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Recovering from a broken leg (March 2021)

TheWombat

Putting on skis
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Dec 29, 2020
Posts
65
Location
NC, USA
Just thought I would share a positive rehabilitation story. I'm an intermediate skier and am based in North Carolina. On my last planned ski-day at my local resort on March 12, 2021 I caught an edge in the slushy snow, was spun around, caught another edge and my body kept on spinning. I ended up breaking my right leg tibia and fibula inside my ski boot. I had one operation on the evening of March 12 to stabilize the break, and then another operation on March 14 to fix the break. Initially the surgeon wasn't sure if they would be able to just use a rod, or if they would need a plate near the ankle. Fortunately I ended up with a rod.

I spent much of the next 10 weeks working either in bed or sitting at a desk with limited mobility/walking, one of the few positives of the pandemic and remote working. On June 4th I went for my first proper outdoor walk and it took my 40 minutes to walk 1.3 miles / 2.1 km. From there I continued to walk daily, continued my PT and spent time each day exercising on an indoor bike. By June 16th I was carefully exercising on an elliptical and on Sept 21st I completed my first 2km jog with a time of 13 minutes 22 seconds. (Note: prior to breaking my leg I used to jog between 5-8km daily, and would race the 5km distance in less than 20 minutes). My right leg is a little chunkier from the bone regrowing around the break, but other than that things seem pretty good.

On November 25th, 2021 I went skiing for the first time since breaking my leg. My right leg was noticeably weaker and I was not able to put as much pressure down. I took a few days off during the warmer, slushier weather between Christmas and New Year, but other than that have been skiing for multiple days each week and am happy to say that my leg has recovered to a point where it is not impacting my skiing. I've also skied the Black run where I broke my leg and while I currently am not so fond of the steeper slopes, from a mental perspective I don't seem to have any significant issues. I successfully met and passed my goal for this ski season 2 weeks ago where I scored a higher SkiIQ on Carv than my maximum from last year, and as a result I upgraded from my Nordica Speedmachine 110 boots to some Tecnica Mach 1 LV 120 boots.

I put my recovery down to a positive mind set and also pushing myself on rebuilding my leg strength while working closely with my PT. I wasn't sure initially if I would be skiing this season but I am pleased to say that I have not really missed any skiing days.

X-Ray pre-surgery.jpg X-Ray post-surgery.jpg
 

David Chaus

Beyond Help
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That looks eerily similar to what I went through 12 years ago. Your xray’s look clearer than ones I have.

Glad you’ve recovered, keep progressing!
 

Posaune

sliding
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Mar 26, 2016
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1,914
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Bellingham, WA
Do I have to have a rod to be in the club? I spiraled both tibia and fibula back in '66 and wasn't allowed to put any weight on it for 3 months. It hurt. Bad. I did it as an intermediate but I broke it on the flats. I was 12.
 

crgildart

Gravity Slave
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Nov 12, 2015
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16,329
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The Bull City
Wow I'm going to REPECTFULLY pass on this club for now. @Rudi Riet with #projectfemur can share some similar grit and determination about rehabbing back from pretty major injury.

Glad you are all back in the "I'm back i pretty good shape and having fun again" club!
 

Rudi Riet

AKA songfta AKA randomduck - a USSS coach, as well
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Part of the rod/nail club here! #projectfemur was A Thing™ in January 2014: clean break of the femur at the trocanter, had a rod to stabilize the thing. Repair eventually went south - necrosis - so I had a total hip replacement (#hip2point0) in May 2017. Been smooth sailing ever since: skiing at a high level, 5 year follow-up coming soon but no problems, thus far.
 

Marker

Making fresh tracks
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Oct 16, 2017
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2,352
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Kennett Square, PA & Killington, VT
I'm glad to hear you have recovered, or at least are on the path. My fibula break 4 years back happened inside my ski boot, but was not as bad, right near the ankle. The orthopedist examined my knee after I complained of knee pain as well. He said I was fortunate to have avoided a break there or other serious ligament damage as the breaking force gets transmitted up the leg.

I only needed a removable cast and was able to continue gym workouts that put no pressure on that ankle, which minimized my loss of fitness. It still took some time to rebalance my legs once the break was healed. The only long term effect is that that ankle is prone to swelling.
 

Jim McDonald

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Nov 15, 2015
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Tokyo
Right leg spiral tib/fib at the boot top in March '81; 1.5cm plate with eight 6cm screws (four above/four below the tib break).
I was on crutches for 13 months, then for three more after plate removed and fib redone with one screw and a wire.
Had that hardware out 8 months later, w/another month of crutching.
Had two outside consultations about nine and 11 months after initial surgery, as seemed hollow area in lower tib would never fill in, but both said surgery was excellent, leg perfectly straight, and I just needed to be patient.
 

Noodler

Sir Turn-a-lot
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Right leg spiral tib/fib at the boot top in March '81; 1.5cm plate with eight 6cm screws (four above/four below the tib break).
I was on crutches for 13 months, then for three more after plate removed and fib redone with one screw and a wire.
Had that hardware out 8 months later, w/another month of crutching.
Had two outside consultations about nine and 11 months after initial surgery, as seemed hollow area in lower tib would never fill in, but both said surgery was excellent, leg perfectly straight, and I just needed to be patient.

Yeah, the use of the IM nail has had a profound impact on how these injuries can be treated and the recovery time. However, I really should have had a plate too, but my original ortho was too lazy. What I'm left with is a highly misfigured lower tibia that took almost 3 years after the leg was healed to be able to get it back in a ski boot.
 

Jim McDonald

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Ugh! That's friggen awful. My guy had done his residency in NZ and had a lot of practice with ski related fractures
 

Pandita

Booting up
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Dec 6, 2015
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30
Location
DC area
Sigh. I am now a member of the tib fib fracture club.
I was at Sun Valley and was trying to turn around on a slope. I had my skis off as I was wanting to reposition myself.
I then slid 1300 feet and broke my left tib fib. Had emergency surgery on April 3. I have my first ortho appointment on April 13.
I am unsure how long this will take. I am nonweight bearing on the left leg except to touch the floor. I have no idea what I am in for. Just sucks right now

2D96C5D2-386D-4353-AD3C-0C0F8A3D8E7A_1_105_c.jpeg
 
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TS
T

TheWombat

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NC, USA
Pandita - sorry to hear about the injury. Keep a positive mindset and focus on the recovery. Happy to share any of my learnings having been through a similar experience 12 months ago (March 2021). The good news is that I was back and ready to ski for the next season (Nov 2021) and by the end of the season - 3 weeks ago, I was skiing with better technique than 12 months ago (as measured by Carv - SkiIQ 119 ( March 2021) vs SkiIQ 134 (March 2022).

If it helps this is a brief summary of my recovery journey:
  • March 12 - broke leg (see original post on this thread)
  • March 14 - surgery to insert rod
    • Non weight bearing - predominantly staying in bed and working in bed (one of the positives of the remote working due to the pandemic). Any moving around was with a walker.
  • March 29 - Initial PT appointment (then twice a week thereafter through to late Nov 2021)
  • Apr 18 - spending more time trying to wiggle and flex my toes/ankles - almost brought me to tears just trying and being frustrated with the foot not moving much
  • Apr 25 - first time walking about 25 feet with the walker but without the cast/boot - i.e. just wearing a thin sock.
  • May 3 - starting to do daily or twice daily 25 minute gentle sessions sitting on a spin/indoor bike - really helped with improving ankle flexibility
  • May 23 - tried to use an elliptical but the movement put too much pressure on my ankle/leg on the bottom of the arc so had to stop after 1 minute. Continued to use indoor bike instead twice a day
  • May 28 - first time walking about 25 feet completely unaided - putting more weight on my good leg but fully supporting myself on my broken leg
  • Jun 4 - first time going for an outdoor stroll. I used a walking stick near the end but completed 2.16km/1.34miles in 40 minutes (i.e. slow)
  • Jun 5 - walked same circuit - took walking stick but did not use it. Took 34 minutes
  • Jun 6 - continued walking my 2.16km/1.34mile circuit each day gradually reducing the time taken
  • Jun 16 - Finally able to do a 30 minute slow workout on an elliptical without significant discomfort. Began to add to my daily exercise routine which became 2.16km walk, 30 minutes indoor bicycle and 30 minutes of elliptical or another indoor bicycle.
  • Jul 11 - comfortable enough to do a 6.7km/4miles outdoor bicycle ride with my kids on a fairly flat terrain. Began to add outdoor cycling at the weekends to my exercise routine
  • Sep 27 - First time jogging my 2.16km/1.34mile circuit - took just under 13 minutes. Began to add in jogging 1-2 times a week
  • Oct 22 - Almost daily jogging of a 4km/2.7mile circuit
  • Nov 6 - Jogged 5km/3.1miles in 26:49 minutes (my race record from the year before breaking my leg was 19:08 minutes)
  • Nov 25 - First time skiing - took it easy. For the next 2 weeks could feel significant muscle weakness in my broken leg in terms of being able to exert pressure but overall the leg was able to handle skiing.
  • Nov 28 - able to stand/balance on just my broken leg while lifting up my 6 and 8 year old kids at the same time
  • Dec 23 - bought a Knee Brace (McDavid 429X) as found that in hard icy bumpy conditions or slushy snow conditions that my knee was getting sore with the torque exerted on it
  • Jan/Feb/Mar - skied for 1-4 hours a day for around 60+ days. When the conditions were not ideal I just focused on improving technique on the greens and easier blue slopes rather than risk injuries
  • Mar 28 - ski season over, back to running. Completed my 2.16km/1.34mile circuit in 10:40 minutes. Back to daily running of 4-6km intermixed with Elliptical
  • Apr 5 - ran 5km in under 25 minutes (24:42 minutes) which is the first time since breaking leg.

The main issues I still have are:
  • the bone has calcified around the break so the leg is and always will be a bit thicker - not enough to need new ski boots, but noticeable when I look at my leg
  • my knee was somewhat sore during skiing which I put down to the torque being applied through it. Now I am running rather than skiing the knee is fine
  • while I have low foot arches, the arch/ankle on my broken leg have 'collapsed' so I have a fair amount of pronation on that leg. I am now working on strengthening my arch/ankle muscles/ligaments and am fairly hopeful that I should be able to 'fix' this. For now when running/walking I am being much more focused on not allowing my arches to flatten and whenever sitting down I use the time to flex/tense my arches to work on the muscles.
My insights are:
  • Positive mindset is key to recovery....
  • Find a good PT that can work with you and do the exercises they recommend diligently
  • If you have access to a spin bike/indoor bike then use one after ~6 weeks (if your PT says ok) it will really help on building mobility
  • Push yourself enough to keep making progress but not too much you harm yourself
  • A balance/wobble board (e.g. click) is very helpful
  • A stretching cord (e.g. click) is very helpful
  • A foot rocker (e.g. click) can help but is less important than the above suggestions
  • I found having a foot massage roller (e.g. click) or a spikey ball was helpful for massaging the bottom of the foot and help with blood circulation.
  • I made a lot of use of my Jetstream cold/ice therapy gadget I got from the hospital (similar to click) to reduce the swelling
  • I used compression socks once I was able to remove the cast to help reducing the swelling (e.g. click)
  • When ski season restarts get you ski boots refitted by a proper boot fitter as likely will need some adjustment and possibly work on the footbed.
The only thing I would have done different (other than not breaking my leg!) would have been to focus on strengthening my foot arch muscles back in Sept/Oct 2021 rather than wait until Mar 2022 as I hadn't really realized how much pronation it was causing (less of an issue in a ski boot if you have 3rd party insoles e.g. Superfeet)

Feel free to message me if any queries/questions I can help with


TheWombat
 
Last edited:

Pandita

Booting up
Skier
Joined
Dec 6, 2015
Posts
30
Location
DC area
Pandita - sorry to hear about the injury. Keep a positive mindset and focus on the recovery. Happy to share any of my learnings having been through a similar experience 12 months ago (March 2021). The good news is that I was back and ready to ski for the next season (Nov 2021) and by the end of the season - 3 weeks ago, I was skiing with better technique than 12 months ago (as measured by Carv - SkiIQ 119 ( March 2021) vs SkiIQ 134 (March 2022).

If it helps this is a brief summary of my recovery journey:
  • March 12 - broke leg (see original post on this thread)
  • March 14 - surgery to insert rod
    • Non weight bearing - predominantly staying in bed and working in bed (one of the positives of the remote working due to the pandemic). Any moving around was with a walker.
  • March 29 - Initial PT appointment (then twice a week thereafter through to late Nov 2021)
  • Apr 18 - spending more time trying to wiggle and flex my toes/ankles - almost brought me to tears just trying and being frustrated with the foot not moving much
  • Apr 25 - first time walking about 25 feet with the walker but without the cast/boot - i.e. just wearing a thin sock.
  • May 3 - starting to do daily or twice daily 25 minute gentle sessions sitting on a spin/indoor bike - really helped with improving ankle flexibility
  • May 23 - tried to use an elliptical but the movement put too much pressure on my ankle/leg on the bottom of the arc so had to stop after 1 minute. Continued to use indoor bike instead twice a day
  • May 28 - first time walking about 25 feet completely unaided - putting more weight on my good leg but fully supporting myself on my broken leg
  • Jun 4 - first time going for an outdoor stroll. I used a walking stick near the end but completed 2.16km/1.34miles in 40 minutes (i.e. slow)
  • Jun 5 - walked same circuit - took walking stick but did not use it. Took 34 minutes
  • Jun 6 - continued walking my 2.16km/1.34mile circuit each day gradually reducing the time taken
  • Jun 16 - Finally able to do a 30 minute slow workout on an elliptical without significant discomfort. Began to add to my daily exercise routine which became 2.16km walk, 30 minutes indoor bicycle and 30 minutes of elliptical or another indoor bicycle.
  • Jul 11 - comfortable enough to do a 6.7km/4miles outdoor bicycle ride with my kids on a fairly flat terrain. Began to add outdoor cycling at the weekends to my exercise routine
  • Sep 27 - First time jogging my 2.16km/1.34mile circuit - took just under 13 minutes. Began to add in jogging 1-2 times a week
  • Oct 22 - Almost daily jogging of a 4km/2.7mile circuit
  • Nov 6 - Jogged 5km/3.1miles in 26:49 minutes (my race record from the year before breaking my leg was 19:08 minutes)
  • Nov 25 - First time skiing - took it easy. For the next 2 weeks could feel significant muscle weakness in my broken leg in terms of being able to exert pressure but overall the leg was able to handle skiing.
  • Nov 28 - able to stand/balance on just my broken leg while lifting up my 6 and 8 year old kids at the same time
  • Dec 23 - bought a Knee Brace (McDavid 429X) as found that in hard icy bumpy conditions or slushy snow conditions that my knee was getting sore with the torque exerted on it
  • Jan/Feb/Mar - skied for 1-4 hours a day for around 60+ days. When the conditions were not ideal I just focused on improving technique on the greens and easier blue slopes rather than risk injuries
  • Mar 28 - ski season over, back to running. Completed my 2.16km/1.34mile circuit in 10:40 minutes. Back to daily running of 4-6km intermixed with Elliptical
  • Apr 5 - ran 5km in under 25 minutes (24:42 minutes) which is the first time since breaking leg.

The main issues I still have are:
  • the bone has calcified around the break so the leg is and always will be a bit thicker - not enough to need new ski boots, but noticeable when I look at my leg
  • my knee was somewhat sore during skiing which I put down to the torque being applied through it. Now I am running rather than skiing the knee is fine
  • while I have low foot arches, the arch/ankle on my broken leg have 'collapsed' so I have a fair amount of pronation on that leg. I am now working on strengthening my arch/ankle muscles/ligaments and am fairly hopeful that I should be able to 'fix' this. For now when running/walking I am being much more focused on not allowing my arches to flatten and whenever sitting down I use the time to flex/tense my arches to work on the muscles.
My insights are:
  • Positive mindset is key to recovery....
  • Find a good PT that can work with you and do the exercises they recommend diligently
  • If you have access to a spin bike/indoor bike then use one after ~6 weeks (if your PT says ok) it will really help on building mobility
  • Push yourself enough to keep making progress but not too much you harm yourself
  • A balance/wobble board (e.g. click) is very helpful
  • A stretching cord (e.g. click) is very helpful
  • A foot rocker (e.g. click) can help but is less important than the above suggestions
  • I found having a foot massage roller (e.g. click) or a spikey ball was helpful for massaging the bottom of the foot and help with blood circulation.
  • I made a lot of use of my Jetstream cold/ice therapy gadget I got from the hospital (similar to click) to reduce the swelling
  • I used compression socks once I was able to remove the cast to help reducing the swelling (e.g. click)
  • When ski season restarts get you ski boots refitted by a proper boot fitter as likely will need some adjustment and possibly work on the footbed.
The only thing I would have done different (other than not breaking my leg!) would have been to focus on strengthening my foot arch muscles back in Sept/Oct 2021 rather than wait until Mar 2022 as I hadn't really realized how much pronation it was causing (less of an issue in a ski boot if you have 3rd party insoles e.g. Superfeet)

Feel free to message me if any queries/questions I can help with


TheWombat
Thanks so much. The hospital gave me that ice chest thing as well. I am currently using almost all the time. I do take breaks from it but definitely using it. I have my first ortho 4/13. Will have to wait for the outcomes.

I so appreciate your timeline. It does seem daunting at this point but I know that I do have to have patiences. My job requires me to be on my feet a lot so there are definitely modifications that will need to be done.

Your journey is very helpful. Thank you for sharing.
 

skibum4ever

Making fresh tracks
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Joined
Nov 18, 2015
Posts
871
@TheWombat thanks for the very detailed timeline. You've given me a lot to think about.

1. I will ask my PT today about using my balance board.

2. I don't think I'm doing enough to get me back to the slopes in December. I need to ramp up the amount and difficulty of my PT exercises.
 
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T

TheWombat

Putting on skis
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Joined
Dec 29, 2020
Posts
65
Location
NC, USA
@TheWombat thanks for the very detailed timeline. You've given me a lot to think about.

1. I will ask my PT today about using my balance board.

2. I don't think I'm doing enough to get me back to the slopes in December. I need to ramp up the amount and difficulty of my PT exercises.
Understood and absolutely work with your PT and follow their guidance. Everyone is different in terms of injury, underlying fitness, recovery etc. I wasn't sure I would be back on skis at the beginning of this last season and was surprised how well things generally went. There were some days early in the season I sat on the sidelines with the slushy snow and just rested. For the last few weeks of the season on the slushy snow days I switched to my snowboard as found it put less torque through my knees.

As some further background I'm 49 years old so not the oldest on this forum, and not the youngest. I am a pretty fit person who pushes myself to improve. For the last few years (other than for the few months after my ski accident) I jog and weigh myself almost daily, also do elliptical workouts and a little bit of strength training. I track all my activities and metrics via my Garmin watch which makes it much easier to see progress across a number of different metrics. One of my most interesting metrics I have been tracking is Left/Right Ground Contact Time Balance. Ground contact time balance (GCT balance) measures your symmetry as you run by monitoring the balance between your left and right foot ground contact time. Prior to my accident I typically got 50.2%/49.8% while jogging, In September after my accident this was 59.2%/40.8%, in October after my accident this improved to 56%/44% (i.e. a lot more use of my left leg), and in the last couple of weeks has improved to bounce around 52%/48%.

If nothing else I highly recommend having some approach to tracking progress in recovery as can really help provide some incentive and perspective on what will be a journey that tests both physical and mental stamina. I also took videos of me at key milestones, e.g. my first 25 feet walking with the walker (and no leg cast), and then my first 25 feet walking with a walking stick, and then 25 feet walking unaided etc.
 

JMADSEN72

In the parking lot (formerly "At the base lodge")
Skier
Joined
Nov 12, 2022
Posts
2
Location
California
Unfortunately I'm officially part of the club. First day out this season, caught an edge. Straight break to my right tibia and fibula. 1 rod and a few screws. The day after surgery the surgeon allowed me to bare as much weight that I can tolerate. No cast, just a boot and a walker. Focusing on reducing swelling and flexibility. Hoping to catch some spring skiing.
20221119_153307.jpg

20221120_084633.jpg
 
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TS
T

TheWombat

Putting on skis
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Joined
Dec 29, 2020
Posts
65
Location
NC, USA
Unfortunately I'm officially part of the club. First day out this season, caught an edge. Straight break to my right tibia and fibula. 1 rod and a few screws. The day after surgery the surgeon allowed me to bare as much weight that I can tolerate. No cast, just a boot and a walker. Focusing on reducing swelling and flexibility. Hoping to catch some spring skiing.

Sorry to hear about the accident, and on the first day of the season! At least it seems promising that you should make a good recovery. Good luck on the Spring skiing target, my recovery from break to skiing again was around 8.5 months and even then there was discomfort and I had to take it easy, so do listen to your body!

On the positive, since the end of last ski season (late March 2022 for me) I transitioned back to running, and was about to get back to my prior running levels from 2019 (pre my leg break, pre-covid pandemic) and even surpass my running records. During September/October/November 2022 I achieved a 5km race time of 18:58 minutes, a 10km run time of 40:34 minutes and ran my first half marathon. So even being 3 years older, breaking my leg in March 2021 and having a metal rod, I am in a better and stronger level of fitness starting the 2022/2023 ski season and am hoping to surpass my prior year Carv SkiIQ scores.
 

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