So, I’ve just broken my hip and its going to be 6 weeks before there’s any possibility I’m even allowed to load bear on my duff leg.

Has anyone who trains to power had a similar injury and what happened so far as power figures, leg strength etc??

Did you race before and still went back after or was it too risky?

Yep although I snapped head end of femur off, resulting in 2 screws, 2 pins and a plate. Like you 6 weeks no weight bearing, but majored on the recommended physio movements (keep to recommended ones as some could be dangerous), then slow recovery. I obeyed surgeon and avoided turbo for 7 weeks, then easy spinning at probably 25% of FTP or something.

Built up over probably 3 months, cautiously. Used trainerroad to get new FTP and started on base build. Was back on bike outside after maybe 3 months. Nearly 2 years later my FTP is higher than before, although there is a slight leg strength discrepancy – powertap P1s usually show around 46:54.

Key thing was not rushing BUT keep synovial fluid moving round the joint to aid healing. Pilates has been great help for strength and stability, get lessons if makes sense.

Ps I personally won’t risk racing, mostly avoiding MTB as well. If I crash again the break could be more severe and I don’t fancy hip replacement or permanent disablement, ymmv

Well I’ve broken my hip and although i don’t train seriously I’m quite keen. Here’s how I found it post op’.
Hip was slower to heal than expected, it was over 4 months before i could put weight on it. By that point all I could was shuffle like an old man for about 10 feet when I tried to start walking again. It took a few months to get walking properly again. It was well over 6 months before I got on a bike and a good year before I was back to where I was before the accident.
My hip was screwed back together, if the hip is replaced it’ll be a lot quicker than this to heal and i’ve got low bone density that possibly didn’t help with how long it took.
That was nearly ten years ago and most of the time its like it never happened.
Happy to answer any questions you might have, good luck with it! 🙂
Just realised

I don’t train to power but the only difference my broken hip really makes today is a bit of a loss of flexibility and a fair amount of low level annoying pain. The leg took a long time to get up to spec but these days it’s basically just another leg, performs much like the good one. I’m too lazy to really train but when I’m on top of it I’m stronger than most riders, I very much doubt it’d stop me from training like any other mad person. Sadly it also doesn’t work as an excuse.

can i ask, what does ‘train to power’ mean.

had a total hip replacement 6 weeks ago, and just back to riding outside.
managed 15 steady miles today. no pain or aches.
stuck to physio religiously. even through the night.
saw the surgeon and physio on monday, they said to take it steady and build up slowly over a couple of month.

I meant train using a power meter. But all advice/anecdotes welcome.

Broke the femural neck out on a ride on Sunday when the whole group went down on black ice, rode home, hoped it was a muscle strain but ended up having cannulated screws put in on Tuesday.

So it’s a while off but focussing through it…and almost already debating what state my mind will be in for racing when I do get back to some semblance of race fitness…

I’m going to do the exercises religiously cos I’d only be training anyway, sounds like it had good effect Ton!

sounds like it had good effect

it has indeed mate. ggod luck with your recovery, hope you heal quickly.

mtbtomo – Member

So it’s a while off but focussing through it…and almost already debating what state my mind will be in for racing when I do get back to some semblance of race fitness…

OK, you have the same break as me. It sucks! But it’s doable.

I can’t compare before and after because I wasn’t into biking at the time, and I just wasn’t fit at all. Ironically the only reason I got into riding, was because of the hip- my rehab stalled because I couldn’t run on it so I only had gym/resistance based rehab to do and it got sooooo dull. So my consultant said “how about cycling”?

So I dragged my Carrera Krakatoa Flexstem out of the back of the garage and rode round the block, like once. Died. Did it again til I stopped dying. Started riding up the big hill, then one day saw a guy on an mtb come out of a lane near mine and thought, wonder what’s up there…

So about 2 years later I went back to the same consultant and he went basically, wtf, you’re walking right, your muscle tone is back, I didn’t expect any of that from you. I said yeah, I started doing a load of cycling. He says, excellent, some gentle road cycling is ideal for you. I showed him a picture of me doing a ladder drop during an enduro race. He essentially told me to **** off out of his clinic 😆

It never stops me doing anything. I ride longer and further than most people. It’d make being a contender a bit harder but not much I don’t think, certainly it’s not the reason I’m not. But I can respectably solo XC races (fatbiked my way into the upper half of the glentress seven…) I’ve done two enduro world series rounds, the Fort William Endurance Downhill 3 times. Broken many ribs, both hands, and my coccyx. Arguably this is all stupid but for me it’s this simple, you can ride and maybe risk a bad injury, or you can act like you’re already crippled and let it stop you doing things you could. And **** that. If I take an injury that ends my riding, teh odds are it’ll be something else. (if it’s the hip, **** it, I’ll buy an e-bike.

YMMV. I think the only real advice is, listen to the docs, it takes time and if you overstrain it while it’s part healed you could do irrepairable damage. It’s not fast, and when you glue stuff together with slow glue it’s always tempting to take your hands off too fast.

Ouchy ouch ouch! Sorry to hear that!

I broke my hip and pelvis when I was 18 in 2001. Got two plates and eight screws holding my right one together.
I was on crutches for twelve weeks and then back to it. I ended up getting a summer job in Centre Parcs before returning to college and the gentle manual labour probably helped my recovery. Although I wasn’t a cyclist at the time so can’t help with your exact query.

I am slightly wonky! My right foot angles outwards slightly and I rub all my drive side chainstays with my heel.
I am also a bit inflexible on that side. Socks can be a struggle.
They said I’d need a hip replacement by the age of 40 so wait and see although at 35 now, I think that’s pessimistic. I sometimes wake up and have to ‘unlock’ it so I reckon something is wearing though. I’d quite like to see an X-ray!

It hasn’t ever put me off of doing anything risky although perhaps deep down it explains my aversion to the sprint lap at Hillingdon 😆

Shattered my pelvis around the joint, leg went through it.

Rebuilt with screws and steel plate 3 years ago.

Surgeon said the joint will be stronger as the bone re-grows thicker.
More likely will get arthritis in years to come due the lining of the joint getting damaged.

Back to almost full fitness again and not worried about falling and damaging it, as its fully re-grown by now. Regular 2- 3.5 hr rides

I’m more fearful of re-breaking my screwed and “tie wrapped” collar bone, done at the same time as my hip.

I pushed to get fit as soon as I could. Listen to your body,and your physio. Dr’s tend to err on the side of caution, its your body, find a good sports physio and stick to the programme.
Start small and build up.

Thanks for the positive stories guys! Just had my wound redressed at the clinic. Saw the staples for the first time. Super neat!

The physio said no load bearing but since then the amount of pushing/shoving and twisting it’s taking to get out of car seats and I’m paranoid I’m bending the screws. Surely they’re not totally that fragile?

The physio said to crack on with the exercises, even the advanced ones but who knows if it’s stiff muscles or me hindering the bone healing by being a bit too pushy with my movements. Surely not.

Flipping heck Crosshair, did you mention that in the road race thread???!! I don’t blame you for backing out in the sprints and trying to get off the front!

I did the same as you and Northwind. I was 35, if I’d been 5 years older the surgeon said they’d have gone straight for a replacement as the risk of necrosis is so high in older people. I had x-rays for necrosis regularly for about 18 motnhs afterwards.

Did all the stretches they recommended while non weightbearing. Once I was partially weight bearing I did 2-3 3 hours walking a day to get strength back in the leg. Then joined a gym and did a lot of stength and resistance work.

the issue I had was osteopenia (brittle bones for the under 40’s) so it may worth you getting checked for that too (a bone density scan). I basically had the bone density of a 75 year old man which was what caused the break in the first place.

I now do a lot of walking etc to manage it and didnt; end up on drugs to reverse it just calcium and vit d tablets to help.

I had the bolts out after 2 years as I kept banging the heads of them on the edge of tables etc and it hurt like buggery. The muscles in my thigh sometimes ‘caught’ on the bolts too and would go ‘spoing’ which was a bit disconcerting.

15 years on I don;t even think about it unless I touch the scar tissue and realise there’s no sensation in that part of my leg now.

crap pic of my leg with three 100mm pins in, you can see how far they stuck out past the line of the bone.

Thats how my screws ended up wwaswas, they took them out in the end but only after a lot of nagging on my part…

Yep, that x-ray looks like what they done to me! I’m 38, so they said I have more reason to optimistic than not, like you say they have highlighted that it’s dependent on the blood supply not dying off.

I was 39 when I broke my hip in April 2017, I massively displaced mine so obviously couldn’t move after the impact. I was right on the age limit of them putting a replacement in, luckily the surgeon on the next day was up for a challenge so I got the 3 massive cannulated screws in mine now. I was off work for 8 weeks but I was able to load bear from 6 weeks(not everyone can), but even doing all the physio I was given I couldn’t fully dispense with the crutches until 5 months later and now I’m struggling with all the muscle atrophy that goes with that.
I did get on a road bike after 6 months but I still haven’t got back to Mountain Biking yet, i think that will be a year at least to be able to take the extra impact in the hips that mountain biking brings. I did try and use the spin bike as soon as the surgeon would allow but 20 minutes on almost no resistance left me unable to walk or get around properly for best part of a week due to the associated swelling that came to the hip joint. This also meant I couldn’t do the physio I needed for that week.
Sounds like your fracture is a lot less severe, so I hope you dont have an experience like mine,when I just done it, the doctors said 6 months to be back on a bike, I thought I could do it in 3 all cocky like but my lasting impression is that you cant force your body to do more than it wants, it just fights back, so do listen to your body and dont make any predictions on your return, in my case they just brought disappointment, but do keep a diary so you can see how far you have come and have something positive to focus on.
Also I did get a private physio but the reality for me was that they wouldn’t allow me to do much as they didn’t feel comfortable overruling the surgeons advice on not doing any movement or weight bearing that caused pain which at the time was most things that involved moving the hip.

Also for those that got the screws out, how long before the NHS would even consider it?
I was told I wont be discharged from this injury for 2 years and they wont consider screw removal before that. Mine cause me some discomfort. 9 months on and I still cant lie on my RH side in bed. Like the xray above, mine stick out quite far from the bone

Mine was done privately but still had to wait until 2 years for scar tissue to settle down etc.

I couldn’t lie on that side either.

I think the one of the weirdest experiences of the whole experience was when the physio said she wouldnt; sign me off to drive until I could hop on the bad leg because it would prove I trusted it enough to emergency brake (right leg injury). That hop was a big psychological barrier – I was half convinced my leg would snap off again…

They don’t want to remove mine- I can see why, it’s always a risk to open people up and it’s another round of recovery and scarring and that. If it was causing major issues- like, real quality-of-life stuff- they’d do it but it’d need a really strong reason to overcome the inertia of “just leave it”. Which is fair enough really, I’m happy with that.

Still a bit miffed that they’re steel, though, when almost every bolt in my bikes is titanium, that’s a serious weight issue. And I will never forget seeing the Draper Expert torque wrench they used hanging on their pegboard. NO! Send for my Halfords Professional, I wouldn’t use that thing on an Allegro

(they’re supposed to stick out a wee bit btw, so that the bone can shift and as it heals- it’s not a solid fixature, it’s a “keep it all lined up. Or so they said when i asked why they stuck out so far)

Draper Expert torque wrench they used hanging on their pegboard. NO! Send for my Halfords Professional, I wouldn’t use that thing on an Allegro

He had to use Mole Grips on the head of one of my bolts to get it out – they were too close together to get a socket over.

Appropriately ‘me’ level of bodging really 🙂

Thanks for the reply, I have no problem with them being left in there as such but the whole area where the screws are is still really tender and I cant imagine taking an impact of any size on it without passing out.
I can recreate the ‘spoing’ feeling wwaswas describes every time I flex my glute or trying to come out of a lunge position. That doesn’t bother me too much but its odd the sensation of the screws just being there hasn’t lessened over the 9 months they have been in.

Wwaswas, What was the recovery like for taking the screws out? How long were you back on crutches for? I must admit, the thought of going through this kind of recovery again makes me want to leave them in.

removing the screws was;

1) removal, he cut all the old scar tissue away and ‘tidied’ up – obviously there was tissue damage from the original injury plus the initial surgery. Resulting scar was neater.

2) Stiches for about 10 days

3) no stick, limped for about 2 weeks but was encouraged to walk normally – limping is quite habit forming.

4) once stitches out I was back on the road bike after about 3 weeks.

tbh, recovery was a doddle – there’s so much less trauma than the original injury you just have to wait for the flesh to knit where it’s been cut and stitched back together.

I’d do it again like a shot – it’s so much more comfortable without the pins. However, there is risk of infection etc with leaving holes in bones and cutting you open so it’s an individual choice.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/exclusive-interview-with-simon-gerrans/

Crikey, Gerrans can’t have been that bad really? To be pedalling in 4 weeks??? But I guess for mortals, on the NHS, and with no pro sporting contract, they will only x-ray you again when it’s reasonably likely you’ll have healed a bit. In the pro world I’d guess they’ll do x-rays more often so you can be back on the bike at the earliest opportunity?

Is it possible Gerrans didn’t have surgery?

I had x-rays every 6 weeks although the surgeon told me that x-rays aren’t the best tool for seeing how well the bone is repairing.

It is a significant injury so listen to the doctors and just do what they say and don’t rush back based on what a pro rider whose contract depends on it managed, better to wait now and have it heal properly and not cause you longer term issues.

Can I ask what amount of physio people were doing?

The physio gave me some sheets with some “beginner” exercises, which includes simple things like just clenching your buttocks or breathing in/out deeply to straightening your knee/leg out in front of you. There is also a set of “advanced” exercises which include standing on the good leg and raising the knee of the duff leg towards your chest.

The physio was quite relaxed about it all, clearly other people have bigger problems, cos he basically said crack on with all of them as I feel able.

Do I just do as many as I can? Do I limit it make it perhaps an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening? At what point does doing more have little benefit?

I’ve spent this afternoon in a cafe straightening my leg up and down, intermittently over an hour or two until the muscle got a bit of a shake on. I waggle my ankle when I’m sat down. I do some of the clenching exercises when I wake up in bed at night before trying to get back to sleep. Basically trying to take opportunity to do the exercises through the day.

So, not for anyone to say how much I should do, but as a gauge how much have other people done?

I started out with a lot of bed stuff- lift the leg slightly, bend it up towards the body with the foot down, that sort of thing. I had a lot of trouble with knee mobility so that’s possibly why it was stressed so much. Then over time there were therabands and suchlike, standing on the good leg and rotating the leg out to the right, I can’t remember what order it all came in.It was very baby steps at first though

I’ve had a lot of physio over the years but never for a broken hip (although reading thread as I’m susceptible due to other issues). My default would be build up to one set of 15. Then 2 sets of 15. Then 3 and then move onto more advanced stuff. Only do exercises twice in a day. It’s frustrating but (just like training) the actual benefit is when the muscles are recovering.

I’m not a physio though and it can be a fine art differentiating good pain from bad pain.

There was a time when NHS patients would get hydrotherapy (physiotherapy in a swimming pool) within a week or so.
http://www.physio.co.uk/treatments/hydrotherapy/hydrotherapy-for-orthopaedic-conditions.php
Which has a number of benefits, and speeds up recovery.
But
https://www.nbt.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/Hip%20Fracture%20Programme_NBT002570.pdf
….times have changed.

That’s what I’m trying to figure…how many reps, how to build it up. I have been doing 4 sets of 10 and could happily do more. Today I’ve probably done 6 to 8 sets of 10 until my leg muscles started shaking a little so then I stopped.

Lucky in that I feel like I can crack on with any of these exercises without too much difficulty at least getting a few reps in.

You will get spasms in the muscles.
Just do the exercises as much as you can when you can.
The pins and screws used might be this system
http://www.futureorthopaedicsurgeons.com/resources/80832_CHS.pdf

to get all that iromongery in requires a fairly large incision.
When sewing it all back together there will be a mixture of stiches and staples used, some soluble stiches. And it is the muscles that get stitched together. That is one of the reasons that the leg is very stiff and very sore.
The leg will have a limited range of movement initially, but as the stitches dissolve the range of movement will improve.

I don’t think I mentioned it no 😆

Sounds like you are doing great, My physio was very cursory from memory and I just did the basic set each day but was as active as I could be on crutches too.

It’s funny thinking about it as I generally don’t any more but dredging it up brings some things back as clear as day- like the metallic vibration through my skeleton when I used to flick the external fixator 😮 or the worry that a maggot would fall into one of the holes when I was fishing 😆

Richie Porte Q&A: On recovery, returning to racing, and the Mont du Chat descent

Tweets by richie_porte

With the physio I’d go for getting movement, not strength initially. There’s a lot of scar tissue that needs stretching back to full elasticity. That’s what hurts, particularly before the stitches are full dissolved.

You will get spasms in the muscles.

I’d forgotten that. Yes, if the stretches don;t end in agonising cramp occasionally you;re probably not trying hard enough.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/moolman-pasio-rebounds-from-broken-hip-to-claim-south-african-title/

http://digdeepcoaching.com/blog/shawn-heidgen-career-ending-hip-fracture-gets-back-bike-and-completes-2-giros-ditalia-femminile/

Nothing to add on the hip breaking side, but on the power side my concern would be if you use a single sided power meter, as there’ll be a very marked left/right imbalance, and you’ll get pretty meaningless numbers.

If you do then I’ll sell you my P1s for a good price 😉

Ha ha njee, yeah, dual sided power has crossed my mind! I’ve got a Watteam Power beat dual side waiting to be tested though!

So, the physio seems fine, there is a distinct difference between the muscular tightness I can feel on the side of my leg where the cut was made, and the odd twinge from the broken hip/groin area.

The muscular tightness is getting less, I can straighten my leg out in front of me when sat in a chair with relative ease now (one of the exercises) and also raise my knee up towards my stomach (another exercises) which I couldn’t for a few days after surgery.

Yesterday and today have given me a few more twinges in my hip though, than previous. I know I’m still only a week along but how long did people experience pain from the actual broken bone?

I’m paranoid my screws are self loosening, that I’m over doing it, or have lent on the wrong foot accidentally causing the screws to bend 😳

Well, this is the third time I’ve tried to update this thread having lost all my text previously.  Thought it might be worth doing because through my recovery I’d been on google so many times and threads on broken hips just petered out and you were left wondering if the person recovered, whether they had taken the forum masses advice rather than their own doctor or what not, and what the outcome was…. I kept reading some of the stuff on here just to remind myself other people had been through it successfully 🙂

So anyway, after initial thoughts of using my time convalescing to at least go out for a few walks on crutches and get some fresh air, I scaled it completely back after so many horror stories of screws loosening or bone healing taking longer than 6 weeks….Occupational health at work also told me not to even contemplate getting back to work early and weeks on now they were probably right. I did my physio every day religiously for 6 weeks.  I’d do about 3 or 4 days worth and then feel a bit rubbish so have an easy day before another 3 or 4 days.  I wrote down how I felt/pain levels and what I ate.  I used it as a reason to use up the vile chocolate protein powder I’d got cheap from Aldi a while back – some NHS trusts suggest protein shakes (or basically just an increase in your protein intake) are beneficial.  Other than getting taken out for a few coffees and visited by friends, I did minimal that didn’t contribute to my hip repairing itself.  I was told that I couldn’t load bear on my duff leg, and I think I only dabbed the floor less than a handful of times in 6 weeks.

So, after 6 weeks I see the consultant who tells me my bone has healed well but I still wasn’t to put any weight on it.  I was somewhat confused (fed up) by that “its fixed but don’t try and use it” kind of advice.  I had to wait another week till my physio appointment who would tell me what I was allowed to do…. Anyway, I saw the physio and he got straight up and walking with the crutches, load bearing as much as I could tolerate.  Over the course of the week, it seemed like the pain/soreness just dropped significantly.  By the next week’s physio, he let me try walking with one crutch and then no crutches, then up and down some steps and then on the exercise bike – and off I went with one crutch just in case, with some new exercises and allowed to go on the turbo trainer, starting with just 10 minutes.

A week on from that and I asked about driving and he said so long as I could do an emergency stop then I was ok to drive.  Which I’ve tried and its ok, but doesn’t feel that great afterwards “unfolding” myself out of the drivers seat.

So now I’m up to 20 mins on the turbo at an easy pace plus exercises….

I’m still absolutely paranoid about bone necrosis every time the soreness goes up even by a miniscule amount and I can feel my screws in my side for sure but so far so good (fingers crossed)…. 🙂

Bone health

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=147

A simple secret of Banting power? It’s sardines!

https://breakingmuscle.com/fitness/cycling-might-be-bad-for-bone-health

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/diets/article-1227777/CHRIS-BOARDMAN-I-cycling-32-I-bones-old-woman.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/60k0tWT6Jnz8WZgS4f73cyl/which-type-of-exercise-gives-you-the-strongest-bones

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/knowledge/training/article/izn20130115-All-Cycling-Cross-Training-0

https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/why-cycling-is-bad-for-bone-density-and-how-you-can-improve-it/

https://www.betterbones.com/fractures-and-healing/speed-healing/