Coming back from a fractured hip

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MichaelB
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Re: Coming back from a fractured hip

Postby MichaelB » Wed Dec 05, 2018 9:51 am

Arbuckle23 wrote:Went back for another checkup.
Got the sign off to go back to full training/riding/racing, with a firm instruction of "don't fall off" :)
Told the Doc I never intend doing that any time :lol:
Good news !!

Early Xmas pressie :lol: :lol:

Hope it all goes well :D

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trailgumby
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Re: Coming back from a fractured hip

Postby trailgumby » Thu Dec 06, 2018 10:32 pm

Arbuckle23 wrote:Went back for another checkup.
Got the sign off to go back to full training/riding/racing, with a firm instruction of "don't fall off" :)
Told the Doc I never intend doing that any time :lol:
Wooho! :D

Yeah, don't fall off!

Actually, I hate it when people say that, the brain doesn't hear the "don't". So let me rephrase that. :) Stay upright!

ironhanglider
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Re: Coming back from a fractured hip

Postby ironhanglider » Thu Dec 06, 2018 10:39 pm

MichaelB wrote:
Arbuckle23 wrote:Went back for another checkup.
Got the sign off to go back to full training/riding/racing, with a firm instruction of "don't fall off" :)
Told the Doc I never intend doing that any time :lol:
Good news !!

Early Xmas pressie :lol: :lol:

Hope it all goes well :D
Woohoo,

You've still got time to get a track bike and enter the Austral.

Cheers,

Cameron

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foo on patrol
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Re: Coming back from a fractured hip

Postby foo on patrol » Sat Dec 08, 2018 7:01 am

Woohoo! 8)

Foo
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Arbuckle23
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Re: Coming back from a fractured hip

Postby Arbuckle23 » Sun Dec 16, 2018 12:17 pm

First race back today :D
Sat in the bunch, then got dropped with 1 1/2 laps to go as the pace went up and I ran out of legs.
Happy with that, fitness will return.

I had thought about dropping back a grade, but glad I didn't in the end.
Racing with faster riders will get the fitness back quicker.

NASHIE
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Re: Coming back from a fractured hip

Postby NASHIE » Sun Dec 16, 2018 3:03 pm

Arbuckle23 wrote:First race back today :D
Sat in the bunch, then got dropped with 1 1/2 laps to go as the pace went up and I ran out of legs.
Happy with that, fitness will return.

I had thought about dropping back a grade, but glad I didn't in the end.
Racing with faster riders will get the fitness back quicker.
Well done mate, impressive come back.

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wombatK
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Re: Coming back from a fractured hip

Postby wombatK » Fri Feb 22, 2019 12:17 am

So were you riding clipped in when you got injured and are you now still riding clipped in ?

I punched my femur through my hip socket (acetabulam), fractured socket and several other places of my hip in a fairly slow speed crash over a largish sprinkler hose on Xmas Eve (< 12 kph by the time I braked before the hose). I was patched up with plates and 16 screws. Ortho registrar asked if I'd been clipped in, and suggested they see too many bad results from clipped in cyclists's falls.

But I don't know whether that's because the large majority of high-mileage cyclists tend to use clip-ins and hence turn up at hospitals more often. And I've clip-stacked and had more than a few other higher speed falls with clip-ins that haven't produced this destruction. So I'm hoping to get back on my bike eventually, and have to work out whether clip-ins might be too risky for me.

FWIW, surgery was done by a prof, and post-op prescription for me was 6 weeks of non-weight bearing for the affected side, then 6 weeks partial weight bearing, then "we see how you are". At the 6 week visit, surgeon moved me ahead a step to "weight bear as tolerated". At 9 weeks, I can kind-of-walk short distances without crutches, but physio's are suggesting that it will need a month or two of hip and butt strengthening to be able to sit and pedal on an exercise bike, and longer for a road bike. There's a lot of muscles I'd never heard of that have got to learn how to deal with stretching and moving over the metalwork.

Pretty sure I won't start off with clip-ins, but I'd just like to hear any opinions on it -- and any examples of hip fractures occurring even for riders not clipped in.
WombatK

Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us -Jerry Garcia

Arbuckle23
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Re: Coming back from a fractured hip

Postby Arbuckle23 » Fri Feb 22, 2019 7:38 am

When I started back on a bike, I was on flat pedals. I quickly progressed back onto clip in pedals, I have Assioma Power Meter Pedals, so was keen to use them. I took the tension right off as unclipping that leg was not comfortable, still isn’t now and I only unclip with that leg extended to avoid any slight pain.

I don’t think being clipped or on flats would have changed what happpened as far as injury, I landed hard on the hip and being old, things break.

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foo on patrol
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Re: Coming back from a fractured hip

Postby foo on patrol » Fri Feb 22, 2019 4:59 pm

Arbuckle23 wrote:First race back today :D
Sat in the bunch, then got dropped with 1 1/2 laps to go as the pace went up and I ran out of legs.
Happy with that, fitness will return.

I had thought about dropping back a grade, but glad I didn't in the end.
Racing with faster riders will get the fitness back quicker.
This, is so true but you would be surprised at how many would argue against it! :idea: :wink: Just don't over do things, bring yourself back up, gently. :wink:

Foo
I don't suffer fools easily and so long as you have done your best,you should have no regrets.
Goal 6000km

ironhanglider
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Re: Coming back from a fractured hip

Postby ironhanglider » Thu Sep 19, 2019 8:44 pm

Well I haven't contributed much to this thread, but my hip has been the story of my year.

Firstly it is interesting to see the different experiences that people have had with their fractures. I think that some pretty (or not) pictures are needed in order to properly understand what is going on with people.

I broke my femur/hip in January, the morning of my son's 9th birthday party.

Image

I did a pretty good job of it, and they needed to install some pretty hefty hardware to hold everything in place. They described the Ti rod down my femur as a nail.
Image

Unfortunately I was non weight bearing, and couldn't even bend my knee for a few weeks. (I also managed to get 3 PE's which prolonged my stay in hospital).

Frustratingly I managed to break one of the screws that held the Nail in place at the end of January.

Image

Even more frustratingly was that despite lots of physio getting me back to moving reasonably well again, the head of the femur had failed to get in with the team and continued to do its own thing. The doctors considered this a bad thing and on Sept 11th I went back under the knife to replace the nail with a bigger one, clean away the scar tissue and sprinkle the magic bone dust around to try and encourage new bone to grow.
Image
Image
Image

What I did find fascinating with this whole exercise was how much I rely on my legs in order to steer a bike. I expected weakness when I got on the bike again, but even once I regained the ability to pedal properly, it took a long time before I was able to turn left as well as I could turn right, and I never regained the feel that I had before. (although I haven't done much riding) It actually gave me a new appreciation of what I used to do without thinking, and how far I have to go to get good at it again.

This time I was out of hospital on the third day and I am allowed to weight bear from the beginning so I am hopeful of a much quicker recovery this time. Sadly I don't think I will be able to take part in the 1:20 TT this year.

Cheers,

Cameron

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Re: Coming back from a fractured hip

Postby Arbuckle23 » Thu Sep 19, 2019 9:14 pm

Ooh, very nasty break, mine was much less than that.
Glad you are finally on the mend.

Update for me was the 12 month check up went well the other week, no sign of the top of the Femur dying off. So all clear and no drama for the future.

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Re: Coming back from a fractured hip

Postby ironhanglider » Thu Sep 19, 2019 9:54 pm

Great news.

I have to admit that I did base my initial expectations of recovery on your experience. Then Froomey came along and made it all popular and now he's back on a bike and I'm not. Yes he's a young man with excellent fitness and I'm ... not. But I haven't turned 50 for a few days yet and I was doing ok.

I think I have enough range of motion to ride a bike now, but mounting/dismounting would be my biggest hurdles. I might wait at least until the dressings come off though.

Cheers,

Cameron

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Re: Coming back from a fractured hip

Postby cynicalmike » Thu Sep 19, 2019 10:43 pm

ironhanglider wrote: Image
c'mon man there's no need to exaggerate the blur :P

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wombatK
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Re: Coming back from a fractured hip

Postby wombatK » Fri Sep 20, 2019 9:26 am

That break looks seriously ugly Cameron and makes me feel more fortunate. You've certainly had a rough time of it - fractures near the head of the femur are bad news. Not to mention complications with PE - double bad news. I've got plenty of x-rays of my repair job, but nothing in shareable media. The best I can do is this before 3D CAT scan --- Image and a rough flat bed scan image of xray from 1 week after surgery Image
There were 4 fractures in my left hip socket and hip - if you look closely at CAT scan you can see the acetabulum (socket edge) jutting out where it shouldn't be. It took 4 plates and 17 screws (a few over 40mm in length) to fix it back together; 42cm of surgical scar. I did it on Xmas Eve (really bad timing, hospitals effectively closed for a week). FWIW, ortho reg told me their trauma hospital sees the worst of hip fractures, and this one problem rates in the worst 10% - so I didn't set any records but it was nevertheless challenging surgery.
I got back on the bike in May, and I'm back to cycling up to 50 km two or three times a week (about 50 km per week less than pre-prang). Maybe not as fast as previously (still gets sore). Running and jumping still a bit too hard. Hardest part of cycling, as you mention, is getting on and off the bike - my mates cringe watching me do it. And balancing in gusting side winds (narrow paths on bridges with fences to bang into are not fun). The 6 weeks of non-weight bearing basically means every muscle from your rib cage down to your toes is wasting, and got to be rebuilt (despite non-weight bearing physio). My core strength and hence balance on the bike is still below par, but slowly improving; I'm giving you about 15 years in age - but don't think it matters too much as to recovery time and path. The main concession to the injury is the clip-ins are gone - the DMR V12 pedals I bought are surprisingly grippy. And I bought a pair of soccer goalie padded hip protector undershorts that are comfortable Hope your recovery has no more complications. It sucks that it takes so long, but you've got no alternative than to make the best of it. Dunno about your ironhangglider tag -- maybe ironlegs might be a better fit now :D
Last edited by wombatK on Sat Sep 21, 2019 10:45 am, edited 2 times in total.
WombatK

Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us -Jerry Garcia

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Re: Coming back from a fractured hip

Postby ironhanglider » Fri Sep 20, 2019 11:25 am

wombatK wrote:That break looks seriously ugly Cameron and makes me feel more fortunate. You've certainly had a rough time of it - fractures near the head of the femur are bad news. Not to mention complications with PE - double bad news. I've got plenty of x-rays of my repair job, but nothing in shareable media. The best I can do is this before 3D CAT scan --- http://bit.ly/32U66ac there were 4 fractures in my left hip socket and hip - if you look closely you can see the acetabulum (socket edge) jutting out where it shouldn't be. It took 4 plates and 16 screws (a few over 40mm in length) to fix it back together; 42cm of surgical scar. I did it on Xmas Eve (really bad timing, hospitals effectively closed for a week). I got back on the bike in May, and I'm back to cycling up to 50 km two or three times a week (about 50 km per week less than pre-prang). Maybe not as fast as previously (still gets sore). Running and jumping still a bit too hard. Hardest part of cycling, as you mention, is getting on and off the bike - my mates cringe watching me do it. And balancing in gusting side winds (narrow paths on bridges with fences to bang into are not fun). The 6 weeks of non-weight bearing basically means every muscle from your rib cage down to your toes is wasting, and got to be rebuilt (despite non-weight bearing physio). My core strength and hence balance on the bike is still below par, but slowly improving; I'm giving you about 15 years in age - but don't think it matters too much as to recovery time and path. The main concession to the injury is the clip-ins are gone - the DMR V12 pedals I bought are surprisingly grippy. And I bought a pair of soccer goalie padded hip protector undershorts that are comfortable Hope your recovery has no more complications. It sucks that it takes so long, but you've got no alternative than to make the best of it. Dunno about your ironhangglider tag -- maybe ironlegs might be a better fit now :D
Look closely? Looks like you came close to pushing the ball through the pelvis entirely!

I found that it was easier to get on and off the bike if I was a step higher than the bike like on the edge of a gutter. Mentally I found the lack of control on the bike the hardest. Initially I couldn't get out of the saddle at all as well as not being able to steer 'properly'. I used to see novice riders completely failing to take corners well and couldn't understand it. After all surely it was just a case of "start here, apex here and exit there". Now I realise that there is actually much more to it since I can no longer make the bike turn as well as before and I just can't take the lines I used to. Once I work it out for myself again I might be able to offer more constructive advice rather than "Like this..." "Do that..." Maybe it is just core strength. Right now I'm looking forward to being able to just put my right sock on comfortably. It's only a week post op and I'm way ahead of where I was last time.

As for my username, that was based on a friend's description of my climbing ability, it seems just as applicable now...

Cheers,

Cameron

ps. I have found Strava to be a suitable photo hosting site. I just drag photos from there into the box where I'm composing a post and then put the Img limits around it.

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wombatK
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Re: Coming back from a fractured hip

Postby wombatK » Fri Sep 20, 2019 12:06 pm

Look closely? Looks like you came close to pushing the ball through the pelvis entirely!
The ED consultants words were: "first the good news - your head is OK " (I'd rung my daughter doctor 3 times without realising it before the ambos came) then the bad news "your hip is a disaster". That's Dr-speak for "it'll be a while before you're out of hospital and on a bike again"
I found that it was easier to get on and off the bike if I was a step higher than the bike like on the edge of a gutter. Mentally I found the lack of control on the bike the hardest. Initially I couldn't get out of the saddle at all as well as not being able to steer 'properly'. I used to see novice riders completely failing to take corners well and couldn't understand it. After all surely it was just a case of "start here, apex here and exit there". Now I realise that there is actually much more to it since I can no longer make the bike turn as well as before and I just can't take the lines I used to. Once I work it out for myself again I might be able to offer more constructive advice rather than "Like this..." "Do that..." Maybe it is just core strength. Right now I'm looking forward to being able to just put my right sock on comfortably. It's only a week post op and I'm way ahead of where I was last time.
Yep, all of that. Learning to walk, run and cycle wasn't easy when we were littlies, and sure not easy as a 50++ year old. And don't get me started about socks -- I'm looking forward to warmer weather so I don't have to struggle with that !
As for my username, that was based on a friend's description of my climbing ability, it seems just as applicable now...

Cheers,

Cameron

ps. I have found Strava to be a suitable photo hosting site. I just drag photos from there into the box where I'm composing a post and then put the Img limits around it.
Yeah, just joking about the tag --- that stuff in your legs is probably 110% Unobtainium. Mine is apparently common (surgical grade) stainless steel that costs almost as much as Unobtainium.

Thanks heaps for the strava photo tip --- your photo appeared to come from amazon cloudfront, which wanted lots of intrusive info to sign up. Already had a strava account (not used it much). So hopefully I've fixed the photo above.
WombatK

Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us -Jerry Garcia

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wombatK
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Re: Coming back from a fractured hip

Postby wombatK » Sat Sep 21, 2019 10:46 am

FWIW, I've managed to make a rough scan of a my post surgery hip x-ray and added it to my earlier post (scroll up) . All the muscles and tissue that line the inside (front) of my hip have got to get used to all that metal, and some screws probably stick through bone and into muscle tissue. :)
WombatK

Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us -Jerry Garcia

ironhanglider
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Re: Coming back from a fractured hip

Postby ironhanglider » Sat Sep 21, 2019 6:45 pm

Oh wow. Metal macrame!

I can imagine that there was lots of meat that got detached and pushed aside in order to access all that. Definitely not a 2 week recovery!

I found in my previous attempted recovery that getting out of the saddle was a key for me. Once I was able to do that comfortably was when I started to feel more stable on the bike.

Cheers,

Cameron

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