Tibia plateau fracture

[walker100]

50 year old male with some exposure to the SS methodology. Longtime lurker on this site. Bust my knee one week ago. Fractured my right tibia plateau (and blew off the ACL). Surgery four days ago to repair the fracture (pins and plates). Leg currently in a fixed brace and I have been told it will be non weight bearing for six to 12 weeks. I’m familiar with Brian Jones’s story (and thankful that my injury is significantly more modest than his). Barbell training will be part of my rehab, and I know that the sooner the better in terms of maintaining muscle mass and range of motion. My question is this: how soon is too soon in terms of the fracture repair itself? At 196cm and 115 kg I am a full size human. I want to start walking and training as soon as possible, but don’t want to mess up the repair. Interested in hearing any views on realistic time frames.

[walker100]

My question is this: how soon is too soon in terms of the fracture repair itself? At 196cm and 115 kg I am a full size human. I want to start walking and training as soon as possible, but don’t want to mess up the repair. Interested in hearing any views on realistic time frames.

So, my surgeon insisted I was 100% non-weight bearing for six weeks. Moving around meant I needed two crutches, with the injured leg in a fixed brace. Didn't even touch my right toes on the ground for balance. (I can now hop pretty good on my left leg.) I used an e-stim device daily to keep my right quads doing something. At the six week mark (after x-rays showing that the fracture repair was good) I was cleared for partial weight-bearing, which meant still using two crutches to move, but I could now put some weight through the right leg. At seven weeks, the PT suggested dropping one of the crutches, and a day later (yesterday) I found my way to our home gym for the first time in a couple of months. I managed three sets of five deadlifts at the non-award winning weight of 50 kg. Nothing snapped or fell off, and a day later my knee is feeling fine. My friends on the Facebook tibia-plateau-fracture support group are horrified with any sort of gym work at this stage. Every injury is different, but large numbers of that group are stalled in their recovery, months or even years after their initial injury, because the prevailing groupthink is that you need six months plus of recovery before you can do anything significant with the repaired leg.

[Will Morris]

So, my surgeon insisted I was 100% non-weight bearing for six weeks. Moving around meant I needed two crutches, with the injured leg in a fixed brace. Didn't even touch my right toes on the ground for balance. (I can now hop pretty good on my left leg.) I used an e-stim device daily to keep my right quads doing something. At the six week mark (after x-rays showing that the fracture repair was good) I was cleared for partial weight-bearing, which meant still using two crutches to move, but I could now put some weight through the right leg. At seven weeks, the PT suggested dropping one of the crutches, and a day later (yesterday) I found my way to our home gym for the first time in a couple of months. I managed three sets of five deadlifts at the non-award winning weight of 50 kg. Nothing snapped or fell off, and a day later my knee is feeling fine. My friends on the Facebook tibia-plateau-fracture support group are horrified with any sort of gym work at this stage. Every injury is different, but large numbers of that group are stalled in their recovery, months or even years after their initial injury, because the prevailing groupthink is that you need six months plus of recovery before you can do anything significant with the repaired leg.

Facebook Random Orthopaedic Condition Support Groups are atrocious sources for information. The amount of conspiracy theory crap that gets pushed around those things is on the level of Alex Jones.

[Jason Donaldson]

I managed three sets of five deadlifts at the non-award winning weight of 50 kg.

I disagree. I'd say you have won something here. Well done. Keep it up.

[walker100]

I disagree. I'd say you have won something here. Well done. Keep it up.

Thank you Jason. You are absolutely correct: I did win something when I managed that mighty 50kg pull. As has been remarked on these boards many times in the past, a huge part of the training effect is mental. Making the lift demonstrated to me that my leg wasn't broken any more, and that I could do something while on my feet without having a literal crutch in my hand. This realisation had significant carryovers into other areas of my rehab. I've been back to the gym several times since then, adding weight to the bar. Deadlifts, bench and press all going well. Tried to squat an empty bar last week, but couldn't get proper depth. PT suggested doing TRX-assisted squats until some of the residual swelling around my knee settles down, so I have been doing that.