Fracture of tibial plateau

[Helene2013]

The joy!

How to waste a winter training season!

January 10th I was coming down from bedroom floor to head to basement to do my MAP test on bike. Had been a great day so far and my winter training was doing well.

So I get to 3 steps to the landing and my left foot slipped and the right foot landed flat on two stairs below (the one before landing). THE PAIN I felt is undescridable. It is the knee I had a torn ligament reconstruction 12 years ago and my 1st thought was that it got totally teared and more again. Oh no! I could not stand up on the foot. hubby saw it all as he was at bottom of stairs. The sound it made when the right foot touched the stair is still buzzing in my ears.

I managed to skip to the sofa and applied immediately the RICE technic. Weirdest thing...I could no see much swelling. Hummmm. Painful, no swelling or minimal. For now anyway. It is a Sunday 4pm. So clinics are all closed and to me it is not an ER issue. I'm not gonna sit 18hours in ER hospital for this. So I'll wait in the morning to give my generalist a call. In the meantime, I write to my PT to let her know I'll need her soon. And my boss to tell him I'm in deep trouble.

Next day I see a doc. Xrays came ok and hard to tell fracture due to the pins in my fixed knee. So I am sent for an MRI 3 days later. Results came in: tibial fracture and medial meniscus tear and a referral to see an ortho.

But the night following my accident I was already into PT at 9:30pm. She did me some good and helped me see clearer until we get the full results. She tested everything and said my ligaments seemed all good. Once results came in, she said my symptoms did not match the results at all. hummm

I got to see quickly an ortho (he it can take months but I have excellent connections that helped me). He confirmed that my ligaments are clear. Yeah. The fracture is a very nice fracture caused by impaction. In the sense that nothing chipped. It is more like a nice crack but no fragments loss. It will be able to heal back on its own but in the meantime, I was not to walk on it, or minimal with help of crutches and then a cane. No going to walk in snow, no taking risks of slipping or uneven surfaces skid. I have been off work for 4 weeks now. Should be back after the 6 week mark. For the meniscus, it should not disturb me and repairing it may make it worst than better. So he will not touch it. My knee is extremely stable and he said my PT was right that the test results do not match my symptoms but he's very happy with what he sees.

He gave my PT a strict rehab plan, like no squats at all for 3-4 weeks, no over flexion (like pulling my leg towards my butt, no long walking distance, no wobble board, lunges, but I can do my indoor bike as much as I like, but 0 resistance and no kick of the foot for 3-4 weeks. I get to see him back for a follow up of xray 6-8 weeks (which is in 2-4 weeks from today). He wants to see how the fracture healed.

I do PT an hour a day and started aqua physio yesterday. So much easier in deep pool.

As this was not enough... my left knee started to swell and ache (from being the sole support for 4 weeks then). Ended up doing the RICE on that one too, saw PT and she did a taping again to help the fluids move away from knee. I see the ortho again this coming Wed and I'll see what he thinks of this now. I had been able to let go of the crutches...and I'm back on them. I do wear compression socks to help with the swelling.

It's been a hellish of 2016 start but there are worst things in life. I still signed up for a 110km bike ride in June. So I have to be ready. And ortho approved. At least my fractured knee is no longer hurting and swelling is gone. I am pampering the left knee as much as I can and I'll see what ortho will do with that one now. I'll ask him at same time to get some Synvisc One as the last injections were almost a year ago and with this freaky accident, I'm sure all that synvovial gel is gone. Must have been squashed out on impact.

What a winter! I feel I lost so much cardio and PT said there is not much I can do to get it back right now. At least I can do some muscle training (no choice to keep the legs very strong.

[OakLeaf]

Ugh Helene. Heal up fast.

Can you crank an arm ergometer - just for some kind of cardio?

[Crankin]

So sorry, Helene. But, you have a good attitude.

[Catrin]

So sorry Helene, I understand your frustration but you are handling this well. I concur if you've access to a gym with an arm ergometer that might be better than nothing.

[shootingstar]

I'm sorry to hear of this latest injury, Helene! Be patient with your recovery. Make your recovery a safe one a higher priority over the June bike ride. If you can't go, can you get a refund?

[Helene2013]

Thank you. I did not know about this piece of training equipment and since I don't do gyms I called two around here and none of them had something similar to this. I have not seen it at my PT's clinic but will ask. I'll try to dig the web to see how otherwise I can do something until I am allowed to do more without the use of knees. I'm sure there must be something out there.

As for the bike ride in June, ortho said I should be ok for it. And since this tour is made of a 50km and 60km loop I can always complete one and forget the other one. The 60km is more scenic with very challenging hills (and this is my favorite of the 2) and the other one is boring as it goes through rougher roads, more into some cities, etc. And my employer pays for it anyway so I would not lose much. And we can't get reimbursed either.

Since I'll be on week 2.5 since my last visit to ortho this coming Wednesday, and he had said 3-4 weeks without any resistence, he may decide from checking my knee that I'm ok to increase a gear or 2. That would help raise the cardio since I could get a higher cadence as well. But then, I still have that other knee now that is bothering me but since it is not a fracture - and probably just overuse from bearing all my weight, he may let me try something. TBC.

[Aromig]

How frustrating! Heal quick! Glad the bike ride in June gives you something to look forward to.

[ny biker]

Best of luck with the recovery, Helene.

[Helene2013]

Went to see surgeon today for my swollen knee. There was so much fluid that I could not bend or walk properly. I sleep on my stomach and the stretch of my leg was making it so uncomfy to sleep even with pillows under leg. As soon as he saw that knee he sent me right away into his surgery area. He numbed the area and then proceeded to remove two full syringes (those bigger ones) full of synovial liquid. It was weird to see the knee come back to normal size as he was doing the procedure. Also did an infiltration.

Still off work another 4 weeks (for the fracture of tibial plateau, and now this issue).

No physiotherapy until Monday. I can resume what I was doing, but for the bike training warm-up
No cycling (on trainer) for another week but we will be able to increase resistence from 0 to 1, if the leg with extra fluid lets me.
No aquatherapy until next Friday (of next week)
No walking on left leg for 24hrs. I can walk at home, with crutches but not go all-day shopping. Once the next few days of remaining "calm" are over, I can start to use 50/50 weight on the fractured leg but not overuse the left one either. So much fun figuring all of this out.

He wants to see me back in 4 weeks and at same time will take an xray to see how the fracture healed.

So some more boring and quiet time at home. I'm fed up but it is what it is for now and I should be ok for summer. If I don't abuse of the knees. osteoarthritis is no longer helping but can be controlled to a certain point.

I'm sure I'm forgetting things but overall, it's been a helly winter on that front. But there are certainly worst things in life and we'll deal with this issue one day at a time.

[Catrin]

Youchies Helene! So sorry you are having to go through all of this Hope things feel better soon!

[Crankin]

That must have been very uncomfortable. Two syringes ? I fractured my knee, 40 years ago, and I had to drag myself to the ER to get it assessed. It was at a teaching hospital, where they promptly had a 3d year med student stick a syringe in my knee to drain it. That was worse than any other thing I've had done.
I hope you can abide by the brief restrictions for the next week. It must feel very boring, but it does sound like there will be complete recovery of the fracture.