Recovery after hip fracture

[jliddil]

I've experienced a type 2 femoral neck hip fracture. It will be 6-8 weeks before I can erg. So anyone out there experience a hip fracture and then come back to erging? I have three metal screws in the bone now that will remain unless I develop issues.

Erging kept me in great shape and I was out of the hospital in 3 days. Hospitals staff had to constantly ask if a resting pulse of 45 was normal. All the automated monitors are adjusted to alarm at this low a rate. The Phys Therapist was impressed as well. I am able to get around with crutches and my walker (I fell old now). Off of most pain meds except ibuprofen. I can put no weight on the hip for 6 weeks as of right now based on the surgeons advice though that may change. I do not want to develop avascular necrosis and have the whole hip replaced.

So any others go through this and have advice?

[Byron Drachman]

Sorry to hear about the injury. A friend of mine had what sounds like a similar fracture. He told me that riding a stationary bike with a very light load helped get rid of the pain and helped with the recovery so you might want to ask your therapist or doctor if they would recommend that. I hope you mend quickly.

[mchase]

Not quite the same, but related. When I was in my twenties (back in the '70s), I had a bad car accident in which I was thrown from the car (well most of me- my foot caught in the steering wheel I was told; the rest of me was outside the car). Anyway it jerked my hip out of the socket. It was 18 hrs before they got it back in (hundreds of miles to a teaching hospital when they finally decided to transfer me). I was told that I had some 90% chance of losing the hip to avascular necrosis. Because it hurt so much, I started Clinoril, (an older anti-inflammatory before Naprosyn, etc) and took that for the next 4 years or so twice daily. I took it because of pain but finally after a few years, the pain went away and I haven't had pain since. In talking with an orthopedist about it, he felt that the anti-inflammatory might have saved my hip. I have no degenerative changes in the hip that I am aware of.

[jliddil]

With a hip fracture the amount of displacement of the main bone from the femoral head determines blood vessel damage. My break did not fully displace the two pieces. The other factor is how soon after the break the bones are reunited. In my case I had surgery within a few hours after the break.

These days anticoagulant therapy is standard after surgery on a break. I got Enoxaparin while I was in the hospital but upon discharge got prescribed aspirin once a day due to my blood chemistry, aerobic capacity and general health. I am also on ibuprofen having stopped percocet once the pain was in the 2-3 range. I am already doing at home PT for the leg and upper body weights to keep in shape and stave off boredom. I'll be getting looked at every week to see how the bones and vessels are healing.

[slwiser]

JD, it sounds like your doing the right things, keep at it and good luck with your recovery.

[johnlvs2run]

What was the cause of the fracture?

[jliddil]

What was the cause of the fracture?

The low co-efficient of friction between my foot and the ice leading to my hip coming in full contact with the asphalt.

[johnlvs2run]

Was your hip weak before that?

I'm curious because of wanting to avoid similar issues in friends and others.

I've personally had 3 falls in the past 2 years and so far everything has been fine.
The first two were from tripping on uplifted edges of sidewalk while running, since repaired.
In both cases I went flying directly forward and fell flat on the sidewalk, with no time to roll
though I tried to anyway. My knees, elbows, shoulders and various other places were skinned up.
The third time was hiking a few weeks ago, when my shoes stubbed on a sandy spot going downhill.
My feet slipped behind me and I fell directly face down, catching myself with my hands in a pushup type of position,
my face just inches from the ground. Again my knees were skinned up and that was the extent of the damage.

The femor is quite a large bone, all surrounded by muscle and other tissue.
So I'm curious why it would fracture in a fall, granted this does appear to happen quite a bit.

Fortunately it was your hip though, not your head, as that could have been a fatal accident on the ice.

[jliddil]

In my case when I stepped on the what looked like wet asphalt my feet flew out from under me and I landed on my hip with full force on asphalt. It is also likely my legged twisted around wildly. I have the bruises from my butt all the way down my thigh to show for it. The surgeon said I show no signs of osteoporosis. It was the luck of the day as they had 4 others in like me at the time at the ER.

From now on I am always wearing a set of Yaktrak on my shoes not just my boots that I wear to go out to get the paper etc in the winter. Otherwise the surgeon said the usual, do weight bearing exercise even erging, walk or run, eat well, get the daily minimum of calcium, have yourself checked for bone density.

And when you do break a hip do all you can not to move and get an ambulance. Any extra twisting of the leg can compromise the blood vessels and can lead to avascular necrosis developing. A header would likely have been fatal or close to it.

[johnlvs2run]

Thanks for mention of yaktrax. I checked them out on youtube.
There's another brand called kahtoola microspikes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emvc_F2bH9Q

Many runners use sheet metal screws. I've not tried them yet but might do so for hiking.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3 ... 7.19710841

[wgr]

In my case when I stepped on the what looked like wet asphalt my feet flew out from under me and I landed on my hip with full force on asphalt. It is also likely my legged twisted around wildly. I have the bruises from my butt all the way down my thigh to show for it. The surgeon said I show no signs of osteoporosis. It was the luck of the day as they had 4 others in like me at the time at the ER.

From now on I am always wearing a set of Yaktrak on my shoes not just my boots that I wear to go out to get the paper etc in the winter. Otherwise the surgeon said the usual, do weight bearing exercise even erging, walk or run, eat well, get the daily minimum of calcium, have yourself checked for bone density.

And when you do break a hip do all you can not to move and get an ambulance. Any extra twisting of the leg can compromise the blood vessels and can lead to avascular necrosis developing. A header would likely have been fatal or close to it.

Very sorry to hear of your accident and I hope you fully recover and that 2011 brings you much, much better luck.

I wonder if you are familiar with Vitamin K2, along with vitamin D, for bone health. Vitamin K2 activates cetain proteins (MGP) that help in calcium transport and is important for cardiovascular health by preventing calcium deposition on the arteries. Research has shown that those who have the highest levels of vitamin K2 live, on average, 7 years longer than those who don't. Apparently, most people don't have enough vitamin K2 in their system and except for coumadin treatments, high doses have no side effects, so it may be compatible with your current meds, but check with your doctor.

I know you do much research on your own and the following Youtube interview with Dr. Cees Vermeer, one of the prime researchers in the area, can get you started. There are multiple parts of the interview here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTm95J8SNGo