Cycling UK Forum

Hi liffy99,
This reply to your post is well late, but I've only just read what you posted.

Like you, I had three screws in the head of my femur and the recovery seemed to go well at first. But I too lost about 2cm of length and one of the screws was very dangerously close to poking through the end of the bone. I had the screws removed, hoping things would improve but they did not. And an MRI scan revealed that the head if the femur was dying. All this followed a bike accident when I was 55, so I finally go a hip replacement at age 56.

Was worried about its longevity, but the ceramic on ceramic are much better these days and could well last many decades - no one really knows as the longevity data on the new replacement obviously does not exist yet.

I paid privately to get exactly the replacement I wanted, but I could have got the same on the NHS, with the same surgeon, but would have had to wait three months longer.

More than two and a half years on, things are still going fine.

One factor that worsened the shortening was that it turned out I have osteoporosis.

Richard D, good luck with your 160K ride.

I decided to pay privately to get the metalwork out as it would have taken ages on the NHS, although they did agree to take it out but I
could not face the frustration of a long wait and a series of cancelled operations.

Turns out I've got osteoporosis. The figures are quite impressive
Not going to let it stop me getting back on the bike, though.

I am a 55 year old male and broke my femoral head falling off my bike. It was a displaced intracapsular fracture and the surgeon wanted to do a total hip replacement. I said no, so they pinned it with 3 cannulated screw instead.

After one week I started exercising with the stationary bike, no resistance, purely for the range of motion. At 3 weeks I added some slight resistance. They advised toe touching only for 6 weeks, but I heel touched being careful not to put weight through the leg. I am glad I did this as I retain a good range of motion.

Weeks 6 to 12 were 50% weight bearing, which I mostly adhered to
although the stationary bike became progressively more aggressive. Had four very useful hydrotherapy sessions during this period.

At 16 weeks I was walking a good 5 miles over very hilly terrain, so things were going very well.

It's now six and a half months after the injury and last week I had the screws removed, which is quite early according to the accounts I've read.
But I got them removed as they were causing pain and I felt the chance of necrosis would be reduced.

Still quite sore, some pain in the groin area and walking quite slowly!

With this sort of injury the recovery is very individual and usually quite long. You need to listen to your body and consider the medical advice. There is no one size fits all. Good luck to anyone in recovery. It's not pleasant!