Re: broken tibia & fibula caused foot rotation and shortening of the leg

adihead wrote:

> i was involved in a motorcycle accident almost 3 months ago. had an
> open fracture right below my left knee. both tibia and fibula broke.
> tibia was pretty messed up, had to be put together with a stanley
> steel rod which was placed down the bone's shaft and about five
> screws, three up near the knee and two down near the ankle (to hold
> the shaft in place. the surgeons decided not to leave the fibula as it
> was. fixing it would involve more cutting and more risk, which wasn't
> worth taking, since it is possible to function perfectly while fibula
> is broken.
> the operation was apperantly successful, but my foot is externally
> rotated about 10 degrees and my left leg has become shorter by a
> little less than half an inch.
> i have 2 questions on my mind:
> 1. is foot rotation a common thing with these sort of insidents? or
> does this sound like the sergeons missed slightly when they where
> putting the pieces back together?
> 2. from looking at the x-rays, i can see that the break in the fibula
> caused on part of the bone to actually overlap the other part, so that
> both parts are located side by side. it seems logical to me that this
> is what caused the shortening of my leg, since the overlapping
> actually makes the fibula shorter, and the measurement of the
> overlapping is the same as the amount my leg has shortened. if so, is
> there any way to fix this shortage? or am i stuck with one shorter leg
> than the other for good?
>
> would be happy to hear if anyone has gone through something similar.
>
> thanks,
> adi omry


1. Yes, the surgeons missed it, if the rotation is a cause of the fixing 
and you didn't have it before

2. No, I don't think this is the reason, because your tibia is the 
important part of the length. If it would be the reason, the tibia would 
have an angle. Maybe it's a problem of the rotation and a possible new 
bearing. A loss of bone material in the tibia is not probable, because 
of the apparently successful operation

I think a second opinion from a orthopaedic specialist would be the best 
you can do.