Platuea Fracture of the Tibia

I was out riding a little over three weeks ago, and when I came down from a big back roll in the flats my left foot went through the front of the binding. The end result was a platuea fracture of my Tibia. I had surgery to repair the bone and came away with a couple of bolts to hold it in place. I was wondering if anyone else had experienced an injury like this, and if so how long they were off the wakeboard. I'm on crutches till the end of April, and hoping to be on at least a surfboard by Mid May, and hopefully back on a wakeboard sometime in June.

christie fisher had that same injury, as did my friend henry. i believe they were back out on the water in less than a year...maybe 6-7 mos?

all i can say is don't rush it. do what your doctor says. and listen to your body.

yup, it's kinda common. You'll be okay. Drink a lot of milk and don't rush it. Just be careful not to re-break it. I know Christie had 2 surgeries and my other friend re-broke his messing around, so just take the doctors orders and take care (my understanding is Christies doctor blew it the first time, wrong screws)

Ouch bro I feel your pain. I have not had the exact same thing, BUT 2 years ago I nearly exploded the top of my shin bone where it articulates at the joint. The CATscan thingy revealed that I had bruised my bone all the way into the marrow. Talk about feeling gun shy for the rest of the year!!! LMAO Hope you heal well my friend...

Don't tell me about this stuff!!!! LOL!! It makes me second guess trying that next move! (Fingers in ears) LaLaLaLaLaLa!

I feel your pain. I broke my Tibia & Fibula On August 28 on a HS blind 180. A rod was inserted in my Tibia. They didn't touch the Fib. I was walking without crutches by end of October and was back on the water wakeboarding in Mid January. I barely went wake to wake taking a real easy. I was snowboarding my mid February. I didn't feel completely healed until about threes weeks ago. The doctors said 6 months and they were right. Good luck. My Patella (Sp?) tendon that was cut to insert the rod at my knee joint seemed to take longer to heal the bone. In fact, it still doesn't feel healed and the doctor wants to remove the rod this fall. That means my knee will have to heal up again, which may take six months. Anthother crapy thing was the Tib was set about 10 degrees off. I am glad I stopped snow skiing or I would be making doing the splits all the way down the hill.

Thanks for the input, even though its not what I was hoping to hear. My six month mark will not be until August 4. Which would pretty much kill my season. That would only leave me with 2-3 months of riding without the drysuit. Oh well could be worse. I'm hoping to at least hop on the surfboard and wakeskate sometime in May or June. That should at least let me scratch the itch a little.

ask christie fisher about her experience if you really want somebody to stomp on your buzz!!!

A friend did that behind my boat beginng of last July. He has not started to board since. 6 months of recovery and rehab minimum. He had to go back for another surgery 2 months ago. Dr. told him he should never do "impact" sports again. Rehab like crazy and work on flexibility. Good luck.

scott- i am really sorry to hear about the injury..
dont forget to eat really healthy(try not to drink) and take lots of glucosimine (3x the dose)

and follow the advice of the md in terms of recovery..

Yeah dude i just did that last summer and was out for 11 weeks, i started riding after 8 but slow with no jumps just surface 3s just to keep up with progression,,, take all your fins off and you can actually have a little fun without practicing.

11 weeks isn't too bad. My Dr. says that everything will be good as new once the bone heals. There wasn't any tendon damage so I just have to get the bone healed and I'm good. Like I said, I'll be happy if I can just play around on the surface pretty soon after getting off crutches. Its funny, but I'm dying just to get back out on the boat even if I can't ride. I see it everyday in my boat port at home, and I can't wait to go out on the water again.

Rene had the same injury a few years ago. At first his doctor thought it was his ACL, but after the MRI they discovered the fracture. The bone itself healed quicker than the mental block.

Scott-

I had the EXACT same break last July on my 30th B-Day. Same thing with you as with me, I have two stout screws holding my bone together and the recovery was pretty long (8 weeks). I wakesurfed at week 6 with a brace, but it was still pretty tender at the time. Since week 8 I've logged in 30+ days of snowskiing and countless falls in the park and pipe with no problems. I'm hoping to ride behind the boat for the first time this weekend or week. I'm battling anxiety at the moment, but I'm sure I'll over come it.

My advice...take it slow and follow doctor's orders. That break (especially with screws holding it together) is a pivotal fracture that requires lots of RnR. Don't rush it basically. You'll be stronger than ever and ready to ride by June/July (remember it takes about a good solid 7-9 months for the entire break to fully heal).



(Message edited by dukeboy on March 25, 2005)

Well I'm off the brace as of today, and I'm on to Pain and Torturing tomorrow (I mean Physical Therapy). But still on the crutches till April 25. I ordered some Noni juice too, hopefully it will work as well for me as it did for TO Anything that helps me get back out behind the boat sooner is good in my book.

Jesse, I'm glad to hear that you were able to at least get on a surfboard pretty quick. I'm hoping that I can do the same come May. Good luck with your return to Wakeboarding, take it easy and more importantly have fun.

Hey Garrett, I did the same thing, Indy Tantrum....Tib/Fib 2.5 years ago. Both bones were compound tho and I had a lot of muscle damage. I got the rod and screws, whole nine yards. I'm leaving mine in permenently, my friend just got his removed though in sept. and said that the bone feel a ton better. Mine was about 8 months before I could go wake-to-wake.

Wakeninja, I'm lucky mine wasn't compound. The bone fells fine. The muscle and range of motion around my ankle is still a little tight. I went out this weekend and felt great. I even pulled off a couple threes once I got comfortable. A few more outings and I'll be back. But, I think it will be a very long time before I try another HS 180 blind.