Shattered Femur!

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lizfh65

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Hi -shattered my left femur near the top last weekend XC schooling. Now pinned and screwed and on 6 weeks non-weight-bearing box rest! Interested to hear of others who have had a similar accident, how it progressed and when and how successfully they got back in the saddle. Worse accident I have ever had!
 
Poor you. Broke my left leg too whilst show jumping which needed pinning and plating. Took 8 weeks to be healed enough to be able to weight bear and another month to get the ankle mobile enough to ride again. Don't now enter XC or show jumping classes but will pop a few fences for fun. {{{Healing vibes sent}}} and hope you get back in the saddle soon.
 
I did my tibial plateau (kicked just below the knee) so a different injury but 12 wks non weight bearing then could ride without stirrups before I could walk (not advised though!) I didn't ride properly for a year and I can now jump etc but do live with low grade pain. The pins/plate cause me more trouble than the break so get them out later on if you can. Good luck, let me know if you need any tips on coping with a broken leg and the difficulties/boredom that go with it!
 
I fractured my femur 7 years ago but it was a clean break just below the middle of the bone. I had a pin inserted and was on crutches. I was told to weight bear 20-30% right from the start to encourage the bone to knit. I was off work for about 10 weeks as i couldn't drive but I was back on my horse in 4 weeks, however I literally got on and got straight back off, I just needed to know that I was mentally ok to do it (it wasn't my own horse I had the accident on).

I'm now back riding normally, I've had 2 further operations on my knee as they think it took some damage in the accident and I do get occasional pain. It's fairly minor though and not constant and I would say to anyone looking at me I'm back to complete normality.

Being stuck in the house was incredibly boring and I drove all family and visitors mad by demanding games of monopoly!

Good luck.
 
lizfh65 said:
Hi -shattered my left femur near the top last weekend XC schooling. Now pinned and screwed and on 6 weeks non-weight-bearing box rest! Interested to hear of others who have had a similar accident, how it progressed and when and how successfully they got back in the saddle. Worse accident I have ever had!
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OUCH!

Blimey, I have done it twice so know what a serious break it is. Be careful. The plate doesn't make you bullet proof. You should be OK for the summer (July) but for heaven's sake, take it easy 'til healing is under way.
 
Hi there, sorry to hear about your accident. I did this 33 years ago (1977) I shattered my femur, it was broken in two places and one break was longways and very splintered. I laid on my own for an hour in the field after it happened but fortunately someone walking their dog came along and got help.

To cut a very long story short I was taken to hospital and put on traction for 2 weeks to let the bruising go down (my leg was black and they have to let the blood soak back into the tissues before they can operate.) They put a pin through my knee literally through the bone to put the traction on. Then after a fortnight they operated and put what is known as a Kunchener (sp) nail in (this was invented by a German named Kunchener during the 1st WW for the german soldiers who when they had this were back fighting in 6 weeks whereas the English soldiers were 6 months)which is a long rod down inside the bone by opening up around my hip and passing it down through the hole in the bone. I have along scar right down my left thigh. I was then on traction for 6 weeks (2 months total in hospital) and then they got me up on crutches and I was allowed to go home. My mother was alive in those days (I was only 23) and she was a nurse and so was a great help. I gradually got better and went back to work after 9.5 months off!! I have a small limp but nothing much and still ride and and able to get around normally.

These things happen and you just have to get over it. It sounds as though the medical profession have speeded things up since 1977, people dont spend so long in hospital and get moving around quicker these days. I have to say it bl...y hurt when I did it though and I hit the ground hard and rolled over several times which threw the fractures out of place. I remember when I got to hospital they had to put me out and pull it straight again.

I hope you go on ok keep us posted, you will be bored at home so you can always talk to us on here. If you want to ask me any questions you are more than welcome.

Kind regards

Kim Atkinson
 
I was out of the saddle for 12 weeks, and for a further 2 was only able to ride without stirrups ... wishing you a speedy recovery
 
Twice!! That is not good - I would never like to go through this again! I am going to take it very easy and get it back as good as I can.
 
just thought i'd that i actually found getting off reasonably difficult for a while afterwards aswell, so maybe try and have someone help you off from the ground if you do find it painful
 
Ouch!!!! I broke mine 22 years ago - had it pinned, 6 weeks in hospital, 6 months non weight bearing on crutches! Just make sure you follow those 'NO riding' instructions as I didn't and ended up with 2 further ops and one leg is now nearly an inch shorter than the other. As you can probably tell I wasn't a very good patient:D
Hope it heals quickly for you and that you will be back in the saddle soon(only under the doc's orders though!!!!) xx
 
Im amazed how many of us have done it. Actually I have done it twice, the first time was when I was 14. I broke the neck of the femur and had 3 pins put in which I have since had out.
 
I had an open fracture to my femur from a jet ski accident (should have stuck to horses!!) It was a fair few months off, I had trouble bending my leg for a while after and had to have hyrdo therapy but the open bit of the injury complicated things.

Once you can start physio do as much as you can, I still feel my left leg is weaker than my right, I can always feel a weakness there. If I run I get shin splints which I think is due to the imbalance.

If I was a horse I'd prob have been shot by now! Hope you recover well.
xx
 
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