Femur Fracture

[baker323232]

Hi all, I'm new to this forum.

I'm a 23 year old male. I suffered a fractured femur on Jan 16th. I had surgery where they inserted an IM rod with 4 screws through my femur. Today marks 5 weeks fro the surgery and while I am recovering, I have some concerns.

My ROM for my knee is currently 90 degrees comfortably, and slightly over 105 degrees when my muscles are warmed up and I'm stretching to the max of my pain threshhold. My thigh is showing more and more definition when I do quad sets, however there is a very hard spot towards the right of my thigh that appears to still be swollen and this is generally where most of my pain is occuring.

I'm going to outpatient therapy 3x a week, and repeat the exercises at home twice a day... I'm riding an exercise bike twice a day for 15-20 minutes each stint.

This is all new to me, so I guess I'm just looking for some outsiders feedback. Is this normal? Should my ROM improve back to normal? Is this hard spot in my quad area still traumatized and if so how long does such muscle / tissue take to heal? The traumatized area is near the site of the fracture so I'm assuming that has something to do with the swelling. I was a very athletic and active person prior to this so I am wondering what sort of recovery time table we are looking at til I am 100% normal again.

Like I said, today is 5 weeks.. Thanks for any feedback.

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[thomas bibu]

hi baker,

well, reports state that each year in the United States, approximately 60,000 patients sustain midshaft femoral fractures, majority in young adults following motor vehicle accidents, falls from a height, or industrial accidents.

correction of the fracture with an intramedullary nail inserted into the femur is the standard of care for surgical fixation. fracture healing from this procedure is effective, with union rates of between 95% and 99%.

regarding functional limitations, impairments, and or disability may be attributable to soft tissue injury as a result of trauma at the time of injury or surgery, or both. common soft tissue limitations include hip abductor weakness with a resultant trendelenburg gait pattern, quadriceps femoris muscle weakness, anterior knee pain, trochanteric bursitis, and decreased function with respect to gait and walking endurance.

well as far as you are concerned I understand you have been following up with outpatient therapy 3x a week, home exercise program twice a day along with exercise biking for a fairly good period of time hence your postoperative complications should be very minimal or none at all.

according to MT Archdeacon, MD, assistant professor, department of orthopaedic surgery, university of Cincinnati college of medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, the ability to return to work following intramedullary nailing of femoral fractures documented a mean return-to-work date of 6 months after surgery, with a range of 3 to 18 months depending on the extend of comminution.

well, I also wish to add that the goal of rehabilitation is to return you to your sport or activity as soon as is safely possible. everyone recovers from an injury at a different rate or pace. return to your activity is determined by how soon your femoral fracture recovers, not by how many days or weeks it has been since your injury occurred. hence keep your fingers crossed and let nature do the trick.

I am sure you will get back to shape sooner than you expect. all the best.

cheers,

thomas

[kara]

hey sounds like you are doing great!! I broke my femur (into 5 pieces wakeboarding) in August last year and the best advice I can give you is to work hard on those muscles and in PT....the bone healing generally isnt the issue( it was for me but thats because my fracture was very unstable) but its the muscles which atrophy that will give you problems if not worked early....but sounds like you doing ok there.

I got my ROM back at about 6/7 weeks - At 5 weeks you are well on track, dont worry. Just takes time. Thinks its harder if your nail was instered in through your knee to get full ROM - mine went in through my hip so never really had huge problems.

just keep at the PT!

Kara

[Yarok]

hi
id advice to use an ice massage followed by very gantle stretching, dont worry take your time.

all the best