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Delayed Union or Non Union

Posted , 6 users are following.

AlexandriaGizmo
AlexandriaGizmo

I broke my hip 5 month's ago and due to certain reasons it has been treated conservatively, it was an impacted neck of femur, I have had 4 xrays spread across the months and some have shown healing and yet last weeks has shown no healing and I think Dr said it was paladed, or something like that meaning it was now showing a gap, he's asked for xray pictures of all of them instead of just text report.

I am walking with crutches and 50% weight bearing without too much pain and no pain meds.

Has anyone been down this road.

Thanks for Reading

0 likes, 11 replies

11 Replies

  • enrico11948
    enrico11948 AlexandriaGizmo

    Posted

    i suffered similar issue.

    i fractured 2 bones in my ankle some 8 months ago, didn't have surgery but the black boot. spendt 8 weeks non weight bearing, and at the end the foot stil hurt bad in fracture site.

    then 4 months ago i refractured the same foot again and found out a bad osteoporosis caused by the immobilization (bones look pale). i was told it is normal but should have recovered much sooner. the specialist belives my breaks never healed.

    after second injury i was put in a full leg plaster. pains disappeared and my ankle felt really good, so i think the first non union was caused by insufficient immobilization.

    even in the long cast my bones healed slower that the average and i had to spend 10 weeks in it.

    now i started wb with the boot, hope to be back in shoes soon.

    also i was explained that the x-ray isn't alwais a good indicator because small improvements aren't visible

    • AlexandriaGizmo
      AlexandriaGizmo enrico11948

      Posted

      Thank you Enrico for taking the time to answer, it can be quite worrying, I think maybe you are right, sometimes we are pushed to fast, I am not in massive pain but still I knew something wasn't quite right.

      I'm fetching copies of the xrays this morning so my Dr can see them not just the written report, hopefully that will be a clearer picture of what's going on.

      I'm under the impression it can take a long time to fully heal I to have osteoporosis so that I suppose slows it down, are you taking anything for it

      Keep me posted if you can

  • devsmom
    devsmom AlexandriaGizmo

    Posted

    Alexandria,  I'm so sorry to hear that after 5 months of treatment your current xray shows a gap in your femur.  Glad that your doctor is going to take a look at the prior xrays and not just the reports.  It will be interesting to see what treatment he suggests at this point since you have been weight bearing to a degree without serious pain.  When my husband fell and broke his hip he did not have the option of conservative treatment and his hip was pinned.  Three years later he needed a hip replacement because of osteonecrosis due to a poor blood supply in the area.  I wished they would have just done a hip replacement to begin with rather than having to go through 2.  Do you think the blood supply could be an issue with your healing?  Of course my husband is in his 70's so who knows what's up with him. Those xrays should be important to show progress or not.  When I broke my foot (earlier this year) I guess I had conservative treatment (no surgery!) and my xrays definitely did show  the bone healing, but I was always being "threatened" with surgery if I did not remain non weight bearing so healing could take place.  With my husbands hip they wanted him up and walking, with a walker, right away. There was certainly a difference in treatment between your hip, his hip, and my foot.  I guess we have to all make judgements based on what the medical professionals tell us.  So, this message probably hasn't helped any, but I do wish you the best of good news because I know how upsetting it can be to be injured and unsure of treatment choices and also unsure of how ones own body will react to that treatment.  Good thoughts coming your way.  Devs Mom

    • AlexandriaGizmo
      AlexandriaGizmo devsmom

      Posted

      Thank you for your comments, anything that is not too scary helps LOL well I fetched copies of xrays today and took them DR's he wasn't in so thought I'd got to wait till today but yesterday I left message for my physio and she rang me back at dinner and said Dr had misread the written results, xray does not show a gap at all its still impacted but there is no healing showing but its not changed from last one in september so as far as she concerned I should carry on as before because that's what consultant wrote after last xray, infact his exact words to me were, I don't care if its healed or not you need to weight bear to tolerance,

      So I will not see physio till 20th December but will probably hear from consultant before then as I know Dr has written to him to say how we should progress now its opened up, but it hasn't so he might think my Dr is nuts LOL, but willsee what he says.

      If its stable then that's a start I think LOL

      So how did they diagnose Yes better than yesterday LOL well fetched copies of xrays and took them DR's he's not in today so thought I'd got to wait till tomoz, but yesterday I left message for physio and she rang me back at dinner and said Dr had misread the written results, xray does show no healing but its not changed from last one so as far as she concerned I carry on as I was doing, exercises and weight bearing to pain

      , will not see her till 20th December so should hear from consultant before then, see what he says.

      If its stable then that's a start I think LOL

      So how did they diagnose your husband's problem, was it xrays? Also did he drink or smoke, or any other health conditions like diabetes?

    • AlexandriaGizmo
      AlexandriaGizmo

      Posted

      Excuse the repeated text I cut and paste so I don't lose it and mucked it up LOL

    • devsmom
      devsmom AlexandriaGizmo

      Posted

      Hi Alexandria, No gap is great.  Proper healing depends on a good union.  The 20th has come and gone so what's up now??  In answer to your question about my husband, he did have xrays to determine the problem.  He does have controlled diabetes but does not drink or smoke.  I think that when a break is stabilized with pins or plates and screws like my husbands and like Spindles there is no chance of the bones slipping out of place so the weight bearing starts as soon as possible like the day of surgery.  In my case I chose to try healing without surgery and the metal so I had to be non weight bearing and in a cast to allow the bones to heal without the possibility of slipping out of place.  Once there was good healing showing up on the xray I went into a high boot day and night and began weight bearing with the aid of a walker.  All went well for me.  With my husband I guess it was a break at the neck of the femur and 3 screws were used to attach the femur ball to the femur shaft.  All went okay for 2 years then he started having pain.  It turned out that the bone that made up the ball of the femur was dying because of a poor blood supply.  As the bone gradually died it would collapse and the ball would no longer fit properly into the hip socket.  The xrays showed this and soon the bone would collapse below the ends of the screws and would rub into the hip socket.  Therefore he had a hip replacement and is doing very well.  Everything fits and works smoothly.  Hope I haven't bored you with at this.  Everyone has different circumstances and different doctors and choices.  I went the less radical route.  I hope that also works for you.  Good thoughts going your way.  Devs Mom 

  • Spindles
    Spindles AlexandriaGizmo

    Posted

    I'm nearly 71 and have osteoporosis and back in April 2014 I slipped in the garden and broke my femur, mid-shaft.  I had an operation the next day to have a nail and screws inserted  and the only outward sign of any damage were two dressings at hip and knee.  I was told that I had to do full weight bearing straight away so I started the next day, starting with short periods until seven days later I was released from hospital as I had proved that I could walk up a flight of stairs.  I had no physiotherapy but was just told FULL WEIGHT BEARING STRAIGHT AWAY MAKES THE BONES HEAL QUICKER.   There seems to be so much conflicting advice about broken bones it is obviously confusing to everyone who has sustained anything similar.   I feel that I was lucky, if you can call it that, that I broke my femur as it seems that breaks of the lower leg means months with metal sticking out or wearing boots etc. and weeks or months on crutches.   Seven months after the break I was told that my bone had healed nicely but the screws were sticking out and I may have to have them taken out.   A few months after that, at about a year after the break, I was having a lot of grinding and cruching from my hip and the tendon was flicking over the end of the screws at my knee so I had them removed but the nail was left in place as the bone had grown over it.   All the problems went and apart from a slight limp I am in no pain.   Perhaps it depends on a lot of things like how heavy the person is as to whether they weight bear straight away.  I am slim so perhaps this is why but even if you are bigger, if it's true that full weight bearing makes the bone heal quicker then I can't understand why some people have to go weeks or months on cruches and then find that the bone hasn't healed as well as they hoped it would.   Hope this helps.

  • Jabrd23
    Jabrd23 AlexandriaGizmo

    Posted

    What ended up being your outcome?  I had a hip pinning a little under 8 months ago...  I was in a wheelchair for 3 months non weight bearing due to the severity of the break...  At my 7 month post up they sent me for a CT scan because I still had pain and still needed a Cane and felt like I was going backwards instead of far ward in my progression.  The CT scan showed that the bones never healed. The surgeon also said I have post traumatic arthritis... He said the only course of action now is a THR... I am scheduled for The THR on Nov. 7th..  sad
    • devsmom
      devsmom Jabrd23

      Posted

      Oh my gosh Jabrd23, it's so nice of you to follow up with AlexandriaGizmo since we all lose track of how quickly time goes by and who we are following.  I'm interested in AG's status too and for you well, I'm not familiar with a THR.  What is it and what kind of a "hip pinning" did you have?  My husband had a "broken hip" but it really was the ball of the leg bone that fits into the hip socket that broke off of the leg bone.  His broken leg bone was pinned together with 3 screws and put back into the socket.  He was not in a wheelchair so I guess your injury was different and more severe.  I hope that all goes well for you on the 7th.  Didn't you have xrays between your pinning and 7 months later?  I had xrays every visit for a broken foot and they certainly showed healing each time I saw the doctor and was able to go from a NWB cast to a boot to an ortho brace to freedom!  Chin up.  Things will work out for you in the long run.  Devsmom   

  • AlexandriaGizmo
    AlexandriaGizmo

    Posted

    Hi all thank you so much for following my post, I'm sorry I can't answer much at moment as away from home and have limited data, I with ll get back to you all soon, thanks again

    • AlexandriaGizmo
      AlexandriaGizmo

      Posted

      OK so home again and on WiFi thank goodness, so I'm 16 months post fracture and sadly still not able to full weight bear, I'm up on crutches and able to weight bear at least 50% to 65% and no pain when doing that much on most days, my problem is still the same, every time I try to fully weight bear the leg literally jumps and tries to knock me over LOL seems like my hip spasms or the muscles round it do. I can't even say its agony and I'm wondering if its the brain telling me it hurts more than it does to protect it?? No idea,

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