Kneecap broken in three piece.

[Aggro_Inliner91]

So, I'm not entirely sure on the technical terms for my brand of injury, but I will explain the story of how it happened.

I'm an inline-skater, so I always push myself past my breaking point, but one monday morning, roughly 12 days ago I had the greatest scare of my life, I was "bombing" a street that had a great incline to it, this street I always "bomb" on a daily basis, if not more than 12+ times a day, I ended up losing my focus and paying for it, I was managing 10-15mph down the very same hill, and as I stated, lost my focus, wound up crashing into a lightpole, and breaking my right kneecap into three pieces, I was rushed to the ER within 30 minutes after the initial incident, and had gotten x-rays and whatnot. They had me scheduled for surgery 12 hours later, and I was under for 4.5 hours, or so I was told, I was so strung out on morphine I didn't know where I was half of the time. But, on to the question:

I'm 20, I skate(d) more than 8+ hours a day for 6 months, and I have never had such a critical injury before, I'm worried that I may never be able to dabble in my passion for more than a year or two, and it's scaring the living hell out of me. The day after my surgery, they had me using a walker to allow me to get some familiarity with it, I sort of failed at first. But, the next day, I started moving around more, and able to do my normal activities within 3 days. Now, that I'm more used to moving around, i'm able to get up the stairs, go in and out of the house, I can get on and off the couch without any issue, and generally do the things I could do before this, but with some limitations. I can't put any weight on my right leg, if I do my foot feels like it has pins and needles in it. I'm curious on how long it may take for me to get back on my feet and skate once again. I'm going to the doctor Monday afternoon to have my stitches removed and to get my P.T. scheduled.

Could anyone who has more knowledge shine some light on this for me? I really want to get back on my feet even if it's absolutely grueling and painful, but I just can't be like this, this killing me mentally and physically, not being able to enjoy my greatest passion, and I'm just really scared that this injury will permenantly ground me.

I don't know if I'm making good progress, or if I'm not even half way there, apparently they have to "break-in" my knee to get the ligaments and joints to loosen up so I can move it.

If I absolutely focused on my P.T. and more than willing to make it my life for the time being, could I manage to get back on my skates within 4 months if not earlier? 

Thank you for any information that you could share with me.

N.

[webster1661]

"I don't know if I'm making good progress, or if I'm not even half way there"
Welcome to the "fractured patella club" (trust me, no one joins willingly!).
I'd say if you were that active before that's good and will most likely help you recover your strength and flexibility faster than some of us "more advanced"club members. However, you can't be in too much of a rush or you can risk doing more damage. Listen to the PT, and Doc.,  take what you need for pain management, ice your knee regularly. From what I've read in various people's post-op diaries, blogs, and other "conversations" on this website... it generally takes close to a year to fully recover from a fractured patella. The biggest hurdle is trusting your knee again (especially coming down stairs). I am not a doc or PT. You should discuss your hopes / plans with them and follow their guidelines. You will skate again, just not likely within the 4 months you are hoping   I don't want to dash your hopes; everyone is different and responds in their own way to injuries, but I have seen a "typical" road to recovery for this is about a year.

Please talk to someone you know / trust.... you will have days when you are really down about it all... hang in there!  Post things here and people will generally reply. Use the "search this site" function to look up other postings and there's lots of good info in the "information hub" section.  That's the best advice I can give you just now...

Good luck, keep  us posted!

[acg]

First think to put in your mind: this is a serous injury and it takes time to heal and even longer to recover, sad to tell that Webster was right, usually a year is the time line to reach to "start feeling better".

Sorry for telling you, but skating in 4 months seems kind of impossible First you need to recover all your ROM, which may take from few weeks to few months, depending on your injury, your will and your pain tolerance levels. After that, your quad will be completely wasted, so you'll need to recover the strength on it. Again, few months for sure. Finally the mental stuff: you won't be trusting your knee, so any movement requiring weight bearing different than walking (such as stairs down, running or skating) will be scary. The latter really depends on you, not anything physical.

My injuries were pretty much severe than yours (both shattered patellas, femur broken and DVT, check for my post in the "Bone breaks" section), but I am 7 months after surgery and I still need a crutch to walk around (mostly for down hills and down stairs). My ROM is now complete, but it wasn't until a week ago or so. My quads are still weak, although I feel much better than couple of months ago. Luckily, my hardware (pins and wires) is going out next Tuesday and many people here said that is the take off point for PT

So, do not give up dude! This is a tedious, complex, painful and LONG process, but it DOES get better! Do not desperate and keep pushing on your PT, even if it hurts like hell, it's the only way to get back to skating

[ladypt]

So, I'm not entirely sure on the technical terms for my brand of injury, but I will explain the story of how it happened.

I'm an inline-skater, so I always push myself past my breaking point, but one monday morning, roughly 12 days ago I had the greatest scare of my life, I was "bombing" a street that had a great incline to it, this street I always "bomb" on a daily basis, if not more than 12+ times a day, I ended up losing my focus and paying for it, I was managing 10-15mph down the very same hill, and as I stated, lost my focus, wound up crashing into a lightpole, and breaking my right kneecap into three pieces, I was rushed to the ER within 30 minutes after the initial incident, and had gotten x-rays and whatnot. They had me scheduled for surgery 12 hours later, and I was under for 4.5 hours, or so I was told, I was so strung out on morphine I didn't know where I was half of the time. But, on to the question:

I'm 20, I skate(d) more than 8+ hours a day for 6 months, and I have never had such a critical injury before, I'm worried that I may never be able to dabble in my passion for more than a year or two, and it's scaring the living hell out of me. The day after my surgery, they had me using a walker to allow me to get some familiarity with it, I sort of failed at first. But, the next day, I started moving around more, and able to do my normal activities within 3 days. Now, that I'm more used to moving around, i'm able to get up the stairs, go in and out of the house, I can get on and off the couch without any issue, and generally do the things I could do before this, but with some limitations. I can't put any weight on my right leg, if I do my foot feels like it has pins and needles in it. I'm curious on how long it may take for me to get back on my feet and skate once again. I'm going to the doctor Monday afternoon to have my stitches removed and to get my P.T. scheduled.

Could anyone who has more knowledge shine some light on this for me? I really want to get back on my feet even if it's absolutely grueling and painful, but I just can't be like this, this killing me mentally and physically, not being able to enjoy my greatest passion, and I'm just really scared that this injury will permenantly ground me.

I don't know if I'm making good progress, or if I'm not even half way there, apparently they have to "break-in" my knee to get the ligaments and joints to loosen up so I can move it.

If I absolutely focused on my P.T. and more than willing to make it my life for the time being, could I manage to get back on my skates within 4 months if not earlier? 

Thank you for any information that you could share with me.

N.

[ladypt]

Hey....I am a physical therapist and I just fractured my knee cap (patella) 3 weeks ago:(    I had surgery 3 days after my fall, which occurred at work and am now in a knee immobilizer 24/7 for another 3-4 weeks..    Doc does not want me starting P.T. for another 2 weeks, even though my xrays as of last week look really good.   I am able to walk around with walking stick but do get intermittent pain and feel sometimes tired.   As a P.T., I know that his injury takes time to heal and the patella can be very 'tenuous".   Listen to recommendation from doc and P.T. ...mostly, be patient.   You can do lots of exercise to build up other knee, core muscles and arms in the meantime.    I don't think it is reasonable to imagine you will be back skating in 4 months, but, you will be skating when the time is right....probably closer to 8 months to 1 year.       Hang in and stay strong      Bobbi

[Aggro_Inliner91]

I'm wholeheartedly sorry for this tardy response, had some life things to settle.

Anyways, it's been more than month since the surgery, I haven't been scheduled for Physical Therapy quite yet, that will be decided on May 9th.

But, I'm able to put my full weight on this knee(with brace), I'm able to climb stairs, walk around, and do my normal stuff as I would do before the break, of course, my brace is always on my leg, so this is why I can do it.

Without the brace, I'm still assimilating to walking around, I use my cane, but I'm able to walk(at a slow pace), with some articulation starting to show, the incision has healed 100%, and I'm in good spirits! I've kind of shifted all of my more excessive jumping abilities to my left leg, and use it as a platform when have to jump up and down to board the bus.

Anyways, I shall keep you all updated as much as I can!

Sincerely.

Nick.

[Aggro_Inliner91]

First think to put in your mind: this is a serous injury and it takes time to heal and even longer to recover, sad to tell that Webster was right, usually a year is the time line to reach to "start feeling better".

Sorry for telling you, but skating in 4 months seems kind of impossible First you need to recover all your ROM, which may take from few weeks to few months, depending on your injury, your will and your pain tolerance levels. After that, your quad will be completely wasted, so you'll need to recover the strength on it. Again, few months for sure. Finally the mental stuff: you won't be trusting your knee, so any movement requiring weight bearing different than walking (such as stairs down, running or skating) will be scary. The latter really depends on you, not anything physical.

My injuries were pretty much severe than yours (both shattered patellas, femur broken and DVT, check for my post in the "Bone breaks" section), but I am 7 months after surgery and I still need a crutch to walk around (mostly for down hills and down stairs). My ROM is now complete, but it wasn't until a week ago or so. My quads are still weak, although I feel much better than couple of months ago. Luckily, my hardware (pins and wires) is going out next Tuesday and many people here said that is the take off point for PT

So, do not give up dude! This is a tedious, complex, painful and LONG process, but it DOES get better! Do not desperate and keep pushing on your PT, even if it hurts like hell, it's the only way to get back to skating

Thank you for being 100% honest with me, I dislike sugar-coating and I'm afraid my denial had sunken it at the time I started this thread. But, it's been over a month, and I really think my Doc is hinting at long-term intervention with me, which makes me want to punch him, but eh.

They tried crutches with me, but I damned near put myself back into surgery when I misplaced my right crutch too far from me and put all of my weight down on it after only being 12 hours out. Boy, let me tell you, I was yelling and screaming bloody murder, and almost slugged that Specialist. But, I was using a walker for 2 weeks, and then started to work myself into using my leg-brace as my walker, so I got into the habit of only using my walker if it was paramount. After that, my dad bought me a cane, and I started using that, but found it to be making it harder to walk, but then I got used to it. Now, I don't use my walker, and only use my cane when I have to take the brace off to shower. I'm not suffering anymore pain or discomfort from it, strangely. Just a rather awkward feeling when I'm walking around without the brace, it's a funny sensation, and makes me giggle a bit. 

I see this injury as a reincarnation for my skating, I can completely redo my entire technique and fix some old bad habits that I developed early on in my starter's phase. I don't see this as bad, anymore, plus it's given me empathy for both my sport, and the people who had to suffer from this, and it's just fun to tells stories of how I broke it to people I just met, it's a nice ice-breaker. I do have my up and down days, although I've been working on getting my legs and upper-body back into the old swing of things, so I've been doing a few home remedies. Menial tasks actually help healing, believe it or not.

My parents were both amused and in awe of my knee before the surgery, it was almost bigger than a grape-fruit with all of the swelling, and the staples, as well the x-rays. I also have to thank you and the others who posted on my thread, your experience has given me a new look on this, and makes me realize I kind of got off easily with the broke patella.

They put 4 screws in my knee, and I believe they are permanent.

_____

N.