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From: tomgoldberg@yahoo.com
Date: 17 Jul 2001
Time: 16:48:19
Remote Name: 206.168.67.60
So here I am, at 49, and former avid skier. Last December 31st on a great powder day I jumped off my last cliff, caught an edge and in mid air, was flipped around breaking my right femural neck. Wow, more than 40 years of hard skiing and no accidents until this. After 7 months of working hard at PT, it's clear that it isn't healing right - I'm still on a cane and can't walk very far without it getting too painful.
So, my e.r. surgeon referred me to the hip guy in his group. He said that the screws hadn't kept the bones in position and had moved, the neck is in the wrong place and an varus osteotomy of the hip is what I need.
As that seemed drastic after all my effort I went for a second opinion. Doctor number 3 said no, an osteotomy wouldn't help and would make the ultimately inevitable THR more difficult - I should just get the replacement now. He also stated that only 50% of femural neck fractures heal properly.
Does this sound right? Has anyone had similar experience? Any layman (or expert) opinions I can add to the professional disagreement?
Thanks and good luck to all you hip people!