Anyone broke there Tib Fib? How long to recover?

So this past thursday I was out riding the Dirty D. and was on my 2nd set. I was trying to work on my heelside 3. I got the pop and just barely missed the handle, when I landed I heard this loud pop....I knew I broke something in my leg! I unclipped the hinges on my zues. and loosened the strings.... stuck my hand in side to feel my bones were snapped and hanging there. In the mean time I am screaming F*(K and am in pain. My buddies roll up and I tell them i broke my leg. my one buddy jumps in hasselhoff style and grabs me and brings me to the swim deck. They take a screw driver and take the bindings off the board. Put me on the engine cover and start rolling me in. I had two firemen on the boat that knew what they were doing so I was in good hands. They are trying to call 911, but the operator keeps bouncing them back. One of the fireman (chilidog from this board) calls his firestation in Mt. House. The Mt House fire rolls up to Rivers End as we pull up.... Joel, (new_joser on this board) is one of the fireman from Mt. House. He dopes me up with a bunch of morphine and they proceed to cut my laces on my zues. I just picked these up the week before and did not want to destroy them. and Joel was cool about it. Joel new screen name should be candyman for all the morphine he gave me.

I took an ambulence to the ER in Tracy and what a bouncy ride! damn it hurt. I was in ER until about 10pm then they put me into a room and told me they will operate friday morning. I broke my tib fib and it was in a few peices. They said it is unstable and need to make it stable so it will not cause nerve damage. The doctor stopped by my room @ 9am and told me I was going to go under @ 10. I was a little worried, not knowing what was happening. They ended up putting a rod from my knee to my ankle and 4 screws. I got about 17 staples in my leg.I was not completely out when they operated. They gave me some wonder drug and an epideral.... I felt them pounding the rod into my leg and could hear it. Not a great sound. I was so drugged up I didn't care.

I got released saturday and have been laying on my parents couch. It sucks. I am bored and want to know if anyone else had has this happen. What was the recovery time?

Damn sorry to hear, wish u a healthy and speedy recovery. If it makes u feel any better i'm laying in hospital bed right now waiting for surgery on Weds. Broke Tib in 2places and shatterd knee. Best of luck to both of us!

Damn dude, good story for down the road but really sorry to hear it all went down. Good luck on a speedy recovery. Keep your head up.

Spend your time on those hobbies you stopped making time for. Look at it as an opportunity to work on things you've been neglecting.

Cheers

My buddy did the same thing (actually I have two friends with the rod in the lower leg from wake). So everything stayed in the skin right? If it compounds infection can be a huge issue in our wonderfully clean lakes.

I think my friend was out for at least 6 months and then slow to get back in the game. It healed up pretty good but he was only 18 when he did it and very athletic. Good luck, that is a major injury. Take it easy and then rehab it harder than you've ever done anything in your life.

Ronnie, REHAB REHAB REHAB, And if your doc was Sadu or Dameo get in and have someone else take a look at it. They did my leg when I shattered my tib. and left a big bone chip that wrecked my knee. Take your time I was cleared to go back like 2.5 months after my surgery but with the bone chip I was back out and stayed our for 8 months. Feels good now but will never be great. Thats the thing about trama surgery you don't get to pick your doc. SUCKS!!!

I would say you should stay off the water till next season. And rehab the crap out of it.


Shawn take care bro!!!! and good luck with the Knife.

Ronnie,

And to think it wasn't even behind the X2 or STAR - hahahhaha. In all seriousness bro when I got your text that night I was super bummed to hear the news. It always seems like when we get started rippin again we get hit by another setback. Keep your head up we will have ya on the water again soon. I wheel ya out to to the DRA Orwood stop next month we can just kick it!

I can swing by some Wakeboarding mags to keep the stoke, let me know. Make sure your ready to rock out @ the Haloween party, heard some CSI's will be looking for ya -

Hang in there homie - take care - I'll ring ya up later today!!!

I wish you luck on a speedy recovery and come back stronger and hungrier bro!

CIE Allen it was Demayo that performed my surgery. I also have a small chip that he said will heal on its own that is towards my ankle. I will have to get it looked at by another doctor now. He also said I can get my rod and screws pulled out down the road if they bother me.
One of the crappy things is the doctor sent someone else to check up on me on saturday morning. He left for the weekend. The other doctor didn't undress the bandages that was filled in blood. They let me go and said to leave it alone.. I got home and that night it was driving me nuts. The blood had dried and was making my skin raw. I had to clean all the gauze and re-wrap it. They should have done it there.

That story was freaky...My buddy did the same thing, and we are all firemen...He was throwing scarecrow and didn't get around on it. broke tib in one place and it was open. broke fib in 3 places. I think it's just one of those things when it's meant to be its meant to be. I was all tore up and couldn't ride from my head not being right. but then another buddy told me he had broken his femur from a freaking wake to wake jump so at that point I was like if it's supposed to happen it's gonna...NOW lets go ride. Sorry for the injury I'd say you will be out a couple months anyway...

Ronnie,
I would say that He's a hack, He has done few people that I know and no one has been happy. Go see Knight at Muir Ortho he i sthe one that fixed my knee great guy and really good Doc. if you need any thing drop me a note I have all the ice pumps and braces you can think of.

If mal practice wasn't such a hard suit I would say I would go for it but thats one of the main reasons why our ins is so high, Thats why I havn't done it but man that guy sould stop practicing.

BTW if its right under the knee you might look into a ROM machine if they say its OK, IT will get you back on it faster, WALKING NOT RIDIN.

AL

I think I would rather have that than an ACL tear though.

i recently tore my acl and meniscus and they left a bone chip in my knee. they said its really small. i would rather tear my acl than have a broken tib/fib. my acl didnt even hurt when it happened and after surgery wasnt bad

I broke my fibula in may and just started back wakeboarding a few weeks ago.It took that long to get my muscles back where I could use my leg.I started off wakeskating(surface tricks)in july,that helped build the leg back but man does it hurt.feels like your leg is going to collapse under you the first few weeks.Tibia is a little different seeing it supports your weight.From what I understand most tib fractures come from car wrecks.Must have been a pretty ruff landing.
I would say work all winter to regain the muscle in your leg then have the rod removed in the spring before you start your season next year.If you leave it the impact from boarding can work the screws lose and cause more damage to the bone.
Good luck and don't let the injury get you down.

Ronnie,

Good to hear your on the road to recovery. Sorry to hear about your experience at the hospital. Hopefully the crucial stuff was taken care of and the rest can be reevaluated. Go see CIE AL's guy. And believe me, if I was in your shoes (bindings) I would hope you'd give me as much Morphine as I gave you. Oh and sorry about the whole "Oh sh!# I gave him the wrong drug" comment. You probably don't remember that part. HA HA. If you had to go down hard glad I could be there for ya. Plus me and Scott need a dedicated driver. Get well and get well right.

P.S
Hopefully some CWB guys on here can hook you up with the laces I had to cut. If it was anyone but you I'd have cut the whole dang thing off.

(Message edited by tinyTdubb on August 18, 2008)

I had a compound tib/fib in august of '03. Had the IM nail and screws installed.

It took about 2.5 months before I was walking again. I was doing some light riding again in January.

Keep an eye out for symptoms of a DVT. It is a pain in the butt complication to deal with.

I broke my tibia and fibula. Took 3 months total. REHAB-REHAB-REHAB - & REHAB! Youll be set.

Hey Ronnie, I feel your pain. April 19th working on the backroll Tib/Fib break. A plate and 12 screws later I'm back together. Heading to Bass Lake this weekend and plan to wakesurf, first time I'll be on a board since the "incident" as we like to call it. All I can say is hang in there it get's better. You'll have milestones that really help keep you positive. I'm still dealing with quite a bit of swelling but this week my limp is almost gone. On the bright side, at least you waited until near the end of the season, I did mine when it barely started. Hang in there!!

Before After

Ronnie- That sucks. I'm so sorry, sounds very painful. Take care, and baby that leg so it heals strong.

BTW- I have a bunch of laces so if you need some later down the road, hit me up

Ronnie,

I have been on both sides of the story. I had a tib/fib fracture with IM rod and screws several years back. Now I am a physical therapist and work on people with these type of injuries. It will take some significant time for healing but if you do things right you should have a good recovery.

A few things to think about to maximize your healing are 1. appropriate diet 2. If you smoke, stop now, 3. Start working/continue working on the rest of your self. Often after an injury like this people will quit exercising and when they are able to start working on the leg they have lost a lot of their physical condition. 4. As soon as your wounds heal and you physician allows, get into the pool and start walking in chest deep water (make sure you ask your physician). 5. Remember to work on the rest of your leg (hip musculature, quads, hams)
6. Work on upper body, and core conditioning as well. 7. Get into a Physical Therapist as soon as the physician allows and they will guide you appropriately.

Good luck with your recovery, and look forward to next boarding season.

nasty photos to follow look out if your stomach's easily upset!!



haha its that time of year.....your story sounds almost exactly like mine. i compounded my left leg on the 5th of july. heres what she looked like. broke the tib in 1 spot and the fib in 2 places. i ended up with 35 or so staples a rod and 4 screws.
had to have my buddies hasselhoff it as well and get the bindings off the board (not an easy task with blood and bones for all to see) since my ordeal was compound the main concern was infection and thats a whole different story compounding my problems.
its been 6 weeks a few days for me and im walkin again if that makes you feel any better!! i lost about 25lbs in the first 3 weeks. mostly all my muscle weight. my leg shrunk up and looks pretty funny. dont get me wrong i can walk around but its surely not even close to normal. i have quite a "swagger" and my knee is forever sore. doing the whole rehab thing like the therapist says and things are going good. im not allowed in water till the wounds from the leg and where i have a perm. IV line hooked up to my arm are taken out so the pool isnt an option for me. biggest thing i can say is get a boot to put your leg in to keep your foot and ankle from "dropping" just kinda natural thing that happens apparently when your not using your foot. if you have anymore questions i can go on for a while since im in the rehab process as we speak

20mins post break union point dock

(Message edited by seaswirlmike on August 19, 2008)

external fixation dang!

yea about 3 days worth, that and dressing changes with it in place were a whole bunch of fun

I also broke my Tib / Fib in February while snowboarding in Japan. I got a Nail and 4 screws put in while still in Japan. When I came home as I had suspected they had set the angle of my foot wrong. I went back in for surgery 4 weeks later and had it re-set right in Australia. I am currently just on 5 months post second op and I'm seriously considering snowboarding again soon. The biggest question I have is the doc is advising not snowboarding or wakeboarding until I get my Nail out, how many of you have snowboarded or wakeboarded with a Nail in your leg, has it affected you at all? Also, what where your doctors opinions on this?

my doc told me in a 1 1/2 years i could consider taking it out if it bothered me. i cant see myself going through all the rehab and laid up time again unless the pain becomes constant torture. im sure it all depends on the break/person/etc but 5 months seems a little soon.... im no doctor though. curious to hear what others have been told about leaving vs. removing it }myself!!

I have no plans to take the IM nail out unless it would ever start hurting or something. I have heard that you should take it out if you are at a high risk to break it again, because if you break your leg while it is in, it becomes a real problem.

I have had my IM nail in for 15 years and have no real issues with it. A small percentage of people will have the nail work up and cause knee pain but I would say unless you are having excessive problems, just leave it alone. I would ask your physician why he suggests taking it out before you board again.

It takes a serious amount of force to break a tibia.How can you do that wakeboarding?Is it from landing on top of the board or from some sort of twisting action?I know when I broke my fibula wakeskating it was twisting that did it but thats totaly different than a tibia.Can anyone with a tib fracture remember how it happened?

Wow, these tib/fibs are nasty!

I broke both rather badly when I was 14 or so playing soccer. It was gross, but luckily I didn't have to have any pins or screws. My bones did slip at first though and didn't line up exactly. The doctors decided to leave them that way and let the open areas fill in with new bone. Now parts of my shin are super thick and stronger than ever.

On an unrelated note, I had a stress fracture in the other leg and my body started creating so much new bone that my tibia and fibula fused together. Now it's just one big one! I guess I need to drink more milk.

people in the boat when i did it said it just looked like the board caught the water and my body continued spinning the scarecrow. both feet stayed in the bindings

So I am doing better, there is still alot of swelling. Black and blue on my whole leg. Can't really sleep @ night, but I am getting through it. I did as what CIE Allen said and am going to Dr. Knight next week. Hopefully it will be a postive out come.

Thank you everyone for the support and info.

Andrea, I will take you up on a lace for my one binding. If you are going to be @ the dRA event @ Orwood next month I can get them then...No Rush lol.

Thanks again wakeworlders!

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quote:

I think I would rather have that than an ACL tear though.

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I don't know man. after tearing my ACL and recovering and seeing that stuff, I'd take the ACL.

yeah I'd take the ACL any day of the week

Ronnie,

Keep us in the loop and let us know how your recovery goes.

Good luck.

Yeah I think I changed my mind. I cannot wait for my ACL surgery!

I'll take NEITHER! Honestly, my torn MCL has been worse than my tib/fib break so I have to agree with Gene. I just don't think knees ever get back to normal no matter how much rehab you do. My broken leg never bothers me at all, but I was younger when I broke it though.

Tib/Fib will probably result in less arthritis when you get old, which is where the difference really lies. I wonder how many wakeboarding ligament injuries will result in full knee replacements later in life.....

2 months today since my accident. I am walking on it now for 2 weeks without crutches. I have a major limp but I am back at it. On vacation in hawaii and able to do a lot. Mine was not as bad as yours, small metal plate with 7 screws, but I do know what you are feeling. Make sure you do all the physical therapy you can once you get to that point. Good luck and I wish you a quick recovery. Below is my injury.

My Injury

Ronnie, If it makes you feel any better I was just over 5 months post op on Sunday and had my first set, just riding a Roam around but was awesome to be back out there. My leg felt pretty good. I hope you have a speady recovery and hopefully it isn't to long before your out there again riding.