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BoondockSaint

Broken Femurs & Limping

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Out of you that have broken your femurs. How long were you limping after you started walking again? Or did it never go away.

Im having this problem with limping - I've been off crutches for maybe a month now. Broke it on July 31st. I can walk with a cane fine without any apparent limp but I cannot manage to walk without a limp without the cane no matter what I do. It seems my body is trying to center its weight on my right leg (the broken one) when it walks so it forces my right hip to like dip in towards my left hip. Just looks like my whole upper body leaning to the right whenever I step with my right foot.

Is it just I need to get all my muscle in my injured leg back so it doesnt try to compensate for being weak? Hopefully I'm not the lone soul that had this problem and you all got yours cured and can help me out :)
From standing straight up with my feet about 8 inches apart I can lift my right foot up and balance on my left leg no problem at all - I dont need to use my upper body to compensate in any way. When I do this reversed and try to balance on my right leg I have to lean my upper body way to the right or I can't do it. That is what makes me think it is muscle issue. There is no pain through any of this though and my parents keep thinkin Im in pain limpin around all the time but its more I'm bound to fall over if I walk straight and I just cant do it.

Im kinda wonderin if I should walk everywhere with a cane so I don't develop a limp out of habit or if I should walk without it to keep building up my muscles. What do you think?

Thanks for the help


I pretty much broke it straight in the middle and it split up the middle of the top part of the femur a little too but not too bad - have the standard titanium rod and pin in knee and hip.

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I never femur ed myself, but I have dinged up the skeleton in a few other areas...;)


Enough to know that rehab is a full time job...

YOU know your body...push yourself to heal it strong and straight...

4 months is still quite early in the process, give
it some time, but by all means keep working
hard until you feel you're 100%...or at least as
good as you'll ever get.

I have 2 '9 inch' rods & 6 screws in my spine,
and it was a year long process of stretching,
walking, working with weights...before life even stared to feel 'normal'.

It will come, hang in there...and KEEP UP THE REHAB!B|










~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

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I have 2 '9 inch' rods & 6 screws in my spine,
and it was a year long process of stretching,
walking, working with weights...before life even stared to feel 'normal'.

ool]



Two 14 inch rods in the spine here......Jim.....I cant begin to imagine what "normal" was.

bozo


bozo
Pain is fleeting. Glory lasts forever. Chicks dig scars.

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Quote



I have 2 '9 inch' rods & 6 screws in my spine,
and it was a year long process of stretching,
walking, working with weights...before life even stared to feel 'normal'.

ool]



Two 14 inch rods in the spine here......Jim.....I cant begin to imagine what "normal" was.

bozo




***


Yeah but....I always did have a 'hitch in my git along'!

So my funky walk IS normal!;)










~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

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from my experience, when walking on the cane you should do so as 'correctly' as possible.. but focus on placing less and less weight on the cane while still maintaining correct form..

once you are not relying on the cane significantly, try very short distances without the cane but with correct form, if/when you start to limp take a break and go back to the cane..you can also use a walking rail or other support as you 'wean' yourself from the cane as necessary. But first talk to your physical therapist to make sure you are using your cane correctly.. ie.. a cane is not a crutch..

and yes you will have to continue diligent physical therapy to get your muscles back in shape, more than a year later I can run and jump and dance normally and while you wouldn't know i'd femured by watching me do any of those activities, i still dont have the same ease of motion or leg strength i once had..

keep training and good luck..
____________________________________
Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

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In line with what zenister said, as they allowed me to put more of my weight on my leg, i tried to walk as normal as i could with the crutches. Doing this and slowly taking the weight off the crutches and onto the leg i was walking right away without a limp. It is important what that you make sure the crutches are tall enough that they dont make you bend over when you are using them. That is what worked for me. I broke mine last halloween and was walking by the last half of december without a limp. Hope that helps and good luck.

B Moore

'Turbulence is a bitch'

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I broke my femur and received a rod and screws for my efforts back in 1996....I had a limp for several months afterwards...the more running and weight training you do the faster the muscles re-build and recover....All total it probly took a better part of a year before I didn't notice the limp anymore...it probly took about 6 or 7 months after the injury before other people stopped noticing the limp.

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I broke my femur midshaft in 9 places. I had a plate down the side with 14 screws which allowed the weight to be transfered from good bone at the top through the plate to good bone at the bottom.

Although I was jumping 6 weeks after the break, I was still on crutches after 4 months, so you're very early in the healing process. After a year I had the plate removed and again took 6 weeks out to allow the bone density to develop before jumping. I walked with a limp for 2 years after the break, and even now some 18 years later, limp at the end of a long day or if I'm very tired.

The leg works quite well though. The only time I've had functional difficulties with it was when I climbed Kilimanjaro, and that was only a painful limp on decent after being on the go from 23h00 through to 20h00 the following day. It's fair to say that everyone was knackered then anyway.

Keep training. Don't worry about a limp. Worry about what you can't do, not how you look while you do it. That's how I feel anyway.

t
It's the year of the Pig.

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