Femur Stress Fracture

Posted by belong1224 @belong1224, Mar 20 11:07am

Hello, I was diagnosed with stress fractures in both femur, likely due to over prescribing of Fosamax. Fortunately one femur has healed, but the other stress fracture has not. I will see the doctor in April for a new x-ray. If my leg hasn’t healed, I will have to have a titanium rod inserted. Question: if you don’t have a traumatic fracture and you have a titanium rod inserted what is the recovery time? Thank you.

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gently | @gently | Mar 20 1:28pm

belong1224,
Forteo is often prescribed for atypical femur fractures especially the non-healing. You might call the surgeon and ask for script. If you do have surgery, it is also used after surgery to speed healing. I would want to start the medication right away because it is one that decreases the risk for these and other bone damaging effects of anti resorptive medications like bisphosphonates. All of the other available medications for osteoporosis increase the risk except Tymlos and Forteo. I don't qualify to answer your actual question.

oopsiedaisy | @oopsiedaisy | Mar 20 1:34pm

I'm so sorry to hear this. How long were you on Fosamax? I also fractured on Fosamax after taking it for over 5 years. Mine was a vertebral compression fracture, not a femur fracture.

I found this information on post-op rehab of a femur fracture after bisphosphate treatment and using rigid bone fixation.

"The average time to bone union was 9.9±6.1 months, ranging from 3 to 23 months. None of the patients required additional surgical procedures, including revision surgery for pseudoarthrosis (nonunion) or delayed union. Before AFF, 12 patients walked independently, and 1 patient walked with a single cane. At the final follow-up (mean duration: 34.5±15.7 months), 8 patients could walk independently and 5 patients walked with a single cane."

Here is the link to the report if you would like to read it: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7369319/

Justin McClanahan, Moderator | @JustinMcClanahan | 2 days ago

Hello @belong1224,

I'd like to invite @skshapiro, @mikeship, @coonassbill, and @lindsayweeks who have all discussed having a rod placed in their femur to share their experiences with that surgery and recovery.

@belong1224, you mentioned that the fracture was a result of a likely overprescription or application of Fosamax, is this a cause that your provider came to discover or suggest?

belong1224 | @belong1224 | 1 day ago

My provider suggested stress in femurs such as mine are the result of overuse of Fosamax. I had one in each femur. One has healed. I return to the doctor next week to see if the large fracture has healed. If it hasn’t, I will have the titanium rod implanted.

skshapiro | @skshapiro | 1 day ago

In reply to @JustinMcClanahan "Hello @belong1224, I'd like to invite @skshapiro, @mikeship, @coonassbill, and @lindsayweeks who have all discussed having..." + (show)

April 2nd of last year I took a step in my kitchen and my femur totally broke. I was shocked because I have never had a problem with my bones inspite of the many times my knee has buckled on me. I did have TKR in February of 2023 on the same leg. I will say the surgery for my femur went very well. I recovered very well the bone growth has been excellent and I did have a rod placed in my femur but it has not given me any trouble. I was diagnosed with osteopenia in 2017 and chose to deal with it using supplements: vitamin d, calcium lactate, vitamin c, magnesium, and vitamin ADK. My last Dex test showed improvement and my doctor told me to keep doing what I was doing. I hope this helps and good luck.