# New hip fracture, looking for some words of encouragement



## RichMN (Jan 4, 2016)

Newly hip fractured cyclist, 53, looking for some words of encouragement, happy ending stories and words of advice.

Broke my hip last Sunday, was admitted that night and had surgery to repair it with a sliding hip screw (common repair I guess).

Femoral head wasn't separated from femur(I think that's good) so surgeon felt that blood supply wasn't too badly impeded by the time surgery was done. Surgeon said he was very happy with the outcome and expected an excellent recovery. Also said the sliding him screw can be removed if it causes problems in the future.

Everything feels pretty good except thigh on injured leg is really swollen (was told this would happen). Been icing it and limiting movement.

Already doing my at home PT and have appointments for PT coming up. For some reason, I went nuts with this stuff the first few days home and ended up both discouraged and tired.

If you've had this injury, please share a bit of your story (and any encouragement).

It probably goes without saying, I'm feeling a bit down right now. Like many of you cycling is a big part of my life (mentally and physically) and thinking of not being able to do it is pretty hard to imagine.

Thanks.


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## Procter (Feb 3, 2012)

Wow, sorry man. Haven't had this particular injury, but its an extremely good sign you're starting PT already. Bone fractures cause a LOT of pain but once bolted its often advisable to keep the joint moving despite the pain to ensure less atrophy and debilitation. Consult your therapist and doc, and if given the ok, try to push as much as possible without causing further injury.

There will be times when you feel like its worse, but stick with it. When I broke my clavicle there were several times when I went to the doc and said that I felt it was not improving or that there were other un-diagnosed issues around the area, it felt like my biceps tendon and rotator cuff were torn. He said, no you're fine. Its just like that - the area is filled with blood and swelling, every nerve is activated.

Also, get off the opiates *as soon as possible*. Like today, if you can.


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## Oh My Sack! (Aug 21, 2006)

Ouch! It sounds as though your prognosis is very good. I would agree with the pain med suggestion. Amongst other things, that **** can be a real motivation killer and your going to need lots of motivation to get yourself off your ass and on your way back to the bike. Knife to bone surgeries are real stuff! Of all the people I know that have been through one, myself included, the ones that slacked and lacked on their therapy or those that refused to push through those painful times are all experiencing failure and very poor post-surgery results. So, hang in there and beat this. Come back here for the occasional kick in the ass as you see fit! :lol:

btw....you're a year younger than me and too young for the "I've fallen and I can't get up" hip break. What happened, if you don't mind me asking?


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## RichMN (Jan 4, 2016)

Oh My Sack! said:


> btw....you're a year younger than me and too young for the "I've fallen and I can't get up" hip break. What happened, if you don't mind me asking?


I wish it was some super awesome thing I was doing but it wasn't. Simply riding some singletrack, and had a bee fly in my helmet. Instead of stopping and removing my helmet I swiped at it with my hand at a bad point on the trail (gets fuzzy from here) and collided with a tree on my right side. My helmet was cracked in two places so I guess I hit that tree pretty hard. The helmet certainly saved me from a skull fracture.

I did get up, get back on my bike for a short distance to ride back to my car (which floored my docs, wasn't really thinking well at that point), loaded up my bike, drove home and called my wife.

Can I ask you a few questions?

How long until you were allowed to pedal on a trainer? 
I assume you had some hardware installed in your hip. Is it still there? Any long term issues?


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## Oh My Sack! (Aug 21, 2006)

Hey, that sounds way more cool than a slip and fall in the bathtub! :lol:

I don't know if I can say "fortunately" but no, my hardware is in my neck, not my hip. C5-C7 fusion and Ti plate, specifically. I'd guess our recoveries might be different in time frame. It was about 3.5 months before I could do much other than just walking for exercise. I started pedaling up and down a pretty good grade on a paved road at that point and slowly built from there. Where it's even more different for me is that this was the beginning of my riding so I had NO fitness at all and my legs were sticks from the nerve damage in my neck. I'm not sure about hip recovery and whether it's similar to the mentality of knee joints but one of my "trail heros" I run into occasionally while riding that is our age had a double knee replacement and I met him at the top of the mountain on his 5 month anniversary from his surgery. Needless to say, he is a prime example of pushing through the pain!


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## MOJO K (Jan 26, 2007)

I'll be getting new hips in a couple of weeks (47 years old). I was told a stationary bike could be as quick as three weeks post-op. Can't come soon enough for me.

Hang in there.


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## Slowdownhill (Oct 20, 2015)

Ok, so I was killing a section that is a reasonably familiar ride, downhill, & suddenly found my self crumpled on the ground, bleeding from the standard forearm gash and wondering if I was going to be able to stand up. It was either ride out on my own or ask EMS to bail me out from my own stupidity. Three weeks later, after much Internet diagnosis, (You would not believe how many things I did to my hip & how much stuff is in there) I did some ride around the yard stuff. I've yet to figure out what happened, but my best guess is a washout in loose rock in a turn. For the last three weeks I "kinda sorta" saw what a permanent injury would mean to the rest of my life. Everything is connected to your hip. So, will I stay off of the bike? No, I plan to upgrade to a 27.5 soon. Will I ride with the same abandon? No, I plan to upgrade to a 27.5 soon and get on with my life. 

An old geezer (63) who was behind me had a cheap lesson with my fall. 

Sorry that you could not walk away from your crash & best wishes for a speedy recovery.


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## MOJO K (Jan 26, 2007)

Slowdownhill said:


> Ok, so I was killing a section that is a reasonably familiar ride, downhill, & suddenly found my self crumpled on the ground, bleeding from the standard forearm gash and wondering if I was going to be able to stand up. It was either ride out on my own or ask EMS to bail me out from my own stupidity. Three weeks later, after much Internet diagnosis, (You would not believe how many things I did to my hip & how much stuff is in there) I did some ride around the yard stuff. I've yet to figure out what happened, but my best guess is a washout in loose rock in a turn. For the last three weeks I "kinda sorta" saw what a permanent injury would mean to the rest of my life. Everything is connected to your hip. So, will I stay off of the bike? No, I plan to upgrade to a 27.5 soon. Will I ride with the same abandon? No, I plan to upgrade to a 27.5 soon and get on with my life.
> 
> An old geezer (63) who was behind me had a cheap lesson with my fall.
> 
> Sorry that you could not walk away from your crash & best wishes for a speedy recovery.


F$#k internet diagnosis...go get your x-rays. I'm still waiting for new hips I needed a year ago. You have to be pro active about these things.


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## rpl3000 (Feb 24, 2004)

Until they cut off your legs you'll be back...

I'm about to pass the 4 year anniversary of my hip fracture. I was in a parking lot doing stoppies and wheelies in clips...I was practically stationary when I fell over. My buddies thought I was kidding. btw I was 31 when it happened and my bone density came back normal so freak things happen. I have a 200mm nail +screw in the femur. My fracture was pretty clean (so they said).

my recovery
- I was pedaling my road bike on the trainer ~ 2 months afterwards for a few minutes a day. 
- at 6 months I could do 20 ish miles 1x a week (road). 
- I had some knee problems because I guess my leg is slightly misaligned now and the knee cap was tracking differently. At four years I have no knee pain. I was told just to grit my teeth and grind in a new wear pattern in my knee. 
- It hard to describe this... but after 2-2.5 years I stopped noticing my hip in the morning when I'd get out of bed. 

My recommendation is to not slouch on the PT. I lost a bunch of flexibility that I'm still struggling to get back. 

If you are really doing you PT you won't have enough pain meds. Take them as needed that's what they are for. Also don't be afraid to get a new PT. Most PT's see overweight people, not athletes.


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## Julie (Jul 26, 2005)

I broke my femoral neck when I slid out on a high speed turn over baseball sized rocks on twisty singletrack. It was as though I had hit a patch of ice...no time to put a foot down or any other defensive move. Despite my age, 60 at the time, my surgeon recognized I really REALLY wanted to stay active, and repaired me with 3 pins instead of a plate or rod...but it meant I had to be totally non weight bearing for 6 weeks. That is tougher than it sounds when you live alone and there are steps to negotiate here and there. He said that my light frame was in my favor for not going with a lot of hardware...but it was critical that I not take ONE STEP OF WEIGHT onto the healing hip until he cleared me. Once I made it past the critical 6 week mark, things got better quickly and by 3 months I was road riding..at 6 months I did a multiday high mileage, high vertical road ride vacation...and shortly after that I was (cautiously) back on the mountain bike. It is good to pinpoint some exercises for the injured hip. It is easy to think it is back to normal..but when I started zumba classes I realized it really wasn't as strong as the other side without specific extra work.


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## Julie (Jul 26, 2005)

Oh..and today I really can't tell which hip it was without thinking about it...no pain or weakness at all.


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## targnik (Jan 11, 2014)

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Just yesterday I was thinking about my (now healed) separated shoulder & would I go back, if I could... before I started riding mtb's to have it a hundred percent again? 

I honestly wouldn't, I'm a much fitter rider now, albeit - a little more cautious. 

My fall/slip was rather innocuous as well. I've learnt to not ride freshly built berms (high line anyhow).

God's speed and get well soon.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk


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