Broken femur recovery
Posted , 5 users are following.
I was in a car accident on July 9, 2017 and I broke my right femur. I was told it was a comminuted fracture and I was hospitalised for 10 days. The rod and screws weren't placed in the leg until 4 days after the accident. It's now December, almost 6 months after the accident and I am still unable to walk. I'm 19 years old and I was told it would be easier for me to heal because I'm young but there barely seems to be any progress. There's a little bone callus shown on the x-ray but not enough as the doctors would like. My leg is fine as it relates to flexibility, it can move in any direction without pain. I even tried putting weight on it(going against doctors orders) and i can walk, i just have a silly limp. I've tried everything to speed up the process such as eating the right food but nothing seems to work. I'm really hoping that I'm allowed to put weight on my leg at my next appointment.
1 like, 8 replies
cathy82931 Myonce98
Posted
Have you been taking a Calcium & Vit D suppliment? That was recommended to me to help with the bone growth.
Myonce98 cathy82931
Posted
No I haven't, it wasn't recommended to me but thank you
CarolynCL Myonce98
Posted
Myonce98 CarolynCL
Posted
This is the first time I've heard about a bone simulator
CarolynCL Myonce98
Posted
Spindles Myonce98
Posted
I am a 71 year old female and slipped in the garden in 2014 and broke my femur in half. I had to drag myself back up the garden, pulling my obviously broken leg behind me, not the best day of my life! I was taken to hospital and the next day had an operation to put a nail and screws in. I was told to be full weight bearing from the day after the operation because the bones heal quicker with weight on them. I can't understand how one person can be told full weight bearing and yet others aren't allowed to do that for several months after and they seem to be the ones who have trouble healing. Obviously it was very painful for the week I was in hospital but just seven days after the operation I had to walk up and down a flight of stairs with only a walking stick to prove that I was able to cope at home and I made sure I did it. After seven months of using a walker and then sticks and then nothing I was told my femur was healed. Another difference between me and other people is that I had NO physiotherapy at all, I was just left to get on with it and only saw the consultant about every two months. Unfortunately I had to have an operation 17 months after the break as the screws were causing me problems. I already knew that they were slightly too long and I might have to have them removed. It was intended that the nail and the screws would be taken out but the bone had started to grow over the end of the nail and it would have been a bigger operation so just the screws were taken out and it solved the problem straight away. I am left with only an occasional very slight limp but I get a corn on my broken leg foot because I think that one leg is now slightly longer (or shorter) than the other, something I believe is fairly common in people who have broken their legs.
Perhaps you aren't being told to fully weight bear because of the type of fracture you had and I feel sorry for you as you are so young compared to an old person like me who healed without any problems. Perhaps when you see the consultant again you could ask why you're not allowed to fully weight bear when someone like me was. Hope this helps.
nathan24104 Myonce98
Posted
Spindles nathan24104
Posted
I'm wondering what you mean when you say that sometimes it pops. The trouble I had with my screws was that there would be a sort of crunching/grinding feeling in my hip and then at my knee I noticed that when I bent and straightened it I could see and feel a sort of "snap". It was the tendon or something flicking over the end of the screws and felt a bit like a "pop" I suppose. I saw the consultant as I was worried that the tendon might get damaged by the continual snapping over the screws so an operation was arranged. Taking the screws out solved the problem straight away.