Tibial Avulsion Fracture - 6 months post-op

 I posted a similar discussion on another board, but realized this one is a little more active.  Anyways, I had a Tibial Avulsion Fracture and Meniscus tear while riding dirt bikes back in May of this year (5/21/2017).  After doing about 3 weeks of pre-op physical therapy I had my first surgery (6/12/2017).  The doctor was able to suture the bone fragment back down to my shin bone and then sew up the meniscus.  I started PT a week later. It was then that I realized my knee had completely stiffened up due to excessive scar tissue growth.  My ROM was only 15-35. After several failed weeks of trying to work through it with aggressive therapy, I eventually had my second operation (7/19/2017).  This was a Manipulation Under Anesthesia and Lysis of Adhesions, through my original surgery wounds.  I then continued PT up until about the middle of October.  My knee is doing much better now, but it is still not where I want it to be.  My ROM has kind of hit a wall around 8-125 and this is causing me to limp.  I still have pain doing pretty simple activities and my knee constantly pops all throughout the day.  If I skip even a day of doing exercises it will stiffen up on me and become more painful.  I try and go to the gym Monday through a Friday where I continue all the exercises I learned in therapy and also ride a stationary bike for about 15-20 minutes.  I am wondering if anyone here has suffered from this injury before, and if so, where are you today?  I am contemplating on going to see another doctor here in town to get a second opinion.  I'm afraid I won't be able to get back riding again or even doing some more simple forms of activity.  Any advice/experiences are helpful.  Thank you.

 

Hi I had a total knee replacement 10 weeks ago I know it's not the same operation but the problems you are having are the same. I too ride a motorbike and the ROM is a problem getting the feet on the foot pegs. I'm not having a problem with extension just flexion. For extension I sit with my foot up on a coffee table and place a weight over the knee and let gravity do the work. I invested in some ankle weights for this because you can just lay it over your knee. The main problem I have is swelling which leads to stiffness and pain. I've put a question on here but no real answer yet but I think the key is to strengthen the muscles around the knee so yes your exercises are important. I'm seeing a physiotherapist  on Thursday so I'm going to ask about it. 

Thanks Snoozy.  I'll try out that extension method you mentioned.