broken arm - screws and plate :-(

kerilli said:
I think the plate removal was the really easy part, the scar itself was sore and I think I was told to give it a bit of time for the screw-holes to fill in with bone to strengthen it completely (a doctor will probably now tell me that's rubbish, but I think that's what they said, it was ages ago!) and I'm sure I rode again that week.
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Doc told me that they won't take it out again because of the holes causing weakness Kerilli. I wish it were gone, it's stiffer than a normal bone and I can feel it.

Can you give me the arguments your doc used to have yours taken out??
 
Its only when you read a thread like this that you realise how many people are walking around (or limping in my case) with metal in them from a riding accident!! I wish you the best of luck - keep strong and focus on the positives if you can. Its not the best time of year to be going out and competing.....!!

I broke my leg and ankle last year and it resulted in a long metal plate and I think 7 or 9 screws in the leg and across the ankle. Was back on after 5 months and found it to be really sore. Battled on and 7 months later its still sore and weak but getting there. Did struggle with confidence when jumping again and did gulp a bit when my trainer started to put them up to a proper height but got there.

Had a follow up with my consultant at Xmas and he said that they will not remove any of the metal work. My husband asked what would happen if I fell again on that leg...my consultants response was that 'it would more than likely break and not to worry as he could just put a longer plate in'.....my husband was horrified!!
 
JDH01 - I fully understand the need to give the injury time to heal .. no problem with that .. but the 'that is the end of riding for you for ever' .. statements are what I think are a bit over the top at times
 
Ouch, hope you feel better soon.

I broke my arm in 2010, I fell off show jumping, was taken to hospital signed the disclaimer to get my arm plated. Next morning they cancelled the operation as they worked out I lived in a different NHS trust and said where I lived could do it instead. So I got sent home with a half cast on, the temporary cast you are supposed to wear for a day, and the hospital didn't bother referring me back to my trust. It was awful. Everytime I moved all the bones moved and I was having to shake my arm to get the bones back in place. I went to A&E and asked if it was normal that all the bones were moving around inside my arm, the doctor said she didn't know as she had never broken her arm. It took 3 weeks to get operated on,

The pyshio was pathetic, they just made me flex my arm, that was it, totally pointless.

My plates are not coming out and I was allowed to ride 3 months after the operation. I was in no hurry to ride. I never got it back together on the horse I fell off, there just wasn't a reason for her to stop and I couldn't trust her again. So I bought a new one, I am now a total wimp, but I have been happy jumping again up to about 90, but some days I have total breakdowns about it. I have stopped myself watching fail riding videos on youtube.

On a positive have you ever watched Kickass the Movie? The hero breaks all his bones, has lots of ops and it messes up his nerve endings so he no longer feels pain and becomes a super hero. Its true! I have no feeling at all on one side of my arm, so break a few more things and I can start crime fighting :D

This is what I did
xray.jpg


And what it looks like now
bionicarm.jpg
 
My point is that you have to balance what you are told with what you want to be able to do. Most medics will be cautious to the extreme only you can make the 'will I ride again' decision. There will be some injuries where the future risk of a fall is felt by the individual to be too great - Mick Fitzgerald would be an example. There are loads of examples though where riders have continued to ride at high levels following serious and potentially career finishing injuries.
 
I've only got three screws in the plate that's holding my ulna together :p and I'd assumed they'd take the plate out eventually, but apparently not. I was back riding very soon after it was plated as I had no cast on and I put a tail bandage around the dressing to keep it all in place. My surgeon had already seen me for a fractured pelvis and has seen me since for a fractured tibia, so knew what he was dealing with and gave me a very realistic timescale for rehab.

Yours does sound very messy, GermanyJo, but my thinking is you're a long time dead and it's your body, so medical advice is just that, advice. I always make sure they explain what could go wrong if you ride, fall off etc, then I can make a decision based on that information. Fwiw I've fallen off loads since they plated my arm (mainly when I was having chemotherapy admittedly, although I can be a useless rider even when I'm in rude health ;)) and it still works and is pointing in the right direction. :D
 
Don't rush back to riding- you need to be getting full range asap but only if that's what your post op allows- they don't always want you to go about 90degrees depending where was broken and how fixed.
As for coming off again, it will snap at where plate ends if its going to but what is the worry for surgeons is it then becomes very hard to fix it- that's the real reason they don't want it back. Remember tho rush back to soon and bone won't mend correctly as will be put under stress and therefore plate will have to stay in as militiger has found- its not the screws which mess up that's stronger than bone and therefore you have two weak points either end!
Do follow the min of 8 weeks off to let it heal and callous form even tho held by pins you do want the bone to heal it self.
Any questions pm me Im a physio! Treating loads of these at present! Ha ha
 
Oh Jo I have sympathy for you!! As you know I have lots of pins and plates in my leg but I also have pins and plates in my arm!! Broke both bones. All fine now and don't really get any pain. Give yourself enough time and I am sure you will be as right as rain!! Much love.xx
 
^^^ this is good advice. my surgeon told me when my plate was in place that the problem if I had a bad fall with the plate still in, is that bone will bend about 15 degrees before snapping. So, the bone would bend, the plate wouldn't... the bone could then fracture or shatter around the end of the plate (so, right near either elbow joint or shoulder joint) which would be far more difficult to fix. He did say that if it shattered into the joint we could be looking at amputation.
Must admit I now give myself plenty of time to heal as well as I can, and don't regard medics as killjoys, but as experts who have seen it all before and KNOW how long it it likely to take...

Oh, the other thing, perhaps minor, is that when the plate was in, it used to get cold in winter (scrawny arms, here!) and ache like the blazes. Had to put a hot water bottle on sometimes to alleviate the ache. Another reason for me to be happy to wave it goodbye...
 
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I know I'm crazy, but I had no cast on and they told me it was as strong with the plate as before it was broken. So it seemed to me that it didn't matter whether I broke it again the next day or the next decade, it was going to be the same problem. I didn't break it falling off, so that was a help confidence wise. I waited until my dislocated elbow felt strong enough and the check-up at 3 weeks, and then I rode. I competed cross country at about 7 weeks, I think, with the brushing boot on. I fell off too, but it wasn't a problem :D I've fallen off about five more times since, but I don't even think about the arm any more.
 
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thanks for all the advice / personal experience and of course good wishes :-) .. makes me feel a bit more optimistic

Mistatiger ... in the same way as Sarah_Jane .. I feel very inadequate whinging about my arm when I think about what you went through ............sorry , no hat yet !! :-) :-)
 
dieseldog - that sounds horrendous .... I thought it was bad enough that I had to wait 24 hours for my op with a half cast which finished around about where the 3rd break in my arm was (... the x rays taken on the day of the accident were not the best ) ... and had to endure a night of feeling bones rubbing together every time I moved ... days / weeks of that pain I cannot begin to imagine
 
in case anyone is interested .. managed to get the x ray pic .. off to the consultant tomorrow so hopefully get some more info re if the metal will eventually come out or not

sorry if the image is huge .. not good at editing them

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Pah! Doctors always say 'no more riding ever' as a standard response.

I was told that when I broke my neck, when I broke my wrist and when I broke my knee.

Needless to say that was the only bit of advice I didn't follow!!
 
just seen your bruises.. that also looks very sore ... I watched your video and reminded me too much of what happened to me .. although mine put in a few bucks after the jump before depositing me against the wall
torn muscles can be very painful .. you get well soon too ..
 
Torn muscles are usually worse than breaks- take longer to heal and can't give same rest and support to them as a break.
Heal quickly all in sick bay!
Ps to the lady asking about removal of plates- it varies with each case and to how the bone heals. It does make it weaker for 12months as the bone isn't fully calloused until then so in essence its like having another break only stable so no pain.
 
Hi GermanyJo, i broke my arm badly several years ago, the first doctor who saw me thought it heal by itself, so i was in plaster from shoulder to knuckles for 8weeks during which time the bone grew in a wobbly lump around the break, as the break itself was very messy. After the plaster failed miserably i was operated on, plated from elbow to wrist and lots of pins, post op felt fine, the metal work stayed in for about 18months, and i rode a lot in that time. I was asked if i was going to continue riding, i said yes, so after the 18months all the metal was removed for all the reasons everyone else has said, that op was pretty pain free too, and the bone is fine. So please dont be too despondant, you will heal in time.
 
Dizzydancer said:
...Remember tho rush back to soon and bone won't mend correctly as will be put under stress and therefore plate will have to stay in as militiger has found- its not the screws which mess up that's stronger than bone and therefore you have two weak points either end!
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Actually it's not because I rushed back that the bone won't heal :)

It's because the NHS left me for 10 weeks between breaking it and plating it and when it came to the operation they had to remove so much bone because it had callcified and hardened into shards at the break.

They removed so much bone that the plate effectively became a bridge of my collarbone and there was just too much room for my bone to try and stretch across.

The consultant said as the 2 ends of the break weren't touching (or even really remotely near each other) it was very unlikely I would have a complete collarbone again and that they would not be removing the plate- and that was the day after the operation before we even spoke about recovery time so nothing to do with me riding so quickly.
 
Just saw you have put radiographs on.

It looks like they have repaired the fracture well, both ends are in good alignment so should heal pretty well. My only concern would be that the plate at each end doesn't actually touch your bone so is not going to work as well - possibly why they have put you in a gutter splint? to keep your arm immobilised? the plate should extend beyond the fracture ends so that they get a good couple of screws in the good bone but as you say the plate is a bit short.

Long term prog should be fine, they repaired it quickly following the initial break. Have they said they will be removing the plate at a later stage? A plate is extremely strong (stronger than your bone) so if you were to fall off again you would break your arm around the plate so it would cause a huge mess.

I don't think you should ride until the gutter splint is removed and you can move your arm more - physio a must. Better to wait for a good recovery that do too much. at least its early season, you'll be flying in no time.

healing vibbes <<<>>>>
 
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Militiger my apologies. Sounds like you had a dodgy surgeon they should have grafted it with bone from else where- leaving a plate to act as a bridge is just bad practice.
Although it doesn't always go with having good healing means plate can go my OH has got to keep his plate eventhough its healed well- he did have a graft done too as so shattered.
 
Hey - I just found your post and I know it has been a year since you injury, but I just wanted to see how you are..? I was kicked 12 weeks ago. It was an open fracture which required a plate and 9 screws. I am having complications and I was just wondering how you are doing since you last post??

Im finding it difficult to remain hopeful/positive right now as you were in your early stages. I need to have my plate removed because it is pushing on my tricep tendon causing me not to be able to use my arm for any pushing type of movements. They won't remove the plate for 18-24 months from complete healing in an X-ray which as of todays X-rays - there is still no healing! Im feeling so frustrated!

Take care and I hope you are doing well!
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Hi haydayhorses,
I ended up going for a third opinion 7 months after my accident, there was almost no change on x ray, they also did a Ct scan. Due to the positioning of the breaks - the main one was right where the nerve for the hand goes round the humerus and the fact that I was EXTREMELY lucky not to have issues with my hand after my op (reading between the lines the first op was badly done &#128532;) they opted to wait another 2 months before thinking about a bone graft.
9 months on , there was some signs of healing so we made another appointment for Jan - 12 months after accident. Thankfully in Jan the CT and x ray looked much better - 80% healed.

I have been told the metal must stay in , the risk of taking out with a big possibility of damaging the nerve and therefore making my right arm useless is simply too great &#128542;

So , was more than a year before I could think about riding properly again , I would say it took 18 months for it to be back to more or less normal .

Seems to be quite common that nothing much happens for 6 to 9 months then suddenly it decides to stay healing
 
Re the plate, mine disturbs me much less now than in the first 6 months, are you getting lots of physio? That is really important, my elbow was great, but my shoulder siezed up and took months to get it moving again.

One learning I had was, don't be scared to get another opinion if your are worried about progress,

I hope you are feeling better soon and things start healing for you soon
 
Awe - Geez! Im so sorry all that happened to you. That is just awful. How did you cope with not riding? I asked the doctor today for Prozac and I will start it tonight. Im glad that there is healing for you and that the nerve is not compromised.

Since I had a plate in from day one I was only in a cast for two weeks. Then just an ace. I have nearly 95% of my range of motion. Since anytime I use my tricep tendon it feels like I am being stabbed with a knife - we can't do PT.. Oddly my wrist is sore and tight.. It is surprising how much the tricep tendon is used. Like pressing a soap dispenser, pushing off your pants, washing your hair.. Those are the simple things I can't do! SO frustrating. I did recently get on my horse. Ive ridden 4 times... The doctor said if I fall off I will break it.. I said if I fall off Im gonna break something anyway!

Im almost 50 and was up for year end awards for USDF! All that is lost now.. I really don't have the want to get back on... :-( I think it is because they won't remove the plate until 18-24 months AFTER the bones are fully healed. So Im looking a two years from now then going through this crap again.

Im getting a second opinion and I am asking for a bone stimulator!

Im glad you are doing better!

Denise
 
The not riding was crappy, especially as I had a young horse, managed to pay someone to ride him for me, but after 6 months was getting too expensive so had to turn him away for 6 months.
Though that also ended up with some positives, I moved yards and managed to find a great yard with 24/7 turn out all year, plus great facilities, did alot of groundwork when I could not ride and concentrated on a barefoot transition in the last months before I could ride, so going for lots of walks &#128515;, feel like I have a better relationship with my horse now
 
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