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*
It’s been 5 mos. since dr. gave me the good news of all healed, ditch the crutches, go FWB & start walking. For those of you still going through the early stages of this frustrating & challenging type of knee fracture, my heart goes out to you. But do know, there are brighter days ahead. I spent April through July on crutches, NWB. Being able to walk again, I still walk w some limping & some pain (particularly when Ive been on my feet for a while) – some days are better than others. But, slowly, with constant stretching & activity, it gets a wee wee better. Continue working on being patient & strong. Make sure those close to you remain patient & understand it ca. Take a year or so to be back to “normal”.
I broke my tibia plateau and fibula back in 2012. It will be 4 years in March. Wondering if anyone out there after this length of time is still having pain. I can’t walk fior more than 10 minutes without the pain starting. Lately it has brought me to tears because I can’t hardly take a step. Is anybody experiencing this?
I had my TPF in May of this year, and since I have started walking have sporadically had a sharp pain near where my fracture was.. My chiropractor thinks it may be an inflamed tendon, but it is very painful and keeps me from exercising like I should.. I plan on seeing another Dr soon for a second opinion.
I was struck by a truck while riding my motorcycle in Nov 2009. Shatzker type VI. I still have constant pain and it is getting worse. Walking is difficult and trying to sleep is also rough. If I move I wake up, and some nights I only get 2 or 3 hours of sleep. For now, I am working, but it sure isn’t easy. Elevating reduces the swelling but isn’t an option at work. Just try your best to fight thru the pain.
Hi I’m a week into my TPF cast with brace and NWB for 6 weeks.
I’m getting a sharp stabbing pain in my calf on the left had side, it doesn’t last for long ..
Should I be worried ?
Thank youb
Yes you should. I had the same thing and just got out of the hospital for 5 days with a blood clot
I’m looking for a support group online and I want better understanding of my condition of my recovery.
I fractured my tibia plateau October 27th 2015. I am 6 weeks post double tibia plates and 8 screws.
Luckily I am able to get around and fend for myself, as well as care for a dog and two kids using a wheelchair, Zimmer frame and crutches.
I have just been allowed to start to partially weight bearing over the next 6 weeks. But confidence in my knee is low with regard to being able to properly walk again as I also ruptured my anterior cruciate ligament.
I have 0-100 degree bend in the knee which was painful to get using the brace.
I found using a plaster cast cover and having hot baths useful to get the movement back.
I hope this helps someone else going through this as I had little help, even acquiring my own dressings and changing them myself over the surgical site, but I come from a medical background and I would not recommend this if you do not have prior knowledge or the stomach.
I wonder if anyone has this problem: about 6 or 7 years ago, I started having one of my knee (sometime right sometime left), kind of slightly sucked for a second when I walk. It does get back to normal immediately, unless there is an obstacle, like a slippery spot. Is it something I need to worry about? Anyone has the same symptoms? Please let me know.
It’s been 4 weeks since I fractured my TP. After a week in the hospital, 2 weeks in a rehab center, I am home, and getting used to do things just by using a wheelchair and hopping around. My son was a great help for me. I learned a lot, and I am positive I will be fine on my own. After spending 1 week with me, he is going back to work beginning Monday. I am going to star working from home, with my computer and tel. Mt Dr. said it is ok. I am little bit nervous, but I need to be brave, since I cannot drive to go back to work. I need the money to pay my bills, and I need to be brave.
Dec 7th, I am going back to have another X-ray, I hope this time, I will be able to be PWB!
Anyone with the same situation? BTW, I am 67 y old, and healthy.
Thank you,
K
Steve, Thanks for the “heads up” that it can take 2 yrs to b limp free. Like so much w this injury, I will have to be patient.
My apologies for the length of my “story!”. I will definitely be looking for your update! Prayers are with you!
Karen
Hi Karen, tank you for sharing. I am a travel professional and I see a lot of my clients getting into an accident while traveling. It’s a huge inconvenient, fortunately you were with your family.
I am so happy for you that everything turned out fine for you.
I will let you know about what the Dr is going to tell me tomorrow.
I can’t wait to have this x-ray done!
Thank you,
Kay
Hi Karen,
I really appreciate you sharing your experience with me. I certainly see many similarities between our cases. You make me feel more positive about my situation. I am having a Dr. appointment on Thu and I am leaving the nursing facility to go home to my apartment. My son is willing to stay with me until the end of the month, and then he will need to go home to San Francisco (I live in the East Bay CA). I am a widow, and live all by myself. Medicare will provide some help for me, like PT, OT, and someone to come and help me showering…maybe few hours/week. I am planning to work from how, and I home to be ready for this. I am glad you are doing very good. How did you fall? Kay
Hi Kay,
I’m glad to hear the sound of positive thinking! Attitude makes a world of difference. I have mentioned on here before that I am a devout Christian. My faith has been a big factor and the rapid healing is really only explained as just that, Divine healing.
My accident was during a vacation at the Outer Banks, NC. I live near Pittsburgh, PA and my oldest son and family (2 grandchildren) live in VA. we have been vacationing with them each summer since 2007, the last 4 years at the Outer Banks.
Found a nice charter boat for 40 and comparatively inexpensive. Went on July 1 after a night of thunderstorms. Rough sea and “suggested” we postpone or accept refund, but if 20 would still want to go… well, we went. Took 3 hours to get into the Gulf Stream riding a bucking, up, down & sideways and all but up side down boat. Half of the people hanging over the side. It was awful to try to walk. I got to the front of the boat from inside and the captain said the back was smoother. Tried to get to the hand hold, missed and went backward. My son told me I really cracked my head, but all I saw was my leg twist, felt the excruciating pain and then my leg bent sideways from the knee. Captain helped me to slide to the back where they were kind enough to get me ice for my suddenly very swollen knee, leg and ankle. I sat there for 6 hours until the trip headed back and got to the dock. My husband insisted we find an urgent care and they refused to see me after looking at my leg. Said an ER (50 miles north) was the place I needed to be.
It was the middle of the vacation, so I spent my time looking out the window at the beach and watching my family enjoy it. I had to take naps and not wanting to ruin anything, managed to go up and down 25 plus steps every day when all wanted to eat out or shop or sight see. I even had to do my turn on cooking with help from my husband.
After we got home for a couple weeks we even drove 2 days out to Colorado to visit our younger son as we had already planned and do each summer. Nice how all the rest areas have handicap access!
Wheel chair, shower seat and more than I can even tell you of kindness of strangers! It was eye opening and so encouraging to have such compassion from people I had never seen nor would again.
At home (2 story) my husband helped me up where I stayed until having to go out. He packed my lunch before he went to work at 5:30 am, putting it in a small cooler. He also included my breakfast! After 43 years of marriage I appreciate him more than ever before.
I had raised horses for 28 years and just before we left for vacation I had sent my last old gelding to auction. Sad, but unknowingly fortuitous!
So my apologies for the length and repeat of some to all others. Keep your chin up, Kay and just know even when you get down about it, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Working will help by keeping you busy and thinking of other things than your leg. Not easy, but necessary! Great attitude, too! You will be ok… God bless!
Karen
Hi Kay,
Sounds like we have some commonality in our injuries. My leg also twisted when I fell and caused the break. No surgery, but was told I would need it at ER. My surgeon felt it best to let it heal and stay NWB for 3 months. Turned out to be 6 weeks, allowed to walk as tolerated because he said xrays showed it was healed. Allowed to drive at 7 weeks post injury. 4 1/2 months later I still have stiffness and some discomfort, but try to muscle thru.
Wheel chair and shower seat saved me during the initial 6 weeks and after. Almost back to normal, but because of my gait, I have other issues (back, etc.) Have found my stamina is still weak, but just do things slower and get it done. My husband saved me with excellent care. Now, I’m mostly back to normal activities, even walking on our local bike trail once a week. Not as long as I used to but building.
Like you, Kay, my injury was not as bad as lots of the folks on this blog, but still a struggle and lessons learned. I am grateful for my recovery, still ongoing. But at 65 years old onward and upward!
Take care!
Karen
Hello. I had a tpf on 10/29. I have brace around my left leg. I had an x-ray last Thursday. Dd said it’s better, I may not need any surgery. I sm in a rehabilitation center for 14 days now. I am NWB for maybe another 4 weeks or more. I feel stronger and I sm doing fine with everything except that my right shoulder is hurting me because I am using walkers. I am taking pain medications and help with ice. I have another X-ray next Thursday and I am planning on leaving the center to go home. I will have a walker and a wheelshare . BYW, I am 66 y old, I live alone, very health and active beside the tpf. I live in a small Appartmt. In the 1 st FL, but they are couple satires and I do need help to go out. My son is going to stay with me until the end of the month, and then he can only stay with me on weekends . I hope I can make it with a walker and a wheelchair. I need to start working from home with a computer and a tel. I feel good about it, but sometimes nervous. Anyone has an experience like me? No surgery, my fracture not very bad bec I just had my leg twisted badly and the ligaments broke the tibia. Please let me know. I will gladly appreciate it. Kay
I DEFINITELY had ankle pain after my TPF… In fact that was some of the worst pain I experienced after the initial injury… People still ask me if my ankle has healed, and are totally unaware that it was my knee that I broke. Mine swelled, and was bruised for at least a couple months, I’m told because gravity pulls the fluid from your around your break to your foot/ankle.. My injury is 5+ months out now and I’m feeling more normal, but my ankle has only looked and felt right for a month and a half or so.. It seems like an eternity, but you will heal, and get back to your self.. ☺
This may sound odd, but does ANYONE else have ankle pain with the fracture? I had surgery first week of Oct 15, now it’s almost Thanksgiving (awesome!) and I’m still NWB.
I told my surgeon that my ankle hurts and my big toe also hurts and I feel like I was shined on.
Anyone else?
hi there, its been 5 weeks since my accident and 4 weeks since my surgery (2 plates, 9 screws) im still not allowed to put any weight on it yet, not for another 2 weeks says my physio guy. but yes I have pain in my ankle, its weird like a sprained ankle or something, also can anyone let me know when they drove, im bored outta my brains and I just wunna get out and about, I feel ok about my leg and ive got a kinda forest gump brace on so feels secured, cheers
Dear Kay,
I hope your leg stays straight. Mine did but somewhere after he quit the X-rays and it was supposed to be healed enough I could walk on it, my curvature started. It’s my right leg and my knee cap has dropped and my leg curves out. Also, when I broke it the bone was compressed. I will never get length back in that leg again. I really wish I had chosen the surgery to start with. I am 3 1/2 yrs out and still need the surgery. However at this time it will be more extensive. I pray for you that you have great success with your healing.
I fractures my tibia plateau 15 days ago, by sliding on an oil spell in my garage at work. It was so slippery that my leg was twisted so bad, and by miracle came back in place, the pain was unbearable!
The found out in ER that I have a fracture of the tibia plateau. They thought about surgery, and later they changed their mind, and they opted for healing. Yesterday I had another x-ray, and the Dr. said, it’s ok, he replaced the braces I had with another braces for future binding exercices. He said I will need about 2 mores weeks before considering bearing any weight on my left leg. I can’t go to work, I can’t drive, I am now in a nursing facility, and I hate it in here. However, I have no choice because I live by myself, and no one can help the way the hell me here. I have a son who can stay with me fr a couple weeks only, then I am going to go back home in a week. I don’t how to manage alone? I am afraid to fall. I have a job at home waiting for me, I need it. I think maybe I can make it. I just hope my knee will heal properly. BTW I am 65 y old, female, and widow. It’s terrible to be alone.