You don’t have to get it out. My understanding is as follows:
The parts can stay forever.
Typically older patients leave it vs another surgery and another recovery. What is considered “older”, I am not sure. I am 50yrs old.
Sometimes the parts don’t agree w/the patient (e.g., pain, metal allergy, etc…), so they get them out.
I am choosing to get it out because I have some uncomfortable tightness, likely due to end of the lag screw rubbing against tissues (muscle, tendon, ??) It’s not painful, but it’s annoying to be reminded w/every walking step. But the main reason is that I don’t like the idea of having the metal remain in my body, especially inside the bone. Also, I worry about it might change the loading of the bone under repeated pounding (running). In any case, I’ve wanted it out since it was put in. Doc said under normal circumstances, anytime after 1yr up to 5yrs I could schedule for removal. So 1yr later, here I am.
thats interesting- I have been wondering about having it out. I have my first appointment at end of December. No problems with it but like you wonder about the long term stuff. I am 65 so suppose I am old but I am very active, cycling, triathlon, swimming etc and they kindly always referred to me as the ‘mountain biker’ even when I went to surgery, they said- oh youre the mountian biker! Anyhow I am going to ask about it. I suppose I will certainly wait for a while…
Well, I was scheduled for parts removal on Dec 18. I checked in on the 17th. I check out on the night of the 18th w/out having had surgery. Doc had some emergency surgery(s) come up that day which resulted in me being pushed back on the day’s schedule. He came to see me around 6:30pm and said that it was highly unlikely I would get on the schedule that day. So, I checked out and went home.
After talking some more w/the doc, I decided this week to leave it in and see how it goes as I ramp up running and cycling again. Worst case, I go back and reschedule at a later date. He said removal can be anytime between 1yr and 5yrs.
@Bulldozer Do you have any intention of getting the parts removed? @Lorge17@yodakramer How is your recovery coming along?
It will be 7 weeks tomorrow since I had the first set of hardware removed and replaced. I had an x-ray last week and the bone shows healing on the inside of my leg but still no healing on the outside. So I am still on crutches 4 and a half months after my accident.
I have another x-ray January 31 to see if it there is more healing. I am also in the process of discussing getting an Exogen bone healing stimulator with my doctor and the companies medical rep. I don’t have coverage for it so we are trying to work out a price that works for me.
As one data point, I’m at 93% of my pre-crash FTP. I often feel that both legs are about equal, and some days, I have a bit of extra soreness on the side I broke.
But I can’t tell if it’s real or mental. Yesterday’s workout was a very hard 2:40 with 5x 10 minutes suprathreshold. Both legs were cooked. On today’s recovery spin, my right leg (the side I broke) felt slightly more irritated but in the muscles higher up my hip and closer to my waist.
But the weather outside has also dropped in temp, and it’s raining, and I feel like I feel changes in the weather in my leg. Or it’s all in my head.
Doc and I never talked about removing the IM nail. That would feel like I’d be starting recovery all over.
I road a bike for the first time outside a month ago and had to work up the nerve. Felt awesome. My HR was pretty sky high though!
Hello
it’s been 1 year since I had my accident still my gamma nail in the legs I had resumed competition in May 2022 with very good results
my medical specialist does not advise me to remove the nail
I still have difficulty in my professional life because it is no longer possible to lift heavy loads and I still limp slightly
for cycling I regained my form before my FTP is 300 W
for 52 years the main thing is to be able to do sports again and have a normal life, performance is secondary
courage to you
I have been reading all your recoverie stories more then 10 times in the last 7 weeks I think
I am not a biker, but I was looking for similar injuries in people who sport. I broke my femur 7,5 weeks ago after falling from the skateboard. My lesser trochanter also broke which worries me the most.
I started weight bearing after 6 weeks and have to go back to the hospital next Thursday (8 weeks). I bought a static bike and ride 1 hour a day, and started to go back to the gym a week ago. Still walking most of the time with 2 crutches, sometimes 1 at home and very very short wobbles without. I hope to be back in summer so I can go back to the water, doing what I love most (surf and kitesurf).
The mental part is the hardest, and I’m afraid I will feel this in my strength for the rest of my life (I’m only 43).
I was told they USUALLY don’t remove it, but given the daily pain it was still causing me, and the fact htat I was still a higher risk patient ( if i get in another bike crash, break the leg and bend the rod, i’m pretty well screwed, much more complicated fix ) they seemed to agree to remove it, but it never properly got scheduled for when I was available, instead I went on an on call list and got calls at the worst times.
I work in trades and need notice for surgery if I can, preferably in downtime, I can’t just up and go in in 2 days and be out 2 months.
So took me off that list, but over time the pain and discomfort has improved.
I still have a 46-47 / 53-54 left right balance, but have slightly over a 5 w/kg ftp and close to world class 1 minute power according to the coggan chart.
Got myself from triathlete trying his first real bike races to cat 2 in 9 months, and joining a canadian national trade team for 2023 ( equivalent to the domestic elite squads in the US edit to be clear, this isn’t “the” national team, but national trade team is a designation for teams competitive at a national level as opposed to a uci continental team which is a step above )
So yeah, hardware isn’t really getting in my way these days.
I know the feeling @AafG I never thought I’d ride again. Hell, I didn’t even know if I could go grocery shopping, or use the bathroom again without cane or walker.
But now I can deadlift 200lbs and race cyclocross (poorly, but that’s another story). Hang in there and know you’ll get there. It does take time.
Happy that you chimed in! I was going to message you directly until I saw this.
Congrats man!
edit:
For everyone else who is still recovering, I was able to get back over 4w/kg in less than 3mo after 4mo of non-weight bearing. Trying to walk normally after 3mo was an entirely different story. While cycling is great to get you moving again, help w/the mental recovery, etc., if you want to walk normal again, you’re going to need to do off bike rehab and/or strength work for your hip. Once you start doing single legged stuff, you’ll see your deficiencies clear as day. It takes time.
Just to be clear too, it’s not the national team, but a team that is considered nationally competitive i guess, it’s one step under a UCI continental team,there’s national trade teams / domestic elite teams, then there’s continental pro, then world tour pro.
Just to clear up any confusion before anyone things I’m better than I really am haha.
Have you investigated your leg length post recovery, for any significant difference ?
I broke my femur in 2017, and like you experienced an imbalance. I bought a Wattbike in February last year and started using the pedal stroke analysis feature to help improve things.
I started playing around with placing shims between the cleats and shoes on my ‘broken’ leg. It immediately improved the balance to the point where I’m now regularly hitting 50/50. This is with about 3mm of shims.
It also resulted in a troublesome saddle sore disappearing; likely caused by my pelvis tilting to compensate for the shortened leg
It comes down mostly to the metal sticking out of the bone into the meat of my glutes best I can tell.
When I stand out of the saddle and am quad dominant, it disappears, get back down and engage the glutes, bam, and that area can and does get dore/tender at times as well, especially in a more aggressive position out of practice.
That said my physio has been absolutely delighted by how close I am in strength overall between the 2 sides for how badly messed up I was
Hi, 53 year-old here with a broken hip from a mountain biking crash. Typical endo crash, but I landed just right on a berm to crush my upper trochanter and femur neck. I’ve got a similar nail/screw setup as you all.
I’ve been doing triathlons for 25 yrs and now I’m just hoping to walk again. My doc has me on week four of (at least) six weeks non-weight bearing. Which is a bit frustrating because I see so many people who were weight bearing right away.
Anyway, I am just watching my left leg atrophy. I’m trying non-weight bearing stretches on my own to loosen my leg, and it’s working. I have hardly any pain, except for the tearing up of my shoulders from crutches and a walker (I’ve got rotator cuff issues to boot). Sleep is tough with all the pain. All I take is Extra Strength Tylenol and want nothing to do with opioids.
Anybody had a similar experience? Any advice? I’m going to listen to my doc, he’s one of the best around. Since my surgery was done quickly in an emergency basis, I never had time to tell him road and mountain biking are my life, not to mention swimming and running. Will I ever run again?
Thanks everyone and I truly hope you are all healing nicely.
I’m 1.5yrs post break and surgery. As mentioned somewhere above, I have the same hardware setup. I was 16wks non-weight bearing. It really depends on the break and the doc. Anyway, listen to your doc. Accept that this is going to take a while, probably much longer than you currently think.
I was off all meds w/in 2wks. Sleep sucked, mostly because I had to sleep on my back and I’m a side sleeper. I gained about 10kg during my 16wks of sitting or laying around. Once cleared to put weight on my leg and begin rehab, it took about 2.5mo to get back over 4w/kg. Most of my rehab was riding the trainer. Walking such that no on else could tell anything had happened probably took about 4mo. Running, for various reasons, I didn’t try until ~1yr post accident.
Riding came easy. Walking normally was much more difficult than expected. Running, that’s an entirely different beast all together. The muscle imbalances, scar tissue, mobility, etc., need to be addressed or you’ll continue to have issues. My running is still a work in progress. I’m ~50km/wk for over a month now. However, I only recently started the strength work w/bands, bodyweight, and weights that in hindsight I should have started a long time ago.
Again, listen to your doc! Listen to your body. You can’t rush it. You’ll likely only stress yourself out and or set yourself back. Make peace with the fact this will take a while and take it one step at a time (no pun intended).
