PSIA-AASI

hi all…last winter I suffered a broken shin, and am still working on the recovery…I had surgery, in which I had a plate and about a half dozen screws put into my leg…last week, I was able to try on a snowboard boot for the first time since the surgery, and I can definitely feel pressure where some of the screws are located as my liner rests against them…does anyone have any experience with this or any ideas…I am contemplating using a knife to shave some of the material away at the contact spots so as to alleviate the pressure, but I wanted to see if anyone had any advice before I start hacking away as to how to go about doing this, or about another possible option…any and all advice would be greatly appreciated…thanks!

Brian D.

Two things: 

I’ve had pressure-point hard spots develop on shins in the past (I ski 120 or more days a season) that I managed to keep from hurting by surrounding them with donuts made from Dr. Scholls adhesive foam pads.  I’ve used both the sheets of adhesive foam and the large callus pads to make the donuts. 

A friend who had a similar injury to yours and could feel the screw heads through his skin said he was able to stay in his boots without a lot of pain.  He skis five days a week.

Give yourself some time to adjust and then try finding solutions.  I wouldn’t carve up the boots until you’ve given them a real try.

What Kneale said.
I would try some foam product to build a channel for the shin to sit in to take the shin hot spots off of the boot cuff. Stick them to the boot, stick them under your sock, give it a try before hacking away at the boot.
Greg

thanks for the advice guys! the plan now is to go into the season with an open mind and basically work it out with trial and error….i will post my findings once the snow flies..

-Brian D.

Hi Brian,

I spiral fractured my tibia while shredding and ended up having a plate on the inside on my leg, going down from the shin and ending at the ankle.  I had some pretty awful pain from my boots and tried a lot of different tactics to alleviate it.  In the end, I had to have the liner chopped up by a pro ski boot guy from Rossignol and re-route the internal lacing system on the liner.  It was worth it to have a professional take a look and spend an hour making it right.  I’m notoriously cheap, but it was money well spent.  Your plan sounds great, but don’t be afraid to go to a pro if you do find yourself in pain!

It still hurt, but not as much.  I stopped riding April 20 that next season and was in surgery April 21st to have the plate removed.  It never hurt again   Best of luck to you!!!
-KC

Just figured that I would give an update…For the first 3 or 4 weeks of the season, I had lots of pain with my plate and screws…I could feel them almost all of the time…I cannot say if i simply got used to the pain or if some scar tissue formed up, but after that first month, I stopped noticing the pain…i had some issues with stiffness and pain in the mornings, but nothing that was unmanageable.  The best thing that I found was a compression sock to wear at night so that blood is forced to circulate and cut down on swelling….that, mixed with some ibuprofin on the painful mornings, and i am as good as i think it can be….

i also had a check up mid winter, and the doctor confirmed that all of the screws were still tight and didn’t need any maintenance or removal…

i hope this might help if anyone has the poor luck o having a similar scenario…if you do, definitely feel free to ask questions…i think there are enough people with some experiencce on here that can help out….

-Brian D.
Peek’n Peak