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*
I met with a major road accident on 12th March, 2015. From then I have been vicariously using all the resources on this forum/webpage including the comments here. I have been immensely helped through long nights by the resources and people here. So I am sharing my story here; others may be helped as I have been helped here. Thanks folks for being so generous.
My right proximal condyle broke into pieces both sides (bicondylar fractures), proximal tibial shaft and parallel fibula fracture, and the tibial plateau too was fractured badly. The team of surgeons who saw me on the 12th night concluded that for a knee, my fractures were enough to scare even their seasoned eyes. From the site of the accident to the hospital (in my case, Apollo Gleneagles, Kolkata) took me well nigh five hours — with no saline or anything else but one diclofenac injection given after fifteen minutes of the accident. My leg was supported by my students and nothing else. I am thankful to them.
I was admitted under Dr. Buddhadeb Chatterjee, a gentleman of great expertise and humour. He scheduled my surgery for the 13th of March, 2015. Before this I have never been to a hospital as a patient.
Next day Dr. Chatterjee and his team including Dr. Kundan Bhogadia and Dr. Kushal Nag came over to have a morning look over my leg which had been put in crepe bandage after I was admitted. They were ready to put in rods and screws in my leg with buttresses etc. I was told that the whole thing would be titanium and for life. But when they opened the crepe bandage they saw the leg had broken into blisters ; each as huge as an apple and one even more. My leg looked literally like it was filled with dark putrid puss filled skin. My original fractures were closed. Dr. Buddhadeb Chatterjee decided to elevate my leg for about ten days and during that time they regularly drained my blisters. The blisters filled again and again with clear pus. I was given diclofenac (I cannot tolerate tramadol; it makes my heart beat faster) thrice, paracetamol 1000 mg thrice and cefixime twice through IV during that period. All those ten days I had continuous saline through IV. Yet the blisters did not go. During that time in the hospital I felt very lonely during the nights and yet determined to get well, I ate everything given to me and made sure to avoid coffee even in minute proportions. I read about the caffeine here. So for ten days my right leg was wadded in cotton and elevated and allowed to be still broken without any reduction. For sleep, i was given zolpidem 10 mg at night. My wife and parents, was at my side during the day. I missed my wee little daughter a lot.
Then Dr. Chatterjee decided to go for surgery since the swelling and the blisters showed now signs of reducing. I was told that something called an Ilizarov fixator will be put on my leg and I have to keep the same on for quite some time. I did not know what I was in for. Please Google Ilizarov fixator. I was put under general anaesthesia and went to sleep. The surgery took me well over three hours and when i woke up , Dr. Chatterjee hummed that he had done a good surgery. I felt nothing in my leg. Nothing at all. Till the anesthesia wore off. I have never felt such pain before and never felt such helplessness. They had put something really heavy on my right leg. Something so heavy and ghastly I could not even move the leg. The leg hurt from the knee to the foot.
Then I say my Ilizarov fixator; something so archaic looking and so disturbing that I sobbed for the second time in my adult life; won’t disclose the first time. They gave me some pethidine (?) , an opioid which made me see everything as double.
From the second day my surgeon (and my wife and my dad) forced me to walk with a walker. NWB on the right leg with that heavy piece of metal frame on me. My physiotherapist, the head of the department of physiotherapy at Apollo , Mr. Suvro Shankar Chakraborty is and was a gem… he insisted that i walk from day two of the surgery. After three days I was brought home.
I began taking the advice here very seriously. From the fourth day onward of my surgery I did everything (literally everything) written here about exercises — I did the toes; the knee flexion and everything else here. Plus I did some more.
I went to Himalaya Drugs (the makers of Liv 52); bought their Hadjod (cissus quadrangularis); their Reosto and their Boswella; took them dilligently… 2 each twice daily and sometimes thrice. reosto has natural calcium; Hadjod is supposed to help with preventing the resorption of bone etc. and within four months , on July 22nd I was deemed fully healed. The contraption was removed from my leg though surgery. I followed the advice here slavishly and my physiotherapist’s advice — fold the leg/knee…
Now I can fold the knee enough to do nearly a padma-asana ; the intra articular space is preserved. i was given a calcium and Vitamin K tablet and I added a multivitamin with essential fatty acids. For sleep issues and discomfort I took valerian and the occasional aswagandha. and i watched online movies as advised here through the nights (YouTube is a great free resource). Read only a few books. Was NWB for three months. Partial weight bearing for one month. And now full weight bearing with an elbow crutch in the left hand. The wounds have healed well. Doing a whole range of exercises. Gait slowly returning to normal. And no hardware inside at all.
I did a lot of research on Ilizarov. Some of you may ask your surgeon for an Ilizarov rather than rods and screws. Orthopedic surgeons in India like their counterparts in the US and Europe consider rods etc. as primary treatment for faster ambulation issues. But it seems in Russia and Japan Ilizarov is standard technique. It seems to me to be more desirable in the long run than internal fixation.
I do not smoke, nor consume alcohol so things speeded up. Before the accident I did yoga; I have begun doing yoga again. I am 37 and male.
I ate a lot of daal (pulses); chicken and eggs. I ate the bones of fish fried strongly. I made sure that I had good pin care.
This website had become second home for me. So i want to thank everyone here. If you have non-union issues go for the Ilizarov … they don’t do it much at Apollo here or in the US or Europe. You have to be persistent. I pulled through because of this site and my doctor and family.
All the best to you all here struggling to fight it out. Thanks again. To repeat, I have nary a metal anything in my leg or body. It was a fracture which would scare most doctors. It has healed.
Hi all
I suffered a TPF thirty years ago, in the last six months my knee has started to become very tight and painful on rotation, within the last few days my knee has become inflamed, v painful and fixed a couple of times.
Has anyone else experienced this also did anyone have the metal work removed?
Hi everyone,
I suffered a TPF-grade 2 in June 2015, almost 10 weeks ago, went under surgery 5 days after the accident, when the bruises and swollen right foot had setteled down,
6 screws and a fixer has been put in my knee.
I have been attending PT one month after the surgery 4 times a week and after I was told to leave the wheelchair I have been using a walker as I am scared of using crutches(I did not find them comfortable and am scared of having a second accident falling again,
could anyone with the same kind of injury let me know about their condition?
how much calcium are you taking a day, are you also more comfortable with walker than crutches, My doctor is not talking much, I cannot climb the steps and my ROM is 90 degrees
but my Dr. is not happy with it,
Anyone knows when the metals will be removed?
I am 65 years old and female .
Than you all
Shahla
Hey Becky!
Don’t despair! I think everyone feels as you do unless you have had prior leg/knee problems. I am a week tomorrow allowed to bare weight and can stand and even take a step, but crutches are right there! Just got home from my first therapy appt. and this place is awesome. I have gone to other places that made it hurt worse than original injury! That is not good. Slow but sure progress is most beneficial, at least in my opinion. I think when they hurt you it really sets you back. And I don’t mean the achy stuff that is really normal. I mean the cry your eyes out can’t take it pain that I’ve experienced with other PT places.
From previous experience I know and you probably do also that after 6 weeks for me and 11 for you, muscles atrophy and need to be built up and strengthened again. It would be great to throw off the crutches and march on, but there is still much work ahead. It comes. Actually, this first session for me, mild as it was helped me to loosen up the stiffness. Before taking off the brace I was set at 40 degrees mobility. I tried to stretch and move my knee as gently as I could within the bounds set. Took the brace off last week, went to NC & VA over the weekend and did the same. I can easily go up and down stairs once I was able to bare weight and when they checked me out this morning I was bending 90 degrees. It just takes a little more time, but the healing process is the first step and when you can bare weight it is one more step in the progress.
I am allowed to drive next week, but I expect to have more flexibility in the next few days. I brought a page with the exercises I did this morning home. Some I need to do several times per day and a couple only once per day. The work is just beginning, but once started you will know your progress.
You should call your Dr. to make sure he is setting you up for PT and then make sure you can go soon. That will definitely help. Weight baring makes the biggest difference, but strengthening will get you over the next hurdle. It could progress quickly or may take a little longer. Everyone is different and each injury unique. I am grateful & praise God for my rapid healing. The work isn’t done yet, but confidence is in the progress yet to come. I honestly hoped it would be quicker to go off on my own, but I realistically know it may be a few more weeks. Probably some of it is fear of reinsure, but some is also the weakness of unused muscles. It will come. I could tell you a few other past problems I had, but they are unrelated to this injury. Again, time is the key and strengthening. You will get there! Keep the faith. Just make sure you get started on PT asap. And make sure it is a place you can talk to about concerns, etc.
You got through 11 weeks and you will make it thru this as well! Keep in touch!
Karen
This website has somewhat unfortunately given me more information than my dr has. I was curious to see if any of you that have been cleared to be weight bearing could share any tips, or tricks with me? I was cleared to be weight bearing a week ago, after an 11 week long recovery, and thought I’d just throw my crutches, and walk right out of the dr’s office…. Well, a week later I don’t feel much stronger than I was that first day… I haven’t even been called by my physical therapy’s office to schedule an appt, so I have youtubed some rehab vidoes that have given me some insight, but aren’t as informative as I’d like. One major question I have is what is the estimated time that I should be able to be able to walk unassisted? My leg, especially around my injured knee feels SO weak! BTW, Hi Karen!! So glad you are healing so quickly! Definitely answered prayer!! Thank you all for the comfort, and kinship you all have shown.. As I have told my family about you all, and the injured folks I see at my Ortho’s office, These are my people!! 🙂
It is, no doubt, providential that I found this website today. Karen, your post has given me renewed hope regarding my recovery. My injury (bicondylar tibial plateau fracture) was the result of a fall in mid-June. There are so many details pertaining to my treatment, that I hesitate to go into specifics. Suffice it to say that, for a number of reasons, my orthopedist recommended we attempt a non-surgical approach to treatment. At my appointment with him today, he had to tell me that the fracture had shifted somewhat since I saw him last, and recovery might be compromised. I was very discouraged, but he did suggest we give this method a few more weeks to see if things stabilize. While Karen’s recovery was much quicker than mine, her story has given me renewed hope! (my iPad is not allowing me to proofread this, so please forgive any errors!)
Noreen, I am glad if my post was encouraging in any way. When I first checked this site out a few weeks ago, I felt the same way. Although the prognosis was basically the same as it is for many, I just believed by my faith it would get better. And also came to realize that not all injuries or healing is created equal as not all injuries are the same. Some do better more quickly than others and some people are not able for whatever reasons to be true to the required protocol. It is so very difficult to be non weight bearing for short periods, but possibly 12 weeks is frightening. I was so grateful when my Dr. said after just 6 that I was healed and could bear weight as tolerated! Answered prayers for sure! Since then we traveled to NC and I have better balance, but it takes time after 6 weeks of non use. We will and have dealt with this. And only through God’s grace am I dealing for sure! I have never been patient. I also have medical issues, including Type 2 diabetes which claims slow healing. Well, not always the case and I can attest to that.
Anyway. Have included this group and these injuries in my prayers. Many will disagree, but it works and worked for me and will also work for all if they only believe.
God bless and pray your healing continues quickly and completely !
Having written here before and receiving much encouragement I feel the need to give hope to some who may feel like this time may never pass. My accident happened on July 1st. Was told in ER I would require surgery. I’m sure you all have been reading about this injury and learning the lengths in time, etc. of what to expect. I just decided to pray about it to give me the patience to get thru that time. When I got home and saw my surgeon, he said he felt the depression and displacement were minimal and that bracing and non weight bearing for 8 to 12 weeks would cause the healing needed. I made several trips and it was all a struggle, but I tried to be very good and do what I was told. Some articles said it could take up to a year for complete healing.
Tomorrow is 6 weeks post injury. I saw my Ortho surgeon today. He was somewhat surprised, but said today’s xray showed my leg was healed and I could begin to walk bearing weight as tolerated. I was able to take off the horrid brace we have to endure and I can drive again in 2 weeks. Haven’t had PT yet, but am starting that on Mon. I am sure had I had surgery this would be completely different. But having said that, my faith and strong prayer support can only be what got me thru.
I pray for all those (Becky, hoping you are doing great!) still getting thru this. Speedy and complete recovery everyone. God bless.
Karen
Thanks! Always good to get home, but loving the time with my kids. Except today, but trusting they are enjoying themselves and will see them soon. God is good!
Definately praising God, and hoping you have a safe, and more enjoyable ride home!
Thanks Becky! Long trip, but we stopped occasionally and I managed to put my leg up when I rode in the back. Usually love road trips. This was a challenge. Everyone went kayaking and into Rocky Mt Nat’l Park today. I opted to rest at home, although I miss the sites.. Tomorrow is the Gorge train trip and wanted to be up for that. Haven’t done that before and hear it is also spectacular! I’m getting a giant roll of bubble wrap when I get home and rolling up in it so I can do more trips for fun!!! Seriously, any travel anywhere shows us how small we are, yet a part of the magnificence of our Creator. All of it has amazing things to enjoy and cherish.
Keep up your great healing!! Sounds like you are getting closer to complete recovery and that is a Praise in itself!!
I am soo happy to hear that you made it to Colorado safely, and your x-ray showed no displacement!! I have thought of you often and hope you enjoy your family, and God’s creation!!
Good news Becky!! It is definitely a progression. Likewise with me. Saw my dr and had xray before leaving for Colorado. Healing nicely. Going back in 3 weeks. “Try” to keep full weight off, but rather than fall, do what I must. No movement in the displacement and healing well. Good news and attribute it to my faith which also enables me to do the other things that have helped. My biggest issue now is this brace which he allowed to have a 40 degree bend now after 3 weeks. It is stretched, slides down all the time and is very irritating. Can’t wait for it to be gone. Nothing I’ve tried keeps it up. Snug doesn’t work and too tight numbs my foot and turns it purple. Last thing I want now is my foot to fall off… But Colorado is beautiful!! Seeing the majesty of the Creator all around…
I am also healing more quickly than expected, and am so glad you are as well! I pray for the next people who suffer our injury, that the surgery they gave you is more main stream. It sounds so much less invasive than the surgery they wanted to do on me. I have been taking hyaluronic acid, glucosamine chondroitin, and vitamin d/calcium, and with that and my faith I am almost healed!! Never thought this day would come!
Amen! Thanks for the encouragement. All that you said plays an important part. Faith definitely gets you through it all in order to do the other things.
On 4-6-15 I fell & broke my knee. Per my dr. the patella had been “punched down” & my tibia right below the patella (kneecap) was fractured, he thot my ACL & MCL were torn & would require repair. On 4/29 I had arthroscopic surgery where my dr.did a new procedure called subchondroplasty, he made 3 small incisions in my kneecap & injected an organic bone material, he lifted my patella back into its proper position & back-filled it w the bone material which also filled the fractured tibia. During surgery he noticed my ACL & MCL were stretched, but not torn, this was good news. I was to not walk or put any weight on it for 3-4 mos. That news was v.depressing.
Two days ago, about 11 weeks post.op.my dr.said it’s healed very well & I can start walking – ditch the crutches. I was thrilled!
This site gave me an insight to this injury that my dr./ medical staff never did and offered me several good suggestions as well. For those who are laid up, on crutches, slow to recover, please know it will pass. My dr.felt my injury was serious & unusual. He asked if I was a spiritual person, because he felt it was a “miracle” I recovered / healed quickly. I said I did pray & did a lot of self reflection while I was laid up / recovering. But personally I feel it’s bcuz Im overall in good shape & health, was diligent w my exercises, took vitamins+supplements, deeply massagd my injured leg 3-4 x’s a day w lavender essential oil & regularly stretched several times a day. For those suffering from this injury, take care of your health, lose weight if u know u have to (xtra weight is hard on your joints) and stretch & deeply (deep tissue massage) massage your injured leg. This I feel sped up my recovery. I was able to stand on one leg, my injured leg & walk out of my dr’s offc. carrying my crutches. He felt PT was optional for me since he said I was doing well, but recommended I get a cane as I slowly get my gait back. Now too I must focus on getting my confidence back to move & groove like I used to. The down time I had recovering has taught me to slow down, to “stop & smell the roses”.
Hey Becky! Boy I understand about the work thing! Hard to jump right in without something swelling.. Are you able to have your leg elevated? That might help with the swelling. Or at least if you can do it for some period time. How soon till you find out about partial weight bearing? Progress… still on the track. I’m a little concerned about a 22 hour drive to CO, but have some plans for what I can do. Have you tried compression socks? That may help at work. I am truly grateful I’m too old to work!!! Rest up or do you work on weekends?? I don’t like to wish time away, but boy, it would be nice to be over!