knee. i got a metal plate that Y's my upper tibula to my knee. i also have a metal plate that runs down the inner side of my tubula. ive been doing PT for 5 weeks now. i've been on crutches for 2 weeks. i could only bend my knee to 50 degrees before PT. i can now bend my knee to 87 degrees. a lot has to do with this knee brace that i wear 6-8hrs a day (at night) which helps hold tension. before the brace which ive only had for 2 weeks i was only able to get my knee around 74-76 degrees. the knee brace is called a DYNA-SPLINT... i now put about half to 3/4 weight on my leg with crutches. in the pool around 3/12 ft i walk good. keeping my leg straight happens with PT but he says it will get better when i start to walk. i see the DR. on Aug 17th and im going to ask to drive again. My PT says that i should be walking around 6 weeks with a cane. i do look for questions and answers at times but i just listen to my Dr and PT.

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