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[SIZE=3]broke my FIB/Tib (Fib 2 places ) got 15 screws and a plate, broke it on 16th of Jan. 2010 at 2:30 pm, had surgery at 11:00pm was home the next day by 1:00pm(the 17th) Told Doc I was going home , I hate hospitals.. Took the kids roller stating and fell.....DUMB....Had a split on for two weeks went to the Doc , he put on a air cast said do not put weight on the leg.It has now been a little over three weeks (total) not much pain just a little, stop taking pain med last friday. Just need for this thing to hurry up and heal, I hate sitting around, Still got alot of swelling.Went back to work a week after it happened, drove myself with the left leg... sit behind a desk. for tyhe first two weeks the pain was horrible was eating pain meds like Tic-Tacs
How much longer do I have before I can walk.............??? hoping Doc lets me start walking at next app. in 3 weeks..
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As you can see from the threads most people are NWB for at least 12 weeks. Once again, OS have different practices. I was 12 weeks before I could WB... Still I am not working have not been since the injury Sept. 20.. However, many return to work as a result of being the last resort. You are strong to return to work regardless of what you do. For me still 4+ months it is still problematic to even dress and be somewhat functional. I get tired very easily and my leg is stiff. Even after theraphy I am exhausted. So please do not over do it..
On Oct 28 2009 I slipped off a tree stand ladder and exploded my tib / fid pilon fracture. ext. fixator 2 surgeries, 2 plates, 13 screws. Second surgery Nov.19th plates & screws first x-ray Jan 5th still non-weight bearing . Next os apt. March 2nd. I'm using a bone stimulator ( Smith & Nephew ) 20 min a day no cast I'm in a boot.
I'm a 52 year old non smoking male excellent physical condition. How long does this take? Thanks
Hi Okie Hunter,
I also suffered tib/fib pilon fracture, ext. fixator , 2 surgeries, 2 plates, 16 screws. My injury was 1/15/09. I am a healthy 43yrs old.
Really began to FWB in a regular shoe in May 09. But it was a slow process. There are so many stages of recovery with this type of injury. The toughest thing for me was dealing w/stiffness in my ankle. I still am dealing w/some stiffness. Make sure you start PT as soon as possible and do your exercises several times a day (when given the ok) to maintain your ROM.
My original OS wants to leave my harware in, I am seeing another specialist for a second opinion next week to see if he thinks HWR would help w/more ROM and relieve some of the stiffness.
I am pretty much back to my normal activites at this point, but still have some pain and a little swelling from time to time, but it is still improving.
Take care and best wishes for a complete recovery.
I too was resting my foot flat on the ground (not thinking I was putting any weight on it) and my doctor said not to do that. He said that when I begin PT next week they will work on building strength in my ankle so that my leg does not hurt when is it just dangling there.
About the diets... I looked online and I also found that staying away from salt and sugar is a good idea. One website said to limit coffee intake and it said to drink non-fat milk.
I was really concerned about not being able to work out so my doctor suggested that I lift weights with my arms and I do crunches to help maintain some muscle tone.
Does anyone have any other good ideas for staying in relatively healthy shape/not gaining weight?
Here's some food for thought regarding diet. I am the one that got the bloodclots (in leg that moved to both lungs) at 6 months after break (and 5 months of NWB). I ate a lot of killer green salads every day/night because not only were they good but I was thinking these had to be a good thing because I was sitting so much and really inactive. Interesting to learn that "green veggies" have a lot of vitamin K which are blood clotters - which we also need! I am now on a blood thinner AND started Nutrisystem diet (which is easy by the way) but it requires that we eat a lot of veggies and there are a lot that are unlimited in their diet which do happen to be a lot of the green veggies! I called the agency that monitors my blood tests and doseage regarding this diet and they had me get tested more frequently after start of this diet as my blood is supposed to be in a certain "range". Sure enough, this diet with the amount of green veggies was changing the range and they had to adjust my doseage so I could stay on the diet (losing weight is healthy so adjusting meds is answer). So, I learned through all of this that foods really do have vitamins in them that do affect the functions of our organs/bodies -- good and bad! Maybe with all that inactivity in my leg (where blood clot started) and the greens I was eating had something to do with me getting bloodclots??----just some food for thought!
On Oct 28 2009 I slipped off a tree stand ladder and exploded my tib / fid pilon fracture. ext. fixator 2 surgeries, 2 plates, 13 screws. Second surgery Nov.19th plates & screws first x-ray Jan 5th still non-weight bearing . Next os apt. March 2nd. I'm using a bone stimulator ( Smith & Nephew ) 20 min a day no cast I'm in a boot.
I'm a 52 year old non smoking male excellent physical condition. How long does this take? Thanks
my tib/fib break was March 28, 2009. Have 2 plates and 15 screws and am 53 in great health. At 3 months got bone stimulator that I had to sleep with and use 10 hours a day (probably not a good kind but the kind Cigna approved -- probably didn't cost them as much!). My xray last week Feb 1st showed bones almost all the way healed and we are now discussing surgery to remove all metal in next couple of months as I have pain and can't point foot/toe as much as normal foot which affects my walking (have limp) - not walking right, makes pain when walking, etc. I was told I would probably be at my best at 18 months.
Here's some food for thought regarding diet. I am the one that got the bloodclots (in leg that moved to both lungs) at 6 months after break (and 5 months of NWB). I ate a lot of killer green salads every day/night because not only were they good but I was thinking these had to be a good thing because I was sitting so much and really inactive. Interesting to learn that "green veggies" have a lot of vitamin K which are blood clotters - which we also need! I am now on a blood thinner AND started Nutrisystem diet (which is easy by the way) but it requires that we eat a lot of veggies and there are a lot that are unlimited in their diet which do happen to be a lot of the green veggies! I called the agency that monitors my blood tests and doseage regarding this diet and they had me get tested more frequently after start of this diet as my blood is supposed to be in a certain "range". Sure enough, this diet with the amount of green veggies was changing the range and they had to adjust my doseage so I could stay on the diet (losing weight is healthy so adjusting meds is answer). So, I learned through all of this that foods really do have vitamins in them that do affect the functions of our organs/bodies -- good and bad! Maybe with all that inactivity in my leg (where blood clot started) and the greens I was eating had something to do with me getting bloodclots??----just some food for thought!
WOW! I am a bit frightened by the thought of a blood clot!! I have been trying to move my leg around as much as possible with the PT exercises I have been given- but obviously I am not doing nearly as much with my leg as I was before the accident. I started with a ton of leafy greens and just got burned out on it. I am now focusing on fruit and other veggies. How much movement were doing with your leg prior to the blood clot and how did you find out you had a blood clot? Is this preventable?
Thank you all for your replies. I think I will call PT tomorrow and at least see about an initial visit to see where I am and what more I can accomplish with the help of PT. I had a suspicion that I could do all or most of it at home but it seems that perhaps I'm wrong since you guys seem to feel strongly about it. I do want to recover as much as possible, if it is possible to fully recover range of movement. Hope so!
I hope all of you recover quickly!
(P.S. Seems to be a rash of people breaking their ankles where I work. There are three of us now. I was first on Nov. 23. Some of our customers want to know whats going on?! It's scary to me just how easy it is to break your legs and many people tell me they went through the same/similar thing.)
OK tib/fib veterans, I am again posting regarding my husband. His fall and injury were on Nov. 12. It has been almost 13 weeks. He is walking with a cane per OS orders.
Had follow up visit last week and got excellent report.
But, he still complains a lot with pain. He says it aches. This is almost an every day thing. How long is this hurting going to go on? Will it EVER quit hurting?
OK tib/fib veterans, I am again posting regarding my husband. His fall and injury were on Nov. 12. It has been almost 13 weeks. He is walking with a cane per OS orders.
Had follow up visit last week and got excellent report.
But, he still complains a lot with pain. He says it aches. This is almost an every day thing. How long is this hurting going to go on? Will it EVER quit hurting?
What do you do for the pain?
lebp54 - I think maybe you haven't gotten many responses because it's just so hard to determine. Everyone is different, heals at different rates, and feels the pain differently. I'm almost 5 months out from my injury and still have aching and pain in my leg. Swelling is almost gone but there is still some swelling that just hasn't gone away yet. OS says it will get better over time. Told me to remember that these injuries generally don't occur without tearing muscle and tendons and those soft tissue injuries take a really long time to heal and cause lots of discomfort for a long time after.
For the pain ... I take a couple of maximum strength tylenol when it's just more than I want to deal with. Most of the time it passes if I can get up and move around for a bit. Getting through the first few minutes of being on my feet in the morning was pretty rough until just this last week when it hasn't been hurting as much in the mornings. For me the Tylenol works just fine. Best wishes and speedy recovery to your husband.
Diana
OK tib/fib veterans, I am again posting regarding my husband. His fall and injury were on Nov. 12. It has been almost 13 weeks. He is walking with a cane per OS orders.
Had follow up visit last week and got excellent report.
But, he still complains a lot with pain. He says it aches. This is almost an every day thing. How long is this hurting going to go on? Will it EVER quit hurting?
What do you do for the pain?
Hi lepb54,
Everyone does heal at different rates, but it usually is a long road back to being "normal" again. My injury was one year ago and different from your husband's, mine was closer to my ankle w/2 plates, 16 screws. I still have some stiffness and muscle weakness that I am working on, plus looking into possible HWR.
Most people do have soft tissue damage with these types of injuries and it takes quite awhile for that to heal. Plus when you are immoblie for so long, your muscles get weak and stiff, so when you do begin to WB you are beginning a whole new phase of your recovery by waking up those tissues that have been resting and healing, and it can be painful when you begin to use them again.
As others have written, if you look back at some older posts, there is a difference between muscle pain and bone pain. At this point in his recovery , I would suspect he should mostly be experiencing muscle pain. If there is continual bone pain, he should let his OS know right away.
Also if he is not in PT, I would HIGHLY recommend it. PT is so extremely helpful in getting back on the right track, also your PT is your lifeline in helping you know what is normal for you in between those OS visits when you have TONS of questions about what you are going through on a daily basis. At this stage I would think he should be going 2-3 times a week.
I hope this info is helpful, this is a very tough injury to recover from, so many ups and downs, I would say probably the toughest year of my life.
Take Care,
Nanny
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Here's some food for thought regarding diet. I am the one that got the bloodclots (in leg that moved to both lungs) at 6 months after break (and 5 months of NWB). I ate a lot of killer green salads every day/night because not only were they good but I was thinking these had to be a good thing because I was sitting so much and really inactive. Interesting to learn that "green veggies" have a lot of vitamin K which are blood clotters - which we also need! I am now on a blood thinner AND started Nutrisystem diet (which is easy by the way) but it requires that we eat a lot of veggies and there are a lot that are unlimited in their diet which do happen to be a lot of the green veggies! I called the agency that monitors my blood tests and doseage regarding this diet and they had me get tested more frequently after start of this diet as my blood is supposed to be in a certain "range". Sure enough, this diet with the amount of green veggies was changing the range and they had to adjust my doseage so I could stay on the diet (losing weight is healthy so adjusting meds is answer). So, I learned through all of this that foods really do have vitamins in them that do affect the functions of our organs/bodies -- good and bad! Maybe with all that inactivity in my leg (where blood clot started) and the greens I was eating had something to do with me getting bloodclots??----just some food for thought!
my tib/fib break was March 28, 2009. Have 2 plates and 15 screws and am 53 in great health. At 3 months got bone stimulator that I had to sleep with and use 10 hours a day (probably not a good kind but the kind Cigna approved -- probably didn't cost them as much!). My xray last week Feb 1st showed bones almost all the way healed and we are now discussing surgery to remove all metal in next couple of months as I have pain and can't point foot/toe as much as normal foot which affects my walking (have limp) - not walking right, makes pain when walking, etc. I was told I would probably be at my best at 18 months.
