What does it feel like when you break your leg?

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What does it feel like when you break your leg?

(24 posts) (21 voices)

Started 2 months ago by nbt
Latest reply from cxi

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nbt - Member

Went out playing in the snow today with Mrs NBT and our mate graham. We were a bit late setting out as Graham struggled to make it to our house, we live at the top of a hill see and there was about 2 inches of snow and no signs of any gritters - the snow was just compacting under car wheels and as soon as you lose momentum, that's it!

anyway we eventually got out and had a great ride, loads of perfect snowy singletrack our for the taking, I was keeping an eye out for the odd bit here and there as tomorrow I was due to go out riding with Marsdenman so we could do some photo-taking

On the very last descent, muggins here managed to clip a post with the handlebars and went arse over ****. As far as I can recall it, the left hand end of the bars clipped a post throwing me to the right. A fallen tree caught me as I slid along it, luckily preventing me from hitting the stone wall it was hanging over! As the tree caught me I was turned round into it, so my left side hit the floor, and I must have kept hold of the handlebars, as the wheel was facing the wong way too, back up the hill.

At this point the frame appeared, following the pirouette of the front wheel and it came arcing all the way over the top, landing heavily on my thigh, leaving me trapped between top tube and handlebars. I said words to the effect of "Gosh, that smarts", but given my position I struggled to do more than lift the frame off my leg, I am lucky I was with the others as Graham was quickly there to lift the bike off me - I really would have struggled on my own I think

Managed to home at a very slow pace, and sat with an ice pack on it for a while, so I don't think there's anything seriously wrong with it but now when I move it, it bloody hurts if the any of the movement at all makes my large manly thigh muscles tight. this is ok for now when I'm sitting upright but I foresee a sleepless night.

Anyway the point of the post is to highlight that I am a bloody numpty, I am shamed that I did the whole snowy ride perfectly and the tumble is due solely to my own incompetence, rather than the conditions

still, off to the conservative club in half an hour, the brass band are doing a carol concert. A couple of pints of Theakston's might help

PS can any docs tell my what a fractured leg feels like, I guess from the fact that I can stand on it and walk that it's ok...

Posted 2 months ago #
snowslave - Member

When I fractured my leg I couldn't walk, and lying in bed with the pressure of the blankets on top of it even was painful, if that's any yardstick of breakyness? Hope you mend soon...

Posted 2 months ago #
simonfbarnes - Member

I once had a similar kind of thing and got a haematoma in my calf. Hurt like hell and took 6 months to go away It's basically a large blood clot embedded in the muscle, and it pulls/hurts every time the muscle flexes

Posted 2 months ago #
Buzzlightyear - Member

Ouch!

Crashes happen - no need to feel shame!

Posted 2 months ago #
nbt - Member

I'm kind of assuming it's just a big bruise, plenty of arnica and beer will sort it

Posted 2 months ago #
DeVs - Member

Sounds like a dead leg. I got hit in the thigh by a Vauxhall Viva and was initially in a wheel chair and then a day later on crutches for a week but that wasn't broken. Purple from front to back though. Ice and anti inflamatories and stretching if you can manage are your friends.

Posted 2 months ago #
MrNutt - Member

ouch!

Posted 2 months ago #
solar - Member

I think if its a break you usually feel nauseous. Once got knee'ed in the thigh playing basketball and ended up with some serious swelling in the middle of the night and had to get some blood drained at hospital. So watch out for that. Ibuprofen is your friend.

Posted 2 months ago #
TandemJeremy - Member

PS can any docs tell my what a fractured leg feels like, I guess from the fact that I can stand on it and walk that it's ok...

About right.

There is no mistaking a broken thigh really. Your leg would be an inch or two shorter and the foot would tend to turn out along with it hurting a lot.

Posted 2 months ago #
Northwind - Member

I walked into A&E on a broken and slightly displaced fractured hip... People say "If it was broken you'd know" but IMO, that's utter balls, it's just not that simple. (and it was advice like that which ****ed up my hand, everyone without exception said "It's not broken, it'd feel worse if it was and you wouldn't be able to use the hand". Well it was, and it healed badly, and that's what you get for listening to people who know nothing.

Having said that, this doesn't sound broken but still worth getting checked out IMO.

Posted 2 months ago #
Bunnyhop - Member

Good job there's lots of snow around, 'cos I've been 'nursey' for the last few hours filling his ice bag up from the front door.
It's still swollen and the bruise is coming up nicely.

Posted 2 months ago #
andrewh - Member

If it's a minor fracture you will feel it tomorrow.

Came off at Inners a couple of years ago, landed on my left knee. Most painful thing ever, had a good long sit and nearly cried. Gradually faded, continued to the end, did the red route at G'tress then drove back to Kirkcaldy. Usual clean bike, make dinner etc before bed. Knee wouldn't bend the next morning, trip to Victoria hospital A+E as a result. Fractured kneecap. It's amazing what a bit of adrenaline can do to keep you going.

Anyway, if the pain is worse rather than better tomorrow, go and get yours looked at. I think you would know if it was broken but could be a minor fracture. Bruised bone possibly, they hurt too.

Posted 2 months ago #
crazy-legs - Member

Get well soon! Numpty...

Posted 2 months ago #
lowey - Member

Ouch... sound bloody sore matey. Healing vibes to you.

Posted 2 months ago #
flatback - Member

when i broke my hip it took 4 visits to the ae to convince them it was broken kept sending me home saying damaged tendon muscle,they x rayed it twice, i was on crutches in such pain my screaming was keeping neighbours awake, and i was having un controlable fits and convulsions, it took 8 days to get a mri which showed a crack, the pain was so bad if you offered me a pill to end my life i might have taken it some nights,
i knew it was broke,
they operated next day after the mri,on the third visit they actually got security to ask me to leave a and e but i held my ground and finally got my mri and my hip bolted up, even now 8 years and 1 day after the break i can still feel my self welling up and geting emotional just thinking about it

if it is broke you should know

Posted 2 months ago #
Northwind - Member

Flatback: "if it is broke you should know"

I didn't think mine was broken. Or my hand for that matter. And the other 2 times I broke my hands I never even went to hospital, I only found out when they xrayed my left hand to compare to the right and went "Hey, when did you break this one, it's all sorts of ****ed ip!" I just thought maybe I'd really bruised it, or something.

(when they xrayed me, they said "That's fine" and I thought "Cool, I'm off home then", I was literally limping out the door when a doctor grabbed me and stuck me in a wheelchair- turns out they meant "That's fine, a textbook xray of a broken hip".)

Posted 2 months ago #
teamfinners - Member

Just go to A&E and let them decide. They're much more qualified than an internet forum!

Posted 2 months ago #
samuri - Member

I drove a fairly long way, had a few drinks, went to bed, took my son to football, watched him playing football and then only decided to go to the hospital when I banged it against the steering wheel and passed out through the pain. All on a broken knee.

Yes, I was in searing agony all that time but I'm a bloke, I thought it would go away.

Is it still hurting this morning? How swollen is it? Might be worth nipping down the hospital just to check. Stepping Hill the nearest?

Posted 2 months ago #
oldgit - Member

Posted 2 months ago #
nbt - Member

Much better this morning, thanks folks, the swelling's not nearly as noticeable and I actually managed a pretty decent night's kip. Still not right like, dam near killed myself "running" downstairs to answer the phone when the leg spasmed and I nearly went flying.

Posted 2 months ago #
Repack Rider - Member

2retro4u
Marin County, Cali

Did you hear a cracking noise?

30 some years ago, when I was a mere 33 years of age, I broke my leg in a skatepark. My foot slipped off the back of the board and planted and twisted in an entirely new direction.

I was crouched on the board and heard the bone snap. Tried to walk, leaning on my friend, but I couldn't steer my foot. I had broken the smaller of my two lower leg bones.

Surgery to repair, and a cast I wasn't supposed to walk on. My buddy rigged a wooden heel on my cast so I COULD walk on it. Five weeks into the six-week recovery period, I cut the cast off with my Swiss Army knife and went for a bike ride.

Posted 2 months ago #
prettygreenparrot - Member

if in doubt, pop to A&E. After the initial shock fades fractures are usually too uncomfy to walk on. Maybe it won't be for you. But if the discomfort continues you'll feel dumb hobbling into A&E in a few weeks to be told it would all have been better if you'd come earlier.

Posted 2 months ago #
Spankmonkey - Member

you dont always know if you have broken something, came off at cwm carn once and broke my ribs, still did another run of the DH in a lot of pain... mate also fractured his hip and rode home.. he found out the next day!

Posted 2 months ago #
cxi - Member

I've broke my femur in a car crash. Couldn't tell you how much it hurt at the time though - I don't remember a thing until I woke up the next day on a pre-theatre ward in hospital.

Posted 2 months ago #