Broken Femur

Elk hunting backcountry with a recurve bow ain't "normal" "average" shit people do. 

A year until back to doing ALL the things you loved at full capacity and year until you can do ANYTHING are very different things. After I broke my leg, it was a year before I could do longer approaches, lead trad, carry more weight in my pack, etc. But I was certainly doing a lot of things I loved in partial capacity about 6 months post op. Maybe it’ll be a year or more before you’re 100%, luckily if you have a good attitude and gratitude for your healing then you can still enjoy life at 20% and 50% and 75%. 

BigCountrywrote:

Elk hunting backcountry with a recurve bow ain't "normal" "average" shit people do. 

I guess I’m abnormal then.   

Bruno Schullwrote:

Hey Chad.  

Nobody can say with 100 % certainty but I am extremely confident that you can get back to all the activities you mention.  

::snip::

https://www.worldcup.physio/about

You can absolutely do this.  It takes time, patience, and commitment.  But it is possible.  

Good luck, and feel free to PM me if you have any questions or just need support.

Bruno

Thanks Bruno!  

That link is very helpful!  

Chad Millerwrote:

I’m most concerned about having to take a year off from everything. The amount of work and dedication I've had to put into things just to be average is astounding. Being 46 I wonder how much I’ll gain back.  

I’m hopeful I’ll get to do some degree of the things I enjoy earlier than a year. Right now I’m going to the gym to maintain upper body strength. I’m going recumbent stationary biking. I’ll be back out shooting my recurve bow soon. 

Taking a year off from many things you love is not awesome for sure but you have a lot of years left to do cool shit, so dont lose patience and do something dumb. As others have said there is a lot you can do and some of that is useful stuff for your main activities that you already know is helpful but maybe didn’t have the time to really dedicate to previously - hangboarding, flexibility, upping vo2 on a recumbent bike etc.  I get it, I’m 56 and tore my ACL two winters ago.  You’ll be back, don’t sabotage yourself.   

I know where you're at, I've had several long term injuries and it sucks when you can't do what you love. 

I haven't broken my femur, but a friend did in a motorcycle crash years ago. Went sideways into a telephone pole and basically shattered it. He's back climbing without issues. Not sure of the timeline, but you can definitely return to what you love if you work hard at PT and wait it out. Bones heal well in most people. :) Keep the faith!

Edited to add: he was in his 40s at the time.

I haven't broken a major bone like that (only tons of soft tissue damage instead) but my uncle broke his femur cycling in his 40's and my mom broke her ankle backpacking in her 50's. Best advice I heard from them was make damn sure you're going to doctors and PTs who will treat you like an athlete despite your age, and truly respect your desires to get back to the activities you love. Plenty of doctors treat mostly low-activity normies who think walking 15min is a hardship, and some cannot actually comprehend what level of fitness goes into climbing / skiing / MTB / etc. so they'll treat you like you're healed when you're nowhere close to where you want to be. 

I blew out my knee at 21 and went straight to my university's sports medicine clinic that treats soon-to-be million-dollar athletes and it was immensely refreshing to be taken serious. Like others said, do your PT, and expect to keep doing it forever in some capacity, but also be your own advocate if you ever feel like your care team isn't up to snuff, including changing clinics / providers. 

Just an FYI. 

If I didn’t have insurance my 1/2 mile ambulance ride, 5 minute helicopter ride, surgery, 8 days in the hospital, and 14 days of in patient rehab PT

$204,000

With insurance because I met my out of pocket max for the year:

$1,600

American healthcare. Have to hate it.   

I had a similar injury, 3 piece femur fracture, three years ago. I was hangboarding at 6 weeks and back in the gym one leg climbing by 2 months, when I was still on crutches. It took me about 4 months to get to functional full weight bearing but I could hike with trekking poles at about 2-3 months. Skiing and running were the last things to come back, and those both did take about the full year but with hiking, weight lifting, and lots of training and PT, I was climbing stronger than I ever had, a year after my accident.

Not going to sugar coat it, the rehab was rough and there was definitely a time around 8-10 months out where I felt like I’d never feel the same again. But, now I barely notice the leg and it certainly doesn’t hold me back at all!

Good luck, just stay consistent with your PT and you’ll get back to where you were!

Thanks Avi!  

Right now I’m five weeks out and still in 50% weight bearing. Walking with crutches. I’m doing a dozen PT exercises 3x a day. Weight training upper body ( machines) three times a week.

I meet with the surgeon next week to see if the bones are healed so I can be 100% weight bearing. 

K Gowrote:

I haven't broken a major bone like that (only tons of soft tissue damage instead) but my uncle broke his femur cycling in his 40's and my mom broke her ankle backpacking in her 50's. Best advice I heard from them was make damn sure you're going to doctors and PTs who will treat you like an athlete despite your age, and truly respect your desires to get back to the activities you love. Plenty of doctors treat mostly low-activity normies who think walking 15min is a hardship, and some cannot actually comprehend what level of fitness goes into climbing / skiing / MTB / etc. so they'll treat you like you're healed when you're nowhere close to where you want to be. 

I blew out my knee at 21 and went straight to my university's sports medicine clinic that treats soon-to-be million-dollar athletes and it was immensely refreshing to be taken serious. Like others said, do your PT, and expect to keep doing it forever in some capacity, but also be your own advocate if you ever feel like your care team isn't up to snuff, including changing clinics / providers. 

This is very true. You really have to advocate for yourself. Good news (in my experience) is that most people will take you seriously when they find out you are serious about getting back to your full potential.

Chad Millerwrote:

Just an FYI. 

If I didn’t have insurance my 1/2 mile ambulance ride, 5 minute helicopter ride, surgery, 8 days in the hospital, and 14 days of in patient rehab PT

$204,000

With insurance because I met my out of pocket max for the year:

$1,600

American healthcare. Have to hate it.   

All that? I'm surprised it was only $204k...

Matt Dwrote:

All that? I'm surprised it was only $204k...

That would still bankrupt most people without good health insurance.  My wife and I are very fortunate. 

• Ambulance ride was 1/4 mile : $1,500 (good drugs!) 
• Helicopter ride was five minutes:  $24,000 (weeeee!)
• One week in hospital :  $75,500 (more good drugs!) 
• Two hour surgery:  $80,000 (power tools and a hammer)
• Two weeks in patient PT:  $22,000 (ouch but good for me)

Chad you seem like a super nice guy and I'm sorry this happened to you.  I'm glad to see everyone being so kind and encouraging to you.

Here's my take: HTFU.  You're super young (relatively) and you will recover completely. Be present, take it day by day. Stop indulging in these what-ifs.

I've had injuries/surgeries that have taken me a year to recover from. So what, just carry on. There are plenty of other joys in life to pivot to when you are in pain and can barely move.  (I make art.) There are plenty of worse horrible things that can happen. What happened to you is actually pretty low on the cosmic scale of bad stuff that can and does happen, so be grateful every day.

FYI my 78 year old osteoporotic sister broke her femur in February.  To repair it they had to do a hip replacement.  As of now, 5 months out, she's walking without a cane or walker and is back to doing physical yard work.

Great advice phylp phylp!

I’m six weeks out since my surgery. The first few weeks were the toughest both mentally and physically.  The uncertainty was /  is the troubling part of this healing process. Every doctor and PT says the same thing to me - I may never climb, mountain bike, backpack again -or- you’ll make a full recovery in six months.  I’m trying to stay positive though.  Work hard on my recovery and come back stronger.  

Like you advised I’ve pivoted to other interests while I heal. I’m doing model building and sketching (dorky fun architecture stuff).  I’m also learning new project management techniques (nerdy architecture stuff).

Currently I’m still on 50% weight bearing. The femur isn’t healed quite yet. I’m  working hard at my PT and general fitness. I’m trying to do as much as I can without going too far. I’m looking forward to when I’m 100% weight bearing so I can go ‘hard’ with my PT. 

Hi Chad. My femur was broken(two big pieces, one little one) in Aug ‘22 due to rockfall. What worked for me: 4 months of conventional post op PT, 12 months of sports injury PT. At twelve months, I still couldn’t walk very well, though my climbing was good. The ortho removed a screw that was interfering with my knee mobility, and after that, I was back to normal. I’m climbing as hard as ever, maybe even a little better. 6 months of arm focused climbing made me a lot stronger. Walking is fine. While I wasn’t a runner, post injury it took a LONG time to get back to running at all. It seemed like fast twitch muscles took a big hit during recovery. My skiing is also a tiny bit less “light”, but not really a significant loss of skill. The only change that seems effectively permanent is a slight loss in the range of motion of my knee, maybe a couple of degrees. Though hard single leg presses are not a big deal. I’ve actually noticed it not being a problem.

In truth, I can’t say that I’ve lost any capacities I had prior to the injury, though I definitely feel a bit different. It could have been so much worse. Being in a sports recovery environment was great, and I miss the PT process. I’m generally a positive person, so throughout the healing process, I focused on the present, and took a lot of comfort from the small gains. I didn’t worry about the future, just paid attention to my recovery goals and did whatever the next thing was. I also made my goals clear to my care providers. I followed the advice that was given. One thing that I remember was going to hard, and not allowing recovery. Patience is important.

For reference, I’m 68 years old. Feel free to PM me if you want to chat in depth.

Chad Millerwrote:

That would still bankrupt most people without good health insurance.  My wife and I are very fortunate. 

Ain't that the truth...

Matt Dwrote:

Ain't that the truth...

I’m also very lucky that a doctor and two nurses came upon me within five minutes of my wreck.

With the exception of the parents of the kid I avoided everyone that came upon me was great!  

Woo hoo!

Just had my six week follow up with my ortho. I’m 100% weight bearing!  Over the next six weeks the goal is to increase strength and balance get off the crutches. At that time (12 weeks) my bones should be fully healed  ::fingers and toes crossed::

Time for the really hard work to begin!  

When I got to 100% weight bearing it meant I was cleared to drive again. Just like a 16 year old with his first license.