Bumped off bike by car on Friday 11th March I fractured a femur which was pinned on the following day. Discharged from hospital 2 days ago I would welcome any cyclists' advice on what to expect from here specifically in relation to cycling prospects.
I am male, 60 next week and retired at Christmas. Two years before retiring I bought myself a Dawes Super Galaxy and was looking forward to living the dream of week long tours with recently purchased panniers and tent I had planned my first trip to the Normandy landing beaches in June. This will obviously not happen now but I would love to think it could be postponed rather than cancelled. I have never done touring before and my longest day rides have been 60 miles. Any advice?
Thanks CU. I have been really pleased with the Super Galaxy which I have until recently used only for weekend excursions, shopping and Charity Rides (Manchester to Liverpool, Manchester to Blackpool). My wife will not be retiring for a few years and the dream was to occupy myself planning and doing short cycle tours. I am now concerned that the degree of recovery I might reasonably expect may make those plans unrealistic. I hope you are right that I will be able to tap into the experience and knowledge of other cyclists to put alongside what the medics may have to say. (My Nhs experience from paramedics to surgeons has been first class.
I had looked at this thread before and thought it was dormant. It certainly has some really helpful info, including your own contributions. I also had a lumbar injection which didn't fully take, then general anaesthetic. At home now, 7 days after surgery, pain is minor irritant during the day but keeps me from sleep at night (2 hours max). I also find it very difficult to get to sleep on my back.
The hospital prescribed me codeine and paracetamol, which I only needed at night, to get to sleep. I also found lying down was easier with the knee on the bad side raised by a pillow.
Yup, after sleeping on my side my whole life, I couldn't get the hang of doing it on my back. It was bliss when I could finally sleep on my side again.
Did they give you exercises to keep the joint moving? They are important, I think, to reduce the muscle wasteage.
Yes snibgo I am on an hourly exercise routine and getting on fine with crutches. The pain has really subsided to the extent that night is only issue, with sleep. I'm going to try the pillow - I'd assumed I had to lie with head raised really high and legs flat. I am finding the CTC forum immensely good in keeping my optimism that in the long term I can recover to the extent that I can live the dream of short tours for a few years. Your contributions to so many posts is something I would like to thank you for.
You have my sympathy; breaking a hip really is a bloody nuisance!
To sleep I put a pillow under my leg for the first few weeks; this could be placed between my knees when I summoned enough courage to roll over onto my undamaged side. I still (after 17 weeks) have only tried rolling onto my damaged side a couple of times and don’t really like it, despite no particular pain.
Thanks Goatwarden. Sleep is the only immediate issue - I am relatively pain free now and days are being filled with IPad, crosswords (puzzles) and a bit of telly. But the nights - I got less than an hour last night through failure to sleep on back. I am going to scour other parts of the forum to read positive things about cycling in the hope I can join you guys before too long. Any advice from own experience as to when I might walk unsupported, get back on bile? I realise this is not a medical forum but it is the experience of cyclists I am keen to tap into. Do a mile for me today.
I was told to keep all weight off the bad leg for 6 weeks, so I had to use two crutches.
Then I was told to spend the next six weeks gradually increasing the weight on the bad side, finishing up with 50% of my weight on the bad side, using one crutch on the good side to take the other 50%. (This sounds confusing, but remember that ordinary walking requires that each leg takes 100% of the body weight.)
Then I was told to spend the next six weeks still using one crutch, with 50% of weight on the bad leg.
I was told that I shouldn't put more weight on the leg than recommended, or I would increase the chance of bone death.
I was on the bike at 6 weeks, pedalling with one leg, gradualling increasing the use of the bad leg as for walking.
