General Chat

In March of this year I busted my knee.I vaulted over my own garden wall and landed on my left foot.As I continued to fall my body was rotating to my right.

I heard my tibia plateau shatter.Also my tibia split down the length of its self.

I have 4 operations and a biopsy to repair the damage.I can now walk on it with a walking frame or using elbow crutches.

However despite much physiotherapy my knee remains in a fixed nearly straight position,ie it will scarcely bend at the knee.
In addition the broken knee has a deep seated infection for which I must have a daily drip.

Does any one have any practical suggestions as to how to get the knee bending?

I'm told it's fixed the way it is due to scar tissue.

whoops
sometimes we don't realise the consequences to what we do

Yes, it hurts :-(

You will never ever get it sorted on the NHS - if you can hobble around then as far as they are concerned it is job done. You don't even qualify for PIP 'cos you can probably manage 25 meteres with a stick :-(

There are all sorts of surgeons and physiotherapists who can and will sort out these problems - for a fee. Your GP probably has no idea at all. It is cheaper if you can keep the treatment as local as poss. so start off by asking around at yr local sports clubs they will have a lot of knee related know-how and contacts. If you are making an insurance claim the doctor MUST be on the ins co approved list.

Suggest you have a close look at your house insurance and personal accident ( if any ), some bank cards and accounts also have personal accident cover. I went from a post-accident wreck back to skiing and squash in 2 years. No thanks to the NHS. Glad I didn't have to pay the bill though.

Short run keep the weight off your leg - keep it raised up, on a chair or the desk etc. When you can swimming is good. Try and avoid driving.

Have you tried an Osteopath - Liz

With my own knee problem (nowhere near as serious as yours), I found acupuncture was really helpful to lessen the pain but improved the movement in my kneecap.
I would certainly recommend this treatment....... costly, but very effective for me.

Oh my, you have managed to do in one go what it took my mum 60 years to do! Three years ago she cracked her tibia plateau when she fell on her knee by tripping over an object the carpet cleaning men had left in a doorway where it shouldn't have been. In her 20s she had tripped up the back steps and shattered her tibia much as you did and has the plate and screws to show for it after 3 months in a full leg cast. How much easier we heal in our 20s though. If your problem is scar tissue isn't that something that might call for surgery?

One thing I would consider is water exercises like aquafit. That allows you to use your muscles and to stretch and bend without weight bearing. Of course you should ask your doctors first but if there is an aquatics facility near you it should have this kind of program, and sometimes they have them specially for seniors and people with disabilities or recent injuries. It may even have a heated pool. ;)

My surgeon and physio couldn't wait to get my damaged L leg load bearing.As painful as it was/is I was told it helped th the breaks heal.Ive a series of exercises to do regularly to strengthen the quad and attempt to make the joint flex,which it won't or cant.

I was doing fairly well through physiotherapy until early August when it flared up to near twice its normal size and went in places purple;and was excetionally painfull.
Then followed the biopsy and the drawining off of fluids through needles in the knee.

Joonie Hoonie,all the pools in this city are getting closed
Liz 47 I tried a chiropractioner for a different injury many yeas ago.
Rollo the Red,I must check my insurance policies for persoal injury.

"My surgeon and physio couldn't wait to get my damaged L leg load bearing."

oh dear wrong move
give it a chance to heal, keep the weight off it, aquatics is good

Ask if you have got a sports injury doctor at your hospital they have a different approach to that kind of injury, see it in athletes, rugby players etc.Elaine.

David that is such a shame about your pools! Another possibility .... but it would cost money .... is some upscale hotels have memberships in their athetic facilities and give aquatics classes in their pools, because I really do think that is a super way to keep mobile after an injury. And I didn't mean to advise against weightbearing which is important .... just that weightbearing and stretching should maybe be done separately. And aquafit lest you work your body without putting all the stress on your joints. A couple of years ago when I broke my ankle and was in a cast with no weightbearing for 6 weeks, I had to get all the mobility back in my foot which was frozen at the ankle and get my knee to straighten again, the opposite of you, and I did my stretching exercises while sitting or lying down so I could control the amount of load on my foot and leg. My physiotherapist said that when I was making my knee straighten, use my muscles to do it and they would know how much and how far to go. I think the idea of a sports doctor is a good one too.

But weightbearing and exercise generally is so important to get the muscles strengthened again, I didn't do enough of it myself and it took me too long to get back in shape. Not nearly so serious an injury as yours of course. But after about 18 months, when I was still not up to speed, something else happened in my family that meant I had to walk distances nearly every day and after a few weeks I did get back nearly all the strength I had lost after the injury (and confidence which is important because when you are older you do lose that). Very best wishes to you and my best advice is just try to keep yourself up and about. :-)

David I have one other suggestion for mobility, you said you use a walking frame but have you considered a rolling one? I got a frame after my broken ankle and I used it for about a week before it was more hindrance than help, so for another week what I did was push my rented wheelchair around the house. :-) and then after that I was able to walk with a stick.

My OH had a stroke a while ago and when he came home he needed a mobility aid because his whole right side was weak and his right foot drags. They are very expensive so I went on an internet site for buying and selling goods. You can almost always find them because ..... people who use them are mostly quite old and when they die their families sell them. That is what I found, I needed a tall one for my OH, his size new is very expensive indeed, and it happened that the widow of a tall man was selling his rollator and bath chair for 1/4 the new cost of the rollator alone. I felt bad to feel so lucky ...

My mum also got one after she cracked her tibia plateau and had had to keep her leg straight like you for several weeks (but of course again her injury was not so severe). She went for walks every day to get her strength and flexibility back. I am looking at gumtree and there are some for as little as £25. (We had to pay more than double that to get the easy-folding brand in the size we needed but the price was still excellent.) I really really recommend this instead of a frame walker, and you can sit on them when you need to rest too!

I would be a bit cautious about doing extra exercise if you have any sort of infection at least get the OK from doc.

I have a rollator with seat ( that folds to take in a car) that I bought via a catalogue - (don't know if I should mention the name but if you are interested PM me). It cost about £70. I am not nearly as lame as you - but the combination of sciatica and arthritis means walking is very limited, but the knowledge that l can sit down at any time makes me much braver and more independent.

I know our nearest general hospital has a special clinic for sports injuries - something like that should be able to advise you - at the very least. they would be able to point you in the right direction for help

Elizabeth you are lucky you are not well over six feet tall! I didn't realize at first that there were height differences and the standard model only works for people up to a few inches shorter, and I first replied to an advert for the same rollator at a lower price. Then it occurred to my mum that I should ask about the size. I asked the advertiser to measure it,and it turned out that the rollator in question was actually the very short model ... having been driven only by the proverbial little old lady. :-D

My tall dude prefers to walk without it these days, even the 4 blocks to our clinic, and that is good for him, but he makes me trundle it along just in case. And always uses it to go to hospital appointments if we don't know how much walking will be involved when we get there - having it there does definitely give you more assurance for doing more than you would feel comfortable doing otherwise.

Nolls I agree with you and the infection is a concern, so I made sure to mention asking doctors first, and I do think the infection needs to be dealt with above all else.

The rollator l bought didn't have a choice of sizes - says it will take up to 110 kilos.

Joonie Cloonie,my walking frame has 2 wheels at the front,one in each corner.

Ive deep seated infection in me necessitating a daily drip.The infection has been there since late July after the fixator came off.It has the knee swllen,coloured purple and painful.With no improvement in the joints flexibily.

My late MIL had rhumatoid arthritis,she had a walking frame with 4 wheels on, it folded in the centre when not being used.I gave it to a charity shop