Crooked leg after tibial fracture

@jenniferhunter thanks so much. I don’t know that I can get to Mayo. It sounds encouraging. How long were u at Mayo? How long rehab? How long non weight bearing ? Post op visits? Seeing a new doctor today. Will ask about it today. You have given me something to think about. I’m 79 and that age is likely a factor.thank you for taking time to share!

@earlaexander I was at Mayo just for the surgery for a bad ankle fracture, and 2 weeks later to get a hard cast, then 4 weeks later to get that removed. I didn't go through any bone shaping procedures for my leg. I did see a patient at Mayo with a fixator around his lower leg that was undergoing some bone modifications. Right after my injury, I had an external fixator screwed into my tibia and ankle to stabilize it before I had surgery to repair the ankle that was put on where they took me after the injury. They just cleaned and closed the wounds and didn't try to fix the bones yet because they were expecting a lot of swelling. It was a difficult thing to live with having a cage screwed to my bones and I just lived with that for a bit over 2 weeks. I learned about these procedures because I was reading about my surgeon. I am doing some work right now with my dentist who is expanding my upper and lower jaw and I turn a screw on the appliance that I wear in my mouth. It works similar to the fixators and a patient turns a screw to apply pressure to move or expand the bone. Bones modify themselves from pressure, and turning the screw keeps adding pressure in small steps.

As for Mayo, you don't know until you try. You do have to have insurance that they would take. One thing that would be in your favor is that places that provide this type of bone regeneration are very limited or few and far between. You probably can't find a hospital doing this in many places, and if you have a need for this to avoid disability, who knows?

My non weight bearing was the typical schedule for healing a broken ankle. After the hard cast came off at 6 weeks past the injury, I started partial weight bearing in small steps. My fixator was not changing my bone, just stabilizing it before I had internal fixation surgery. If you were doing some bone modification with external fixation, you'd have to ask the surgeon about what to expect and how long, etc. Sometimes they slice through a bone and graft it with corrections and sometimes they add a bone graft into it. Your bone density may make a difference on what is possible. Thinner bone density may change the game. You may want to print the article and take that to your appointment. I would be interested in hearing what your doctor thought about this approach.

Good luck!
Jennifer

@jenniferhunter thank you for the info. My appt was change until 6/3 . Plus I go get brace today so will have it for a week before seeing 2nd surgeon. I am printing your information to take with me. I’ll let u know. Again much appreciation for you taking time to help me.

I started a comment but can’t find it. Don’t see it anywhere. Went to surgeon I had with broken femur 2019. Exrays are terrible. Plate on medial side is totally disconnected from anything. 1 screw in is backed out and at an angle. Reddened area and swelling was sent for lab work to rule that out. Surgery scheduled for 6/12. New plate on each side and possible one grafts. He feels he can straighten leg out considerably. I do have a brace to support but not actually doing much since walking pushes it out but it does make me feel more stable. May be psychological but I’ll go with that. Said I shouldn’t be walking on it. But……be careful and not much walking.

Had surgery 6/12 to remove failed hardware. Plate not attached to anything and the 1 screw remaining was just dangling. Realigned bone nearly straight with new plate Dr. concerned about any infection did 5 cultures. See him 24th. There will be another surgery to plate outside of tibia. Amazing in that I was asleep but also had nerve block so no pain post op. Even now still no drugs but ibuprofen! Hoping this all gives m a straight leg and I’ll be doing well this Fall. Non weight bearing for around 15 weeks then I’m back to the barn and doing chores. Will update as time goes on. Sending peaceful and healing thoughts to all who have suffered from any complications from tibial fractures.

Had 3rd surgery 7/7 to plate lateral side of tibia. Leg doing well. Only post op pain was where bone graft taken. Did develop an ileus when gut didn’t wake up after 2nd surgery in 30 days. 10 days in hospital to get resolved. But home wheeling around. The moral of this saga is dont give up on corrective opportunities for anything! There is help out there but have to know how to find it! That’s the biggie! As for me for 1st time this year I have an optimistic outlook. I pray each of you have that opportunity.