Broken Femur, been 4 months help on getting motion back

Know what you’re going through BossTaco broke my own femur 30 years ago in motocross accident. But yes rehabbed it myself at the age of 15 years doing this method below. I rehab my own knee joint and came out 6 months later and won the state title 800meters sprint in 1min 56 seconds.  

Also been a practitioner now for the past 23 years specialising in muscular skeletal pain.    

Please Please Please ensure with your surgeon and doctor that your femoral artery is fully functional and structurally strong enough to be able to cope with increased blood supply to your quad muscles and also lower leg, prior to any movement that is about to commence. This is crucial and starting any activity where the femoral artery is not structurally sound could be life threatening.

From my own experience being in traction for over 4 weeks and plaster and cructures for a further 4 weeks, what occurs in the knee joint is that bleeding occurs with the torn tissue around the break and this blood pools in and around the knee joint. After approximately 3 to 4 days this blood becomes crystallised as your leg is immobilised. It’s this that is preventing your knee joint to flex and extend.

Depending how Post Op you are the best way to get the knee joint moving is to get rid of any swelling first and foremost. Do this for at least 10 days - 3 to 4 times daily. This can be done by icing the area. However, the best way to ice the knee joint is not with an ice pack or frozen peas, these methods don’t directly ice the actual joint and specific surrounding structures of the knee.

Use a foam cup, not paper or plastic and half fill with water. This will help prevent the cup from splitting once frozen. Peel away the excess foam; then peel away a couple of inches of foam revealing the ice. The remaining foam will insulate your fingers. This will be really really cold initially but will numb in about 30 seconds. Keep the ice moving slowly all over the knee and entire knee joint. Don’t stop in one spot for any longer than 15 seconds or you may ice burn yourself.    

After this first 10 days start using heat to promote new blood flow into and around the joint. This can be achieved easily with a hot water bottle. Please ensure the cap is securely tightened on the hot water bottle. Use towels between your skin and the bottle so it’s not too hot, but you do want good warmth.

When applying this heat you will need to do it sitting on the end of a table so that your feet are off the ground. Ensure both your knees are supported with the table underneath them. With the heat pack on the knee start extending it (straighten it – moving the lower leg away from the table) then bring it back to the table (flexion).

Your range of motion (ROM) will be extremely minimal to begin with but this will take patients, trust me been there done that and got the t shirt to prove it. Just be persistent with this and keep doing it. Do it 3 times a day every day, for 6 x 20 seconds then after 4 days do again for 4 days 6 x 30 seconds, than after 4 days do again for 4 days 6 x 40seconds and so on. Rest for at least 20/30 seconds between each rep and do it slowly. This may take you up to 5 to 6 weeks to gain and improve a good 50° to 70° of ROM.

Remember in 2 years you’ll look back and think it wasn’t that bad.

Good luck I hope this helps.