Broken Femur And physical therapy

[Jumpit007]

Hey there! I broke my femur in October...the 9th. I had surgery to get an intramedullary rod put in, to stablize the fracture.

So, I start physical therapy on wednesday..and I have no clue what to expect. Has anyone here done physical therapy for a leg injury, and what kind of stuff did they do with you??

Thanks!

[russ]

I broke my femur palying hockey in Feb. 1989. I had an IM rod for about 18 months.

I started therapy in the hospital within a few days of the injury. It was geared towards restoring full ROM (knee was pretty tight after the injury due to muscle spasm) and minimising atrophy. I wasn't weight training at the time, so I don't know how long it would be before you can squat, deadlift, etc, but I would guess 3-6 months ( I recall being able to carry a canoe on my back by summertime).

[Jumpit007]

Coolie. My physical therapy is at like...8am tomorrow. Yay. Haha. I have full ROM of my knee already, but it was tight cause thats what I landed on when I broke my femur. My main ROM problem is in my hip. Its still pretty tight. I'll update on how it goes.

[UConnJulie]

At this stage of the game, goals will likely be to
1. normalize range of motion at all joints
2. get inactive muscles firing properly again
3. normalize gait
4. improve functional activities like stair climbing, transfers (on/off chair/toilet/bed/shower)
5. reduce edema and pain

Gradually the shift will be more toward strength building.

Keep us posted on how it goes.

[shawnhpi]

hello, and im a newb!

Cam across the thread while searching broken femur on google.

So I have a broken femur right now Mine is due to a motorcycle accident Dec. 29th.

Question to the OP, or anyone else who has broken a femur. I also have a Ti rod in my bone with bolts. my break was more towards the bottom of the bone:


Where was your break?
What kinda of movements were you able to make?
How far could you bend your leg?
How swollen was your knee are, and up your thigh?

As of right now i can't bend my leg that far, barely to a 90 deg angle. It tightens up at the knee area quite a bit. going up my thigh, maybe the rectus femoris muscle? feels and looks very "defined" when i flex it (more than my good leg). They cut me open in two areas, more towards the hip and on the side but a bit above the knee area, both areas are swollen or pain to the touch (sometimes depending on my position).

Is this normal feeling so far? Not being able to bend my leg? I hope to start PT soon, but is there anything I can do while i wait to start stretching my leg? Or should I just wait for my 6 week doc appointment?


Any help would be great?