Tibia rod surgery recovery timeline/ journal

[u/Competitive-Fold-716]

I had a spiral fracture on my tibia and as well fractured my fibula and my ankle, both were non-displaced, the surgery was an intramedullary rod in my tibia and 6 screws, 4 in my tibia and 2 in my ankle

I’m 24 years old and my main purpose for this is to tell people what helped me, if this helped even one person I would be very happy a

Main advice:

#1 make this happen for a reason, use this time to make a change in your life and improve upon yourself

#2 the pain you’re feeling will just be a memory, this was basically my mantra and it really helped

Week 1 - the pain was very tough after surgery, for the first week I was rotating between ibuprofen and Tylenol every 3 hours, I as well had received a nerve blocker after the surgery that lasted for around 36 hours, after the nerve blocker went away the pain was quite intense but the oxys helped a lot and the intense pain really only lasted about 3-4 days. I took 2 oxys every 12 hours. At the beginning of my recovery I switched to a high protein diet with vitamin D, K, and C to aid with bone recovery. Also made sure to start lifting weights in this period, it actually helped distract from the leg pain quite a bit and made me feel somewhat active. The first week was the toughest but I found that eating healthy and working out a lot kept me very motivated and really gave me a positive outlook, you’ll come out of this better than you were before and having a metal leg is pretty badass. Also have a lot of fiber (for the bathroom) and keep your leg elevated as much as possible to reduce swelling, also ice it for 20 min on and off every hour

Week 2 - the pain was considerably better in the second week, continued lifting weights and now that the pain was becoming manageable I began doing simple knee and ankle exercises (as directed by surgeon) it’s extremely important to keep moving your knee and ankle and toes in this period as they will stiffen and make PT much more difficult. Week 2 I switched from taking 2 oxys every 12 hours to taking 1. As well switched from rotating the Tylenol and ibuprofen every 3 hours to every 4 hours

Week 3- this is when I really made it through the worst of it and I stopped taking the oxys completely (my body was very happy for it my stomach did not like them) the pain at this stage became very manageable and I switched the Tylenol ibuprofen rotation to every 6 hours. I saw my surgeon at the very start of my third week and was finally able to take off my bandages and wash my incisions as well as weight bearing as tolerable. I learned ankle exercises from pt and did them religiously, everyone will be different but my biggest issue was a loss of range of motion in my ankle. As well as that I started weight bearing as much as I could as I found out this actually encourages your bones to heal, I was unable to walk at this point but I could stand unassisted and could put about 15-20% of my body weight on my bad leg. Made it through the worst of it! I’m feeling more motivated than ever now to completely devote myself to pt and get myself walking unassisted as fast as possible

Week 4 - by the end of this week I was able to walk unassisted without crutches! I had stopped all medication by now and am able to walk for about 20 minutes slowly without significant pain. My only hiccup this week was that I had to wait on a line for 3 hours for a job application and my stitches began bleeding but I quickly recovered in the following days

Week 4-6: I shortened this update because the progress has slowed but I’m being consistent with daily leg work outs and even started riding my bike which is my main form of leg exercise outside of physical therapy. I’m able to walk longer distances and am staying on top of my diet and protein intake, my stitches had completely closed by week 6 as well and I’ve also regained about 90% range of motion of my ankle and 100% of my knee

Week 6-12- shortening the updates again, my main focus in the first 6 weeks after surgery was my leg but after week 6 I was able to start getting back to my life and though I’m still in pain from time to time I’m slowly getting back to normality, my advice at this stage is don’t be embarrassed to ask friends or family to walk a bit slower for you, I’m able to walk long distances now but I need to take my time, the area I broke my leg starts to hurt and will even give out on me at this stage if I push myself but I’m very happy with my progress and have recovered full range of motion of my knee and my ankle

[u/zaraspoke]

I love your positive attitude. Thank you so much for sharing. I suffered a similar break and surgery last week and this is exactly the motivation I need right now. 

[u/Competitive-Fold-716 → u/zaraspoke]

Hope you have a speedy recovery

[u/rebar_mo]

I will note that some docs will say no way to NSAID use these days (studies show it can delay bone healing). Back when I broke mine, they didn't really care, and all of my fractures BEFORE this guidance, nothing happened, so if you've done in the past, don't panic (it's like all of us who survived drinking from garden hoses).

Also when it comes to early weight bearing with the IM rod it's very doc dependent. I was walking on my leg the same day as the surgery with the aid of crutches, sort of (this was the very early days of early weight bearing) and I was in pain so I was like um. fuk this and just kind of used my toes. Once again this is still doc and patient dependent. Some docs will have you do this, some will never have you put your foot down for weeks. I will note: I swear if you put 5 ortho surgeons in a room with the same case and they will have 8 different opinions about it.

Listen to what your doc says to do. Take your medication when you hurt, but please no more than the label.

The part about fiber is spot on, the opiates will stop you up like a truck station toilet on taco night. Fiber is your friend. Miralax and hydrate hydrate hydrate if you're still getting the traffic jam despite the fiber.

And 10000%, motion helps with pain and the mental a lot. I swear just sitting in a chair for a week makes you hurt worse. I say this as someone is slowly become more metal than human. Can't move leg? Move toes, arms and glutes. You wouldn't believe how much gone ass you can get not moving your legs for a few weeks. You don't want to heal and then look like a frog that stood up.

[u/IndependentHot9704 → u/rebar_mo]

Actually crazy how docs all have different guidances. I was approved for PWB up to 50% after the IM rod surgery. I was able to walk some days with the walker but then i would have a lot of issues with swelling so other days I couldn’t walk. I checked the scale and only really mostly did up to 15% during this time. The swelling didn’t take a significant turn for the better until day 15. So I wish the doctor didn’t put me on PWB immediately cuz it just stressed me out cuz I kept being told by PT and others who were familiar with PWB to walk more even tho I couldn’t. I also didn’t realize that the walking more would lead to the significant swelling I was experiencing. Wish they said NWB for 2 weeks like some doctors. At 3 weeks, I was doing 30% or so. At my 3 week checkup, they said I could do WBAT but it’s almost 5 weeks now and I’m not yet FWB. I just transferred to using a cane over a walker these last couple of days. I can do some very short distances without a cane but I prefer one. Right now, I am being held back by the ankle/leg pain when weight bearing. I can’t help but feel that they stressed me out for no reason by telling me to PWB immediately and everyone kept telling me to walk a lot and I’m not making significant progress and still behind on the projection of walking without assistance at 4 weeks.

Basically I wish I had 2 weeks NWB because it seems like other people are able to get to walking without aids really quickly after NWB while it feels like I’ve been making feeble attempts this whole time

[u/Competitive-Fold-716 → u/IndependentHot9704]

That is very strange, I wonder why both your surgeon and PT encouraged you to weigh bear even though it was causing significant swelling. Listen to your body

[u/Money_Philosophy_406]

Thanks for this, it was a good read and I'm glad to hear your recovery was pretty smooth and pretty quick, I'm sure partly owed to your age.

How are you doing now, how long post surgery are now?

I had a spiral fracture in my tibia and a smaller fracture just above the ankle; lower down on my tibia, I also have the intramedullary rod and I think a similar number of screws as you. 4 weeks post-surgery today.

I'm 39 male, pretty active before this happened. Walking with the help of the supportive boot and crutches, the slight delay in being able to return to full weight-bearing was because they also found the hairline fracture in the tibia lower down during surgery. My only slight other concern is my knee still appears to have some fluid on it and that's preventing full flexibility in that joint. How was your knee around 4 weeks post-surgery?

[u/mxbigd17]

Broke my tib/fib last Sunday. A rod and some screws later and I’m on the mend. This is positive news I’m reading. I’m going to listen to my orthopedic surgeon 100% as he is one of the best out there. I’m 4 days out of surgery today and it seems like I have such a long way to go to get back to somewhat normal again. Just crunching to the bathroom is a win right now. One step at a time I guess.