The Big Break

[contesstant]

I am thinking about staring a new thread about my recent discoveries on how the soft tissue injury that occurred with my TPF 9 years ago has had a pretty big impact on my skiing to this day, which I was blaming on boots but am finding, now that I'm in a boot that does work incredibly well for me, the lack of stability from my torn LCL that occurred that day is why I really don't like skis wider than 90 under foot, and have a hell of a time in crud.

So, for those of you with this horrible injury, my heart goes out to you. And do NOT ignore the soft tissue injuries and any rehab. My next step is to possibly get an MRI to determine the extent of the damage and decide if I should opt to repair it. The custom knee brace I have for it is not helping.

 

[Martha]

I am so sorry, Martha! I hadn't heard this from any of the regulars. I plan to be back next year and was already the slow skier who talks to herself about being braver! I'm sure you'll be back skiing past me again!!

Hi Abbi! So sorry I forgot to tell you! I will write you an email. You and I will ski together next year. I have a long way to go. But I’ll get there. I keep whispering little prayers that I’ll succeed.

 

[alxs1205]

Well, after 30 years of skiing it finally happened. I had a skiing accident and badly broke my tibia plateau of my left leg. Now recovering from surgery and have a fine assortment of hardware piecing it all together again. Now facing 12 weeks of non-weight bearing.

I miss skiing. I miss moving. I miss being outside. I'm afraid I'll be afraid to ski again next winter, even though my surgeon says this type of break heals well and I should be able to rehab once I get back to weight bearing (on May 7, not that I'm counting days). I loved skiing trees, bumps and the ungroomed stuff and I don't know if I'll ever get back to that due to the fear (I was taken down on an ungroomed black run).

Has anyone else had a bad break and bounced back, so to speak? Anyone else had this particular type of fracture?

So sorry to hear this and I hope that by now you are well on your way to feeling a little bit better every day. Everyone’s healing process is individual but I just wanted to share a bit of hope for your recovery. I’m in my 40’s, have skied most of my life. I fractured my tibial plateau/non-displaced minimally comminuted ACL avulsion fracture this year on January 9th while on a race course. I was able to avoid surgery. I started PT two weeks later, way before I was even close to weight-bearing. I went 2x’s per week and did my exercises faithfully, icing and elevating above heart level a few times a day and always just before bed. It was definitely not easy. In fact, it was frustrating as hell. Aside from the physical interventions, keeping in touch with ski friends was very helpful. Also, listening to pod casts about WC racers (almost all of which have gone through awful injury and recovery) was the best mental therapy ever and kept me focused on my goal. I would particularly recommend interviews with Lyndsey Vonn, Sofia Goggia, Wendy Holdner…to name a few. Anyways, once you ditch those crutches, it’s a whole new world. Recovery starts moving a lot more quickly. Fast forward exactly 11 weeks and two days after the injury…I skied again for the first time since my injury in the same season on March 28th - this year. I skied about 15 runs on green and blues. Slow, not a lot of edging or tipping. But darn it, I skied!!!! It was the best feeling I’ve had in such a long time. I am so much more grateful to be able to ski after having this experience - it made all the pain worth it. The only thing that bothered me was walking in my ski boots. Otherwise, I hardly had any pain at all. I know my story probably isn’t typical but it IS possible. You will recover. Keep up the hard work. Never ever give up.

 

[Pandita]

HI Kathy:
I did a fantastic job of breaking my tibia and fibula in April 2022. I slid 1300 feet at 36 mph thankfully no tress or people were in the way of my slide. I was at Sun Valley when I had my accident. The tibia and fib were broke and displaced down by the ankle. I had emergency surgery and had some titanium hardware installed. I worked very very very hard at PT but ultimately my Tibia never healed and I had to have a second surgery at the end of January 2023. They took out the old hardware and put in new hardware and by December 2024 it finally healed. The hardware will stay in forever. I have skied but have a lot of fear and anxiety. I am trying to work through it but I still sometimes get nauseous.

Please be good to yourself. it is very hard to do and I am not always successful with this advice. It took me a while before I wanted to go up the lift again and spent some time in the beginner area just practicing skiing. I did teach in the beginner bowl which helped. I still get stiff sometimes with exercise and cold days. Please feel free to reach out if you need to.

 

[Martha]

Well, after 30 years of skiing it finally happened. I had a skiing accident and badly broke my tibia plateau of my left leg. Now recovering from surgery and have a fine assortment of hardware piecing it all together again. Now facing 12 weeks of non-weight bearing.

I miss skiing. I miss moving. I miss being outside. I'm afraid I'll be afraid to ski again next winter, even though my surgeon says this type of break heals well and I should be able to rehab once I get back to weight bearing (on May 7, not that I'm counting days). I loved skiing trees, bumps and the ungroomed stuff and I don't know if I'll ever get back to that due to the fear (I was taken down on an ungroomed black run).

Has anyone else had a bad break and bounced back, so to speak? Anyone else had this particular type of fracture?

Hi Kathy. Hope you are doing better. I’m doing pretty good. You may remember me, we had a similar tibial plateau fracture. After 12 weeks non weight bearing my injury healed very well. After extensive PT I’m about 85 percent back to normal and improving by the day. Fortunately, little pain after surgery and none 2 days after. No pain since. I’m starting single leg squats now as part of my strengthening. Can do lunges, wall sits, bike ride, walk, hike. I’m very grateful.
I saw my doc in early September and he cleared me for skiing. He said his operative and recovery plan was with skiing in mind. I will see him again in December and he will fit me with a brace for skiing.
i went back to visit the “scene of the crime” this summer and my head so far is in the right place. I will try to ski again. Probably slower and more carefully although my injury had nothing to do with the later as I did it on the flat and going slowly. My binding did not release.
If anyone out there has this injury and needs encouragement we can talk.
it’s amazing the number of skiers who have had this injury. Lindsey Vonn for one. My Pilates teacher’s son in law did his st Breckenridge. Another friend broke his 15 years ago jumping off a cliff on skies. Oops! There are many others here if you look at this thread.
One more thing: I did use a bone stimulator. It’s a small machine that emits acoustic signals. I wore it for 20 minutes twice a day. Mine was made by Exogen. Insurance does not cover it as I am not sure about its FDA approval status. I believe they are approved only for non-healing injuries. Mine was healing. They are pricey and run about 1000 bucks. I rented mine for 3 months and it was fairly reasonable.