UKC

[No, this is not a thread about building a remote chalet girder-by-girder, and I will take professional advice if I plan to strap planks to my feet again. Don't worry, I'm just curious at this stage].

Does anyone have any knowledge or experience of skiing following a fully-healed broken tibia, with metalwork (specifically an ankle-mid leg length plate) still in? I broke mine mid-shaft in two places last February. Discussing the future, the NHS consultant explained how it's best to have the titanium gubbins removed if you plan to lead an active life as you're more susceptible to breaking the bone again at the end of the plate in a future incident.

Should I be concerned about skiing? Am I significantly more likely to screw myself over if I have a fall? Is the resulting injury likely to be significantly worse than having the same accident with a 'virgin' leg (I read somewhere on UKC of a climber who was warned that a further injury might lead to amputation...)?

I've been climbing, running, playing ice hockey and being generally very active for the past six months with no troubles - it seems, for all intents and purposes, to be 100%.

You need to consider energy, a fall while running is not particularly high energy but a fall while skiing can quite easily be high energy.

When I broke my tibia I had a plate and screws put in, although it was at the ankle so would have been entirely contained within a ski boot. However once I started climbing again with the metal work in I didn't lead for a year by which time I'd had it removed.

The prospect of falling and breaking my ankle again but with sharp metal screws to tear through my soft flesh wasn't an appealing one so I asked to have the metal removed at the first opportunity.

Once the bone has fully healed it serves no purpose anyway and in time can work loose causing problems whether you have an other break or not.

A common skiing injury is a boot-top fracture. With metal plates attached to bones, a common place for the bone to break in a future accident is at either end of the metal plate as you said. Do these two locations overlap in your case?

Gawd - I have a chunk of metal in my leg from a spiral fracture (toppled over at very low speed) and haven't skied since (3 years now). Bone has grown over everything so it sounds like no skiing for me in future.

Hope you manage better.

Ive got a plate on my fibula from a nasty tib and fib fracture 30 years ago. I ski 2 weeks or so a year off piste and touring. The plate is within the boot height so is relatively well protected 

Shattered both the tib & fib in the same incident resulting in two plates & 10 screws. Skied lots with all the titanium still in situ with no detrimental effect other than occasionally feeling the metalwork being exceptionally cold even whilst encased within the boot. My reconstructed ankle is noticeably larger requiring the boot to be either blown out or a certain amount of suffering to be endured for the first few weeks with new boots. Obviously all the metalwork & ankle are well contained deep within the boot, feel more vulnerable in rock boots.

My consultant was all for taking it out at the very stage of recovery but had a complete about change of opinion when I broached the subject later in the recovery process.

His thought process when pressed, was that it was of no detriment having & leaving all the metalwork in, obviously it was up for review if I found it to be of discomfort. He also suggested that it would mean spending time recuperating, getting fit after the operation to remove everything so depends on your circumstances & age, if you can afford to slowdown again whilst recovering again.

The plate extends quite far above where a ski boot would end; I had a spiral fracture just below the top of my boot, and the plate ends pretty much in the middle of my shin.

Pretty much exactly what I did - buried a ski in powder at slow speed, caught a hard lump below the surface and took a slow twisting fall forwards. Dynafit bindings are great...if you don't plan on ever doing that.

Again, very similar experience for me wearing skates - my ankle is sensitive to being pressed or caught where the plate ends, which means skating usually leads to some reasonable discomfort.

Thank you all for the replies. The ultimate plan is to have it all removed at the earliest opportunity, but it's complicated by being in the process of joining the Army. I suspect any removal will have to wait until at least after I've passed out of Sandhurst, if I succeed.

Don’t know if this helps, but I broke my femur off piste at Nevis Range 4 years ago. All the titanium is still in, but I do wear a brace on the knee for a bit of extra stability (the intramedullary nail op. seems to have led to patellofemoral syndrome). The following year and each since I’ve still skied & toured, but have only this year got the full range mobility of the knee back, through lots of hydrotherapy & physio.  Can’t recommend enough good strength building exercises in getting back particularly using a hydrotherapy pool. My consultant was surprised how much mobility & strength I’d got back in the six months after the break. It also helps with increasing your pain threshold!!!!!!!! (By the way I’m in my 60’s!)

Train, exercise, ski, repeat!