AlexTheGreat
Senior Don Juan
- Joined
- May 9, 2004
- Messages
- 497
- Reaction score
- 7
Hey guys, I have a few questions to ask about surgery and orthopedics. I broke both my tibia and fibula a little more than a month ago (on the 20th of May), and I've had surgery within the first days, where the doctor inserted a plate with 9 screws into my leg.
The fracture itself is of the spiral type: I fell and twisted my leg underneath me. The damage is starts about 2-3 inches above my ankle, and spins for a little more than another inch.
Now, this break happened a month ago, like I said. I've had my first month's control, and I took pictures of the x-rays, because I personally don't like how they look. After doing multiple comparisons and extrapolations using other tibia pictures that I've found on the internet, and through touching my own leg (I have the removable Aircast), I've realized that the tibia isn't healing in the same position as it used to be. The plate that's been inserted is holding it in a disformed position, so I'm afraid it won't heal right. I will post pictures of the x-rays and the photochops I've done to determine just how crooked the leg is at the moment.
Here are the base x-rays.
As you can see, the break is pretty bad, and it does not look any better than a month ago when I first got the post-operation x-rays. I don't want to question my doctor's work or anything, but the alignment does not look good to me. After analyzing a bit more the pictures, I came to the conclusion that if I do any walking with the bones "healed" in this position, I'm going to use up my joints and destroy the cartilages, because of imperfect seating. This can be seen in the first picture, where the talocrural joint seams to be badly compressed on one side, making the wear uneven on top of the ankle. Also, in the 2nd and 4th x-rays (lateral views), the tibia's point of contact does not seem correct with the ankle (if you look carefully, the anterior end seems to dip lower towards the talus than the rear part).
Still looking at the lateral views, if you extrapolate the direction of each end of the tibia, the parts would not meet correctly. Hence, I have a presumption that the tibia after healing, will not be able to withstand as much weight as normal, and could easily break again in case of a hard fall or heavy compression.
Here's a few photoshopped versions of those most visible x-rays, with extrapolation of good bones added on top of the original pictures:
Here you can see how the lower tibia is misaligned compared to a real bone. This brings me to believe that the talocrural joint will be subject to uneven wear, causing early arthritis in my foot and ankle.
This lateral view where the bone ends lead, if extrapolating a complete bone. This is scaring me since the compression force coming from the knee will not be directed correctly towards the foot, but rather will be localized at the area of fracture, creating a weak point that will limit activities forever.
What I am asking here is whether my analysis is correct, that is, if the healing process continues on this route, I will suffer from defective ankle joints and a loss of weight-bearing capacity compared to my other leg, or if I am simply overanalyzing this situation. My take is that this alignment is not sufficient to provide a total recovery, and that I will suffer from the consequences for the rest of my life.
I have thought of a remedy to my problem, which would be the removal of the plate, and the installation of wires circling the bone and holding it together. As can be seen by the x-rays, there doesn't seem to be any small fragments of bone in the surrounding areas, leading to believe the fracture was clean and swift. Hence, both sides of the tibia should come back together in the original way. What do you think of this?
The fracture itself is of the spiral type: I fell and twisted my leg underneath me. The damage is starts about 2-3 inches above my ankle, and spins for a little more than another inch.
Now, this break happened a month ago, like I said. I've had my first month's control, and I took pictures of the x-rays, because I personally don't like how they look. After doing multiple comparisons and extrapolations using other tibia pictures that I've found on the internet, and through touching my own leg (I have the removable Aircast), I've realized that the tibia isn't healing in the same position as it used to be. The plate that's been inserted is holding it in a disformed position, so I'm afraid it won't heal right. I will post pictures of the x-rays and the photochops I've done to determine just how crooked the leg is at the moment.
Here are the base x-rays.
As you can see, the break is pretty bad, and it does not look any better than a month ago when I first got the post-operation x-rays. I don't want to question my doctor's work or anything, but the alignment does not look good to me. After analyzing a bit more the pictures, I came to the conclusion that if I do any walking with the bones "healed" in this position, I'm going to use up my joints and destroy the cartilages, because of imperfect seating. This can be seen in the first picture, where the talocrural joint seams to be badly compressed on one side, making the wear uneven on top of the ankle. Also, in the 2nd and 4th x-rays (lateral views), the tibia's point of contact does not seem correct with the ankle (if you look carefully, the anterior end seems to dip lower towards the talus than the rear part).
Still looking at the lateral views, if you extrapolate the direction of each end of the tibia, the parts would not meet correctly. Hence, I have a presumption that the tibia after healing, will not be able to withstand as much weight as normal, and could easily break again in case of a hard fall or heavy compression.
Here's a few photoshopped versions of those most visible x-rays, with extrapolation of good bones added on top of the original pictures:
Here you can see how the lower tibia is misaligned compared to a real bone. This brings me to believe that the talocrural joint will be subject to uneven wear, causing early arthritis in my foot and ankle.
This lateral view where the bone ends lead, if extrapolating a complete bone. This is scaring me since the compression force coming from the knee will not be directed correctly towards the foot, but rather will be localized at the area of fracture, creating a weak point that will limit activities forever.
What I am asking here is whether my analysis is correct, that is, if the healing process continues on this route, I will suffer from defective ankle joints and a loss of weight-bearing capacity compared to my other leg, or if I am simply overanalyzing this situation. My take is that this alignment is not sufficient to provide a total recovery, and that I will suffer from the consequences for the rest of my life.
I have thought of a remedy to my problem, which would be the removal of the plate, and the installation of wires circling the bone and holding it together. As can be seen by the x-rays, there doesn't seem to be any small fragments of bone in the surrounding areas, leading to believe the fracture was clean and swift. Hence, both sides of the tibia should come back together in the original way. What do you think of this?
