Femur Pain

[lewmonst]

I broke my femur 4 years ago.  Had screws in knee and hip removed, the rod in femur is still in.  1 year ago, I was running 5 miles, pain free.  Now, I cannot run.  I get pain in my femur.  The pain is anywhere from a 2 to an 8 (on a scale of 1 to 10), where sometimes it just hurts to walk.  X-rays do not show anything abnormal.  

What are the possible causes of this?  Could it be the rod?  Could it be Osteoma?  What else could it be?

Any suggestions on what to do next?  Are there certain tests I should ask for?

(My current insurance doesn't cover anything with the rod as it's from a pre-existing condition.  I paid cash to have the screw out of my knee, hoping that would alleviate the pain, but that's not it.  So, any advise on what to do about it next I would appreciate.  I am a 30 yr old, female, very active (well, used to be moreso), but in good shape otherwise)

Thank you!

[HPD810]

I fractured my femur  (neck) in January and now my surgeon tells me the bone has healed completely.  So, I still have lots of pain but the pain is on the side of my thigh (where the incision they made to put 3 screws in) and pain in my left buttocks.  The pain in my thigh and buttocks is terrible at night when I get in the bed - Of course I cannot lie on my left side because then it really hurts terribly.  And I can't understand the terrible pain in my buttocks.  Some mornings I have to manually lift my left leg off of my right leg to get out of bed.  Just using Tylenol for pain.  So I'm at the 5 month mark - how much longer before this pain goes away?

[Gwenn67]

I am just now experiencing the same issues.. Pain when I go to bed at night and it also runs along the side where the scar runs up and down. I also have deep knee aching which is a constant. The main thing is.. I had all of my surgical procedures done back in October 2002 which was a result from a freeway rollover. I shattered my right femur which a place and 9 pins was placed, broke my left which a rod was placed. A couple months after the femur placements, my physical therapist noticed I was not coming along as he felt I should and ordered me in for X-ray's. The right ACL was torn and meniscus was damaged (not originally caught when brought in by life flight). Knee surgery was completed replacing the ACL with cadaver ligament due to all over body trauma healing. A year later after all of this,  I snapped the plate in the right femur when I simply bent over and down jamming the plate up into hip, went in for another 4 day stay to remove plate and replace with rod. Now double rod placement.. Still, 16 years later.. Hence current day and recent side thigh aching and throbbing. I have always had constant burning and have learned to live with it with a daily regiment of Neurontin (Gabapentin) to ease somewhat but this nightly throbbing and aching.. OH MAN! I'm needless to say nervous now since I'm 50 this year... Hmmm

[AveryPsmith]

I broke my femur two years ago and had a plate and 7 screws put in my leg. I was forced out of bed the morning after my surgery and put on crutches by my physiotherapist (I thank him now). 3 months later I was walking with a limp. A month after that I had the plate and screws removed. After getting the hardware removed I walked out of the hospital! Doctors tell give you a way linger recovery rate than you really need. I am now perfectly fine. I can walk, run, bike, snowboard, and surf perfectly fine with 0 pain. Get the hardware removed and I'm sure the pain will stop. If you are very active and you practice some physiotherapy after the surgery I'm sure you can cut the recovery time in half.

[HPD810]

I fractured my femur  (neck) in January and now my surgeon tells me the bone has healed completely.  So, I still have lots of pain but the pain is on the side of my thigh (where the incision they made to put 3 screws in) and pain in my left buttocks.  The pain in my thigh and buttocks is terrible at night when I get in the bed - Of course I cannot lie on my left side because then it really hurts terribly.  And I can't understand the terrible pain in my buttocks.  Some mornings I have to manually lift my left leg off of my right leg to get out of bed.  Just using Tylenol for pain.  So I'm at the 5 month mark - how much longer before this pain goes away?

[jimnutz31]

I also had a rod implanted in the left femur and 2 screws in knee and 1 screw in hip in 1999, after atv accident. I had the 2 screws removed in my knee a year after surgery.I have always had some discomfort but, In the past 3 years I have had lots of pain in my femur in the spot where i broke it(6 in above knee).I have been back to the dr that did the surgery and they took several x rays.they determined everything was 100% healed.After no answers there I decided to go elsewhere.Went to different dr and they did x rays and said the same thing. But they also said that 15% of people who have implants of hardware,thier bodies dont accept it,and that I fell into that 15%. The only way out of it is removal of the rod.I can't do that cause they say 6 mo recovery before back to work.I have a family to feed and a 1 yr old son.That option is out.
Forgot to mention that the first dr recommended PT after 12 years. Second DR said no PT,my qaud was as strong as my other.
I have accepted to walk with a limp,but i want the pain to go away. Any one else like this?

[lizzie1917]

I am so sorry to hear your trouble. Especially with a little one. My story is very similar to yours. My rod was put in 2008 after my horse fell ontop of me. I am lucky to be alive. I was not wearing a helmet! Anyway..I have researched this over the past two years thinking I will find new answers. It is far too risky to get the rod removed. And if I was told I could, I would go to Duke University or a high ranked place. I was an orthopedic nurse. A general ortho doc with limited credentials in my opinion would not be a choice for me.
Orthopods really do not want to admit that many times, MANY times, the surgery makes the pain worse. I had sciatica for a year, horrific pain, but surgery could not be done, because I needed a hip replacement first in order to do the rehab after the spine surgery. I knew the surgeon was correct that the pain from the impinged nerve would immediately go away with this surgery. I also needed a spinal fusion for bulging discs, and other things. So, I got my hip done, totally recovered and the sciatic nerve impingement healed on it's own. BUT, I went back to the spine   doctor to get the other stuff fixed (that he was going to do ). Guess what..I was surprised when he said NO. I went to other surgeons because my back is killing me. They all said no because they could not guardsmen the results. But yes they can undo an impingement, which is easy peezy.
What I took away from all that is this..When you read about others, that continue to have pain..that tells me to forget about doing anything. If they say they cannot guarentee that removing the rod will eliminate the pain, and they cannot or they are lying, then we have to learn to live with it, as hard as that is. I am 65 years old now, have had two hip replacements and one shoulder replacement. I have no pain in those areas. I will put up with the back pain and leg pain because I am convinced surgery of either will make it worse.
Take care..I do not take narcotics, too easy to get hooked. I take plain old asprin 3 times a day. Good luck!

[sonu78]

Hi,
You had sustained fracture of the femur a year ago and was managed by the internal fixation of the rod.
Can you be still descriptive about the pain.
Have an consultation with your ortho surgeon and have discussion with him about the implant and the time frame for removal

[sue4321]

DId you ever get any answers about your pain?  Our daughter wasin a car accident and broke her femur in 3 places so they inserted a titanium rod.  Everything healed well but then 6 months later she started getting severe leg pain 8-9 on scale of 10.  She was hospitalized 4 times and all they did was give her mass doses of pain killers.  THese episodes are still ocurring and last 1 1/2 - 2 hours.  She gets them approximately once a month.  Her surgeon says everything looks ok and the neurologist did testing and didn't see severe nerve damage.  We are at a loss .....    thanks