Post (severe) knee injury recovery

Mark Mitchell said:

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On Jun 25, '03, I jumped from a 5' high platform and
landed badly with my full weight on my left leg. I'm told
that my leg visibly bowed inward. I ended up with a spiral
fracture of the tibia (shinbone) and a collapsed tibial
plateau. In other words, the top of my shinbone, where it
connects with the knee was granola.

So far, I'm recovering fairly well, I walk with no real
problem (but with a visible limp), but endurance is a
problem with both of these activities. My left knee is
also much weaker than the right. I can climb stairs but
if I try to step up onto a surface much higher than the
standard stair riser, I can only put down about 120lbs
of force.

Prior to the accident, I was an occasional rider but now
I'm trying to ride as much as I can both on the road and
stationary. I can manage about 30mins a ride before my
knee tells me to stop.

The biggest weird thing I'm noticing is that if I ride for
about 30mins on the road (low speed), or on the stationary
for about an hour, after I stop my knee feels loose.
Especially when I'm transferring weight *off* the bad leg.

Is there anyone here who's had similar symptoms/injuries?

Any input appreciated.

Mark

Sounds like you stretched some knee ligaments when you had
your accident; also the tibial plateau collapsing might
leave the knee-joint cavity unusually wide. Usual remedy is
first physiotherapy etc to strengthen the muscles. After
maximum improvement from such conservative measures, surgery
might be considered eg tibial osteotomy (re-angulating the
tibia) or repair of the medial collateral or anterior
cruciate ligaments. Presumably you are under the care of the
appropriate people? Most people come somewhat right without
further operations, and one cannot expect too much
improvement from surgery. Peter

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Peter Keller said:

Mark Mitchell said:

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On Jun 25, '03, I jumped from a 5' high platform and
landed badly with my

<tale of woe snipped>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Any input appreciated.

Mark

Sounds like you stretched some knee ligaments when you had
your accident; also the tibial plateau collapsing might
leave the knee-joint cavity unusually wide. Usual remedy
is first physiotherapy etc to strengthen the muscles.
After maximum improvement from such conservative measures,
surgery might be considered eg tibial osteotomy (re-
angulating the tibia) or repair of the medial collateral
or anterior cruciate ligaments. Presumably you are under
the care of the appropriate people? Most people come
somewhat right without further operations, and one cannot
expect too much improvement from surgery. Peter

As the accident happened at my place of work, this was all
covered under worker's comp. I've now been released from
medical care, so my worker's comp claim has been closed.
And, of course, as I can no longer do the job I was doing,
I'm unemployed and therefore uninsured.

I kind of had a feeling that this would tighten up over
time, I guess what I'm really wondering is, what kind of
time frame are we looking at until it's reasonably stable
again? Months/Years?

Thanks for your reply, Mark

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Remove both wrongs to make the email address right.

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Mark Mitchell <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

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On Jun 25, '03, I jumped from a 5' high platform and
landed badly with my full weight on my left leg. I'm told
that my leg visibly bowed inward. I ended up with a spiral
fracture of the tibia (shinbone) and a collapsed tibial
plateau. In other words, the top of my shinbone, where it
connects with the knee was granola.

So far, I'm recovering fairly well, I walk with no real
problem (but with a visible limp), but endurance is a
problem with both of these activities. My left knee is
also much weaker than the right. I can climb stairs but
if I try to step up onto a surface much higher than the
standard stair riser, I can only put down about 120lbs
of force.

Prior to the accident, I was an occasional rider but now
I'm trying to ride as much as I can both on the road and
stationary. I can manage about 30mins a ride before my
knee tells me to stop.

The biggest weird thing I'm noticing is that if I ride for
about 30mins on the road (low speed), or on the stationary
for about an hour, after I stop my knee feels loose.
Especially when I'm transferring weight *off* the bad leg.

Is there anyone here who's had similar symptoms/injuries?

Any input appreciated.

Mark

I had a similar injury from a motorcycle accident in 2000,
with similar results. The ACL was stretched and torn about
halfway through, shin bone split through from the top of the
plateau then out to the side about 5 inches down. I had much
improvement in the second year (much more than I thought
there would be), so take heart. It's still quite loose, and
sometimes pops and catches if I move wrong, but it seems the
more I keep the muscle tone up, the more controlled the
loosness is. I started MTB and trail riding last year and
now have ridden up to 4 hours/40 miles. I try to walk a 2.5
mile loop and/or excercise on my goofy HealthRider several
times a week. It helps to try and get your weight down a
little, too, if that's an issue (was for me). My doc said
Joe Namath had no ligaments left in his knees, and he made
it through with muscle control. A friend of mine also had a
similar break (and a broken arm thrown in for good measure)
from a horseback riding accident in '01, and also showed
substantial improvement the second year. So keep your chin
up and good luck.

--
Peder (Please reply to group only, email invalid)

I had a motorcycle accident 2 years ago where I broke the
tibial plateau and tore/stretched the ACL. They sewed the
plateau back on. It fells better now than a year ago,
better a year ago than two years ago. I find that the only
time it feels "normal" is when I ride a lot. Strong leg
muscles are the key.

Peder said:

Mark Mitchell <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1

On Jun 25, '03, I jumped from a 5' high platform and
landed badly with my full weight on my left leg. I'm told
that my leg visibly bowed inward. I ended up with a
spiral fracture of the tibia (shinbone) and a collapsed
tibial plateau. In other words, the top of my shinbone,
where it connects with the knee was granola.

So far, I'm recovering fairly well, I walk with no real
problem (but with a visible limp), but endurance is a
problem with both of these activities. My left knee is
also much weaker than the right. I can climb stairs but
if I try to step up onto a surface much higher than the
standard stair riser, I can only put down about 120lbs
of force.

Prior to the accident, I was an occasional rider but now
I'm trying to ride as much as I can both on the road and
stationary. I can manage about 30mins a ride before my
knee tells me to stop.

The biggest weird thing I'm noticing is that if I ride
for about 30mins on the road (low speed), or on the
stationary for about an hour, after I stop my knee feels
loose. Especially when I'm transferring weight *off* the
bad leg.

Is there anyone here who's had similar symptoms/injuries?

Any input appreciated.

Mark

I had a similar injury from a motorcycle accident in 2000,
with similar results. The ACL was stretched and torn about
halfway through, shin bone split through from the top of
the plateau then out to the side about 5 inches down. I
had much improvement in the second year (much more than I
thought there would be), so take heart. It's still quite
loose, and sometimes pops and catches if I move wrong, but
it seems the more I keep the muscle tone up, the more
controlled the loosness
is. I started MTB and trail riding last year and now have
ridden up to 4 hours/40 miles. I try to walk a 2.5
mile loop and/or excercise on my goofy HealthRider
several times a week. It helps to try and get your
weight down a little, too, if that's an issue (was
for me). My doc said Joe Namath had no ligaments left
in his knees, and he made it through with muscle
control. A friend of mine also had a similar break
(and a broken arm thrown in for good measure) from a
horseback riding accident in '01, and also showed
substantial improvement the second year. So keep your
chin up and good luck.