Tibial Plateau Fracture Recovery

**BAM BAM** · 06-24-2010, 11:22 AM

As far as the swelling goes my PT put some kind of type on my leg. It really dose help with the swelling! My ankle looks a lot better.

**hev** · 06-24-2010, 02:44 PM

Update on my end. Doing pretty well considering. I am up to 110 in the CPM. Flex seems easier than extension for me. Otherwise doc said it went together great and I get my staples out next week. Hoping to get in the pool as soon as possible but I am still quite swollen. Pain is off and on. Some good night, some bad always building in the afternoon.

**Bob K** · 06-25-2010, 03:44 AM

I know what you mean about the sore butt. I am 8 weeks out today and just started with 25lb of weight bearing. It feels good to put my foot down so to speak.
Flluid on the knee is also resolving along with the foot swelling. So things are on the up hill climb. It certainly does take a long time. What a way to spend my summer vacation.

Bob K

**StickyDrumGuy** · 06-25-2010, 11:41 PM

The cam gear pump works fine for filtered WVO or used motor oil Babington heaters and I have installed it on my Babington style heaters. Ldu Company's stock number is 450516 , The only thing about the cam gear pump is that the fire kind of pulses as the cam gear rotates. If you use the spur gear pump that is LDU's stock number 450512 then you get a steady non-pulsing fire. The WVO pump website is http://www.liangdianup.com/subpages/oilpump_1.htm or you can click through to the tools section from the home page at www.LDUcompany.com

LDU Company also has other parts that I use for building my waste oil burners, like gear reduction motors. I find it best to turn the pump slower because you really don't need a whole lot of oil dripping on the atomizer ball.

**hev** · 07-05-2010, 10:22 AM

Starting to feel pretty decent most of the time. Off the pain meds completely and trying to do 300 leg lifts / day to keep my quad in shape. Knee motion is good, and I am finished with the CPM. Ankle is pretty stiff and swollen still but making progress. My incision is clean and mostly healed but still covered with steri-strips. I am able to shower, but find it is pretty high risk. Doc has forbidden the pool for this reason but I am allowed to place the foot on the ground while on crutches which seems to help the ankle get back to normal.

Unfortunately life is far from normal with this injury. The boredom and depression of spending the summer seated is pretty acute. My apartment is pretty accesible for me, rolling around in my office chair, but I am moving and the new place is less so.

Been getting tons of help from friends and family.

**Bob K** · 07-06-2010, 04:33 AM

HEV
There is light at the end of the tunnel and I am realizing it is not a train. I am now 9+ weeks out and just got the ok to "walk" with the crutches and 50% weight bearing on the leg. My ankle is still swollen by the end of the day but "normal" looking in the morning. Last week I was finally free of the brace and have been in the pool the last 3 weeks. I am even doing PT in the pool.
It was VERY depressing living in a wheel chair for 8 weeks. We live at the ocean and I still have not seen the beach or water since early April. You are right it is a hell of a way to spend your summer, but it will get better.
I am hoping to be walking with a cane in 4 more weeks.
Hang in there.

Bob K

**Pinner** · 07-07-2010, 04:51 PM

Don't let yourself get depressed, Hev. I'm sure we can find things to do that don't require walking. Like sitting in an air-conditioned titty bar or casino, fer example.

Or drinking Robitussin and shouting obscenities at traffic.

**hev** · 07-07-2010, 07:10 PM

Thanks guys. This thread helps. I am starting to venture out of the apartment, which also helps. Pretty stoked on the move to the new place despite the challenges. Pinner, you'll have to swing bye.

A big thing is the no-driving. I have handicap parking tough so let's do it!

Up to 150 leg lifts / set. I think I'll be skiing late season.

**wouldrichest** · 07-09-2010, 06:01 PM

Originally Posted by Bob K

Hev,

Good luck. I am 6 wweks into it with a long way to go.

Small world we moved from the Conifer/Evergreen area 4 years ago to retire to the islands. Worked ski patrol at Breck many years ago.

Bob K

Doctor said mine break was one of the worst he's seen. Split in both directions and compressed the bone :-( - surgery will involve some bone graphing from the femur. I am surprised to hear that I will be moving the knee right after surgery. Doc said he wants my knee at 95% within a couple weeks! No weight for 3 months.

Glad to find this thread. Will keep you guys posted.

**Lawless** · 07-12-2010, 01:26 PM

Originally Posted by hev

Thanks guys. This thread helps. I am starting to venture out of the apartment, which also helps. Pretty stoked on the move to the new place despite the challenges. Pinner, you'll have to swing bye.

A big thing is the no-driving. I have handicap parking tough so let's do it!

Up to 150 leg lifts / set. I think I'll be skiing late season.

I did mine June 5 of last year and did some skiing late April this year. Although my doc would probably not have approved, it was necessary for my sanity. My leg didn't feel great, but it felt good to get outside, hike up something, and actually make some turns. The biggest issue for me was having vibrations going through my knee. That didn't feel good.

I'm a bit over a year out and have been mountain biking (x-country) without any pain, and I can walk around fine, but I can't run or jump. I see my doc this week to talk about hardware removal. It's a long road, but hang in there. It will actually get better some day.

**hev** · 07-13-2010, 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by Lawless

I did mine June 5 of last year and did some skiing late April this year. Although my doc would probably not have approved, it was necessary for my sanity. My leg didn't feel great, but it felt good to get outside, hike up something, and actually make some turns. The biggest issue for me was having vibrations going through my knee. That didn't feel good.

I'm a bit over a year out and have been mountain biking (x-country) without any pain, and I can walk around fine, but I can't run or jump. I see my doc this week to talk about hardware removal. It's a long road, but hang in there. It will actually get better some day.

That's pretty apples to apples. Thanks

Doing well. Swelling in my ankle is good, but kind of depends on how active I am during the day on my crutches.

So is the hardware just bothering you Lawless, or was it the plan to take it out?

**Lawless** · 07-14-2010, 06:51 AM

Originally Posted by hev

That's pretty apples to apples. Thanks

Doing well. Swelling in my ankle is good, but kind of depends on how active I am during the day on my crutches.

So is the hardware just bothering you Lawless, or was it the plan to take it out?

I still have pain in my knee when I do certain things or it's at certain angles. I had broken my tib/fib the year before and had a bunch of hardware (22 screws and two plates) installed in my lower leg that bothered me. I got that out because the screwheads were down by my ankle and it killed to wear a ski boot. In that case, my pain went away immediately after getting the hardwear out, and I felt pretty close to 100%. Apparently my muscles were rubbing over the hardware causing it to bruise everytime I flexed it.

I've got a bunch of stuff in my upper leg now (24 screws and two plates), that runs from mid tibia up into my knee. I'm still getting better, and I'm going to give it until next spring, but if I still have pain, I'm going to get it out. If nothing else, it eliminates the hardware as being the source of pain. Recovery time was super quick for me last year when I got it out and it allows the bone to fill in the screw holes and really return to normal.

That said, if I feel pretty good by next spring, I'll probably leave it in.

As far as driving, I ended up buying a $1,500 96 F-150 that had a bench seat that i could lay my leg across. It helped a lot with just being able to get out and do my own thing.

**Bob K** · 07-28-2010, 05:14 AM

13 weeks and I graduated to a cane for the next month or so. Maybe the beach by Sept. and scuba diving before the year is out. One can hope....

Bob K

**Bob K** · 08-24-2010, 04:51 AM

Well the progress continues. I have developed calcifications in my colaeral ligaments but not much to do about that. I also am cane free and walking freely for the first time since April. Boy what a long spring/summer. I think it will take another 2-3 months to get a good part of my strenth back, but in the mean time.....................I am HEADING TO THE BEACH!!

Bob K

**karpiel** · 08-24-2010, 05:16 AM

Originally Posted by Lawless

I'm a bit over a year out and have been mountain biking (x-country) without any pain.

I bought an xc bike for rehab a while back, rode it a bit around town then rode it once on the section of trail I crashed on, next week I was back on my HT jump bike 4 days a week casing jumps

. That led to getting it scoped, another week on crutches and another 12 weeks PT.

I see lots of this in my future.

**hev** · 08-30-2010, 04:17 PM

Happy to report things are going really well!

Onto walking with a cane and can bear my full weight with out any pain. I am working my extension further every day, and am pretty close to straight. The knee seems to be be strong and stable under weight, and I am confident I will ski this season, albeit not until 2011.

I have only lost about a 1/2 inch of quad at least compared my left. I think my leg lifts have really helped. My surgeon did a stellar job, but he's been slow to get me into PT but his attitude is "You don't need PT, just do 300 leg lifts/day until 12 weeks out", but I am there and things are feeling good.

Bring on PT, and ready to be back spinning on the bike again soon.

**SponsoredByDuctTape** · 08-31-2010, 10:41 PM

Congrats on the recovery. I have a thread on here somewhere about my own tibial plateau fracture hell.

I busted mine skiing in Mammoth in March of '08. Had the displaced fracture (like you), meniscus tears (both sides) and torn MCL. Mine also required a plate and 5 screws...there's a pic of the x-ray in that post too..., as well as a 6 hour surgery and 3 days in hospital.

My recovery has been long and difficult. I haven't been on snow since the day of the injury. I just had the hardware removed this past Monday. That surgery actually went very well and I have high hopes for recovery from here on out.

I have way more info on this than I care to throw in this one post. If you have any questions or anything, shoot me a pm.

**karpiel** · 09-02-2010, 03:25 AM

Originally Posted by hev

"You don't need PT, just do 300 leg lifts/day until 12 weeks out",

Sounds like a smart guy. I guess surgeons like Steadman are wrong.

Hell, I got 12 weeks PT from my scope.

**mikedilia** · 09-15-2010, 03:12 PM

I had surgery June 20 and I am seeing my surgeon Sept. 20 with the hopes of baring weight on the leg and return to work. This site has excellent information from actual recipients of what I went through and will go through.

Thanks

**Notorious** · 11-02-2010, 10:22 AM

I just found this site and this thread but I wanted to see if anyone would share how they have fared in recovery.

I am 36 and I had a tibia plateau fracture that required surgery around Sept 10th. I had my surgery September 29th so I am 5 weeks out of surgery. I have started PT and I have a lot of problems with bending the knee. I am still on "no weight bearing" for at least 10 days (next appt).

I was extremely active in running, lifting weights, skiing, hiking, hunting, etc. Has anyone on here gotten back to normal?

**sparkletarte.** · 11-02-2010, 11:22 AM

I did my fib & tib plateau about 7 years ago. it was in feb. 2 months no weight bearing. I rode my bike that summer but only a few times because it hurt (on trail, on pavement was fine). rode in the winter but only pow because anything hard packed was too jarring.

the following spring (one year from injury) I had my screws (two) out and some cartlidge tidied up. all pain went away. good as new, huge difference. there's a few things that bug it- every now and then it feels tight and might ache, some stretches hurt, probably mainly scar tissue issues- but it's pretty minimal.

I did lots of physio, accupuncture, chiro. it took a couple years before both legs looked the same size. I can do everything I did before and then some.

**Notorious** · 11-02-2010, 11:48 AM

Originally Posted by sparkletarte.

I did my fib & tib plateau about 7 years ago. it was in feb. 2 months no weight bearing. I rode my bike that summer but only a few times because it hurt (on trail, on pavement was fine). rode in the winter but only pow because anything hard packed was too jarring.

the following spring (one year from injury) I had my screws (two) out and some cartlidge tidied up. all pain went away. good as new, huge difference. there's a few things that bug it- every now and then it feels tight and might ache, some stretches hurt, probably mainly scar tissue issues- but it's pretty minimal.

I did lots of physio, accupuncture, chiro. it took a couple years before both legs looked the same size. I can do everything I did before and then some.

How long did it take for you to resume normal activities? Jogging, walking, biking, etc? Are you able to run even now?

**sparkletarte.** · 11-02-2010, 01:17 PM

you'll have problems beding your knee for a while, lots of swelling and scar tissue in there.

I had my hardware out a year after the injury. I rode on trails that summer, 16 months after (got a full squish which was much better on the knee). The following winter was pretty good. Really firm choppy snow and hard pack bugged me- I've noticed it more with a soft board, the last time I noticed was maybe 3-4 years ago.

I don't run, it's not my thing. I can run though, nothing about my knee bugs about me if I run. I can jump and hike. no problems there.

There's basically no functional difference between now and before my injury. I can't really remember how long it took until I was pain free doing everything because it's gradual. Getting the hardware out and the tidy up made a huge difference- that's really the main change I noticed, pain reduced a ton.

**Notorious** · 11-02-2010, 02:07 PM

Awesome! Thank you so much. I am under the impression that they are leaving my screws in. I have not heard otherwise. I didnt need a plate. Here are my xrays...

**sparkletarte.** · 11-02-2010, 03:02 PM

looks similar to mine.

they don't tell you to take them out. you tell them. They have to be in at least a year. I didn't think it would make a big difference but people kept telling me it would. I don't know how much was the screws and how much was the clean up. I figured it was worth it to at least go in and look since it still hurt, and I don't like the idea of having them in my body permanently (foreign objects). and voila, all better.