Welcome to the TPF Home Page.
This page has many useful sections with information, and fellow Tibial Plateau Fracture sufferer stories.
If you’ve recently suffered a Tibial plateau Fracture this is the place for you. This site was created after having myself gone through the recovery process of Tibial Plateau Fractures, and this site aims to contain information you need and want to know during Recovery. You can visit the forum to chat and share your story with others. Or, start reading in the Recovery Section Above. In the different pages you will find a lot of helpful information for your recovery period including medical information, first hand accounts of personal recovery stories as well as many useful tips & tricks. It’s Important to understand that this info is based on personal experience and research but that I am not a medical professional. This site is not intended to provide personal health advice. Your doctor is the professional source of information and if any advice your doctor gives you contradicts something written in this site- stick with your doctors opinion.
If you’re asking yourself how long your recovery is going to take, or what to expect, check out the recovery section. If you’re looking for some helpful tips and tricks from people who’ve been there – have a look at tips & tricks. We also have a Forum with recovery stories of different people Containing many inspiring stories and a place to ask fellow visitors questions.
If you’re looking for a community of people who have been through the same also check out the forum, or if you are looking for more information and references, those can be found in “further reading” which contains links to other websites and pages.
This page currently contains mostly information regarding recovery and recuperation after a surgery or non-surgical treatment. If you are still in the hospital and want to know more about your injury this is also the place for you. In future I might add some useful information for your stay in the hospital.
Hope you feel at Home, and feel free to contact about anything at all at [email protected]
Note: This site is currently in building and so some sections might not yet be complete
Shlomi,
September 10th, 2013
*Note: this website is not intended to provide medical advice. Your doctor is a much better source for medical advice. This information is based on firsh-hand personal experience and research*
My partner and I stumbled over here from a different website and thought I might
check things out. I like what I see so i am just following you.
Look forward to checking out your web page repeatedly.
Hey i broke my TPF during a football match little over 4 weeks ago only got surgery a week later because they never thought it was broke, only thought it was a bad contusion and had me walking on it for 9 days causing further damage even after follow up diagnosis was still given as the same.. was only after me going to my doctor she sent me to hospital with doctors note requesting scans we found out it was TPF. Surgery went well only 3 screws and crutches and brace with full range movement non weight bearing for 6- 8 weeks.
-most pain has gone but except a lot of pain in morning is this just due to stiffness?
-I can’t straighten my leg but not because of pain more due to slight discomfort, don’t want to force it, knee cap seems as if it’s too high up even tho there has been no pain or damage to it?
-Pain is coming from in behind my knee as if it could be further damage like a ligament or something easies off after straightening and flexing but never goes away?
!!!Was just wondering what people thought or even if anybody has had a similar experience!!!
Read a few people’s experiences with this type of injury is really seems to be a long and lengthily recovery and process, really never knew how extremely serious it can be.. sorry to hear about some of your cases and I wish use better luck and success in the future with them..
Hi Gary,
I my injury was 4/17 external fixator on 4/22, and removal of the fixator and repair on 5/3, but I have the same pain in the back of my leg, it was after the injury and the doctor had no idea why, they thought it would be better after the surgery, and still after the surgery that is the pain that is the most uncomfortable still after the surgery, but no one can tell me why, Physical Therapy is saying it my hamstring tendons that is irritated and inflamed. I pray for your healing and comfort during this time.
Sholmi, sorry to hear your TPF didn’t heal properly. I broke mine wile on vacation in Florida. I tripped over a parking curb! It was broken into 125 pieces! I had to be flown home on a medical jet and I ended up paying for it myself because my insurance refused. This happened in April of 2015. I was lucky to have the greatest surgeon in Boston. I still don’t know how he put my leg back together. I too will need a total knee replacement in about 5 years. Believe me, I will put it off as long as I can. This was the most painful injury I have ever had. You are young, and I’m sure that if you get a partial knee, you will do just fine for a while. I have known many people that have had knee replacement surgery and have always felt much better and walked completely normal again. Keep your chin up, I’m 56 and walking almost normal now, with just plates and screws. I was lucky enough to get the Chief of Orthopedics that also had an engineering degree! Lol! I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers!
You were very lucky. I guess my biggest fear is the rebreaking of the tpf. I have heard that rebreaking is more painful than the initial break and the meds they have me on now don’t even work for the normal day to day pain. I have three girls 5 and under and three large dogs. I am married but my husband works alot to support us since I am not able to work. It is very scary thinking about going through rebreaking the fracture and recovery again.
Dr Rodriguez? Beth Israel? If so I am seeing him for my post-op after being hit by a car in Baltimore and breaking my tibial plateau. Surgery was performed at University of Maryland Medical Center before I came home.
Hi I was wondering if anyone else is going through what I am since my tbf. I am 29 yrs old and was in a horrible car accident 6/5/2014 and required surgery to fix my tbf with a plate and 11 screws. I have been in excruciating pain ever since. I have been told I need a total knee replacement but I am way to young right now. I just went to my ortho today after my ct scan and they discovered my tbf did not heal right. I have a massive gap in between the bone. If the surgeon agrees to the surgery I will be going in to surgery to have the hardware removed, the fracture rebroken, and new hardware put back in place. After that heals I will still need a total knee replacement down the road and they ate talking about doing a partial knee replacement first to stretch out the time before I require a total knee replacement surgery. I am scared of what the future holds. If anyone has been through something like this it would be nice to know I am not alone and what it was like for you.
I replied to your comment but I think I put your name wrong. Sorry. I put sholmi. I see now your name is Samantha.
I am 7mo P.O. type 5 2 plates. I did not break my leg riding my Harley but i was told months ago i should wait one year? Ugggg. No pain at all some stretching issues butbonly 10% shy of full ROM. Does anyone know how long I really have to wait or how long actual bone healing really takes. I am 52yrs old.
leeann shedd about three month ago I broke my tibia really bad spent three month in rehab. I just now can put more weight on it.. how long dose it take for a complete healing on this
Leeann, I had a severe TPF last April 2015. Mine still is stiff and sometimes it gets really sore. My doctor did saI’d the bones were totally healed this past February. Depend on the severity of your break, it can take 6 months or more to totally heal. The worst part is getting all your muscles going again. I still have a bit of a limp, but hopefully that goes away someday. Be patient, and keep moving. You will get there. Keep a positive attitude and you will be as good as new!
Ski injury 51/2 weeks ago. Some swelling and pain both sides of knee but did not go to the doctor for a week after the injury. MRI done after another week (waiting for insurance approval) showing nondisplaced subcortical TPF. Follow up appointment with doctor the fourth week. After he reviewed the MRI, Dr. said “no weight bearing for a couple more weeks”. In the meantime, I walked with weight bearing for the previous four weeks. Wondering what is the potential complications (worse case scenario?) if I am weight bearing. It’s been very difficult to use crutches. I called my doctor to ask him the question, but he has not gotten back to me.
Susan – what ever became the outcome of you walking on it?
14 months post op for a TPF VI
Still have swelling, rashes, no ROM
Can’t do steps, kneel, bend or squat.
Severe muscle cramps. And chronic pain. 4 plates & 15 screws.
I’m so over this. It has totally changed my lifestyle.
OS says no HWR for me.
I’m miserable.
I also had tpf surgery, 18 months ago. I cannot squat, I cant put wright on my knee cap, sometimes struggle with staits and cant run yet. I have a large, hard lump on the outside of the damaged leg. It burns sometimes and hurts often. I cant do simple things I could before and others seem to recover better. I have heard removing the hardware can be a solution but my surgeon seems ti be done with me now that I can walk.
I had a tibial plateau fracture about a year ago, no surgery was done. No weight bearing for 3 months, It still hurts once in a while but it my ankle that gives me the most pain, just after the fracture, my whole leg and especially the ankle was very swollen. Now that ankle still gives me most pain, I have full range movement of my foot. Not sure if this is normal or not.
Same here with the foot. I feel like my foot was injured but all focus was on my TPF which was nasty. I am 7 months out and I feel I am slowly getting better. The biggest thing was walking. My right leg had atrophied as well as my injured left leg. I get cramps mostly in the right leg and I’ve had Restless Leg syndrome that occurs at night. I found the only thing that makes it calm down is aspirin. I also have access to Medical Marijuana because I live in Colorado. Indica edibles help me sleep and a topical cream they make penetrates into the skin and relieves aches and pain I get near my knees.
Hi ,
My father met with an accident and had fractured the knee (tibial fracture) at multiple places and it got complicated with da tire blisters. Was operated after a week and now it’s a week post operation. Hybrid external fixators are used and he has lots of pain where the screws are present and today observed a new blister. This new blister worries us as this could lead to infection. Has any one faced the fracture blister situation. Any info would be of great help. Thanks and wishing everyone suffering speedy recovery
Hi I had fracture blisters. I had sbout six of them and they were huge but they slowly went away.
I too had multiple huge blisters. In fact, my whole leg looked purple and it was a long time before the surgeon was able to go in and place the plate and 13 screws. However, eventually, they did slowly improve. My tpf was the result of a motorcycle accident and now, at the 3 year point, I had the hardware removed two days ago to try and ease the pain and discomfort I still have. A lot of my problem resulted from the external immobilizers. Somehow during the pinning of that, a nerve was cut or stretched which induced “foot drop”. That condition has still not healed and only served to make things worse overall. I’m still exercizing and hoping to get more relief as time goes on.
Amen, Diane!! A horrible situation and you made it a blessing of new friends. Amen…
Loved your story. Faith is what got me through as well. I had some wonderful nurses in Florida. Always kept me laughing and they said they were sad to see me go because all the laughs would be gone. One of my nurses cried when they took me out on the stretcher to med flight back to Boston. I went back in March and took that nurse to lunch. We had a great time. Somedays are still very difficult, but all of you keep the faith and don’t stop trying, even when it hurts. I went from crying when they just touched a buckle on my Bledsoe brace to being able to walk in my parking lot within a few months. I had excellent PT girls who I am now friends with. Every nurse, doctor and PT I had brought me back to life. God bless them all! Keep smiling everyone. It will get better.
One thing to always remember is you are not alone. I had no idea what it meant when they told me I had a Tibial plateau fracture. Finding this site was a life saver for sure. Wonderful people have suffered the same fracture , all to varying degrees and with different treatments, surgery or not, quick healing or difficulties. But we are in a club and we all understand. I am grateful that mine was not as severe as so many who write here. And my prayers are with all, regardless of severity. Some are more difficult than others, but it is an experience we share and it is not a fun one. I also have found that regardless how or what, it seems you find there is someone who is more seriously injured or healing wasn’t as quick or complete. As I said, I am grateful whatever the reason (I personally believe my quick healing was due to my faith) that I did heal quickly and I pray everyone has the support and treatment to get them thru a very difficult and frightening experience. Time, attitude and faith help. And the experiences of others also help. We are together in supporting this group with understanding the difficulties. Not a club anyone desires to belong to, but definitely a lot of members!
I really killed mine. Broken in 125 places! Very painful surgery and a lot of therapy. My foot and ankle swelled up all the time. Lots of ice packs and leg elevated takes the swelling down. It will be one year tomorrow for me and still bothers me. A lot to do with the screws. Have one that sticks out. Kind of gross. I think I am going to take my surgeons advice and have that screw removed. Good luck with your recovery.
Carol, I haven’t responded in quite a while, but feel compelled because of your farm comments. I fractured my TP last July 1st on a deep sea fishing trip. Lost my balance on a rocky boat and it was just a freak accident. I had no surgery and was told no weight for 3 months. After 6 weeks xrays showed my leg had healed. It was faith and attitude for sure. Still have some discomfort at times. But had bad knees before the accident. I can relate to your hard work and amazed that I never had this injury before. I also raised horses for nearly 30 years, carried water, threw bales, shoveled sawdust, the whole thing. So I do understand your frustrations. My saving grace last year was just before we left for vacation I sent my last old horse to an auction hoping someone would take him for a companion. Anyway, I didn’t have that responsibility and just let my husband help me with everything.
I also believe because of my hard farm work it made me a stronger person, not unlike those who are athletic and can heal because of their conditioned bodies. So I think you have an advantage there, too. Don’t let it get you down. Attitude really is a big deal. The discomfort is real and I felt blessed in my fracture was pretty simple to so many I have read here in the last almost year. Do what the doctor tells you, get therapy when they say, take vitamins and try biotin. I was told after months and still getting around ok that my system was low on those kinds of nutrients because everything was going to healing the bone. Made sense.
Main thing with this site is you know you are way not alone! Prayers are with you!
Karen
Thanks for your reply. Made me feel a little more hopeful. Went to this site right after accident & cried for next 10 days. Made me feel like I would take yrs to heal. See ortho May 19. Managed to brush 2 ponies today, needed that! Me & them.Broke 2 ribs 14 yrs ago & kept working and still did chores, not now.
Carol – I know your post is old, but I get that crying thing, I can’t manage to stop.