Had orif surgery and fitted with a weight bearing cast for two weeks. Cast now off and have an air boot now. Was wondering if bad dull severe aches are normal. And does anyone know if I should have been non weight bearing for the fist two weeks?
Just had surgery myself after breaking and dislocating my ankle. Will be interesting to see how your recovery goes.
I fraactured my ankle 6 months ago and had ORIF surgery followed by 7 weeks of non weight bearing, first 2 weeks in cast then 5 weeks in airboot before being allowed to weight bear. I suffered nerve damage which increased my pain dramatically and would describe my pain as severe ache at that stage. If in fact they have misguided you with how soon you should be weight bearing that could very easily explain your severe pain levels as well. While all our doctors are different I would be getting back in touch with your doctor to let him know what you have been doing and confirm their wishes. Hopefully no further damage has been done but get advice as soon as you can.
I had ORIF 11 days after injury and I'm now 14 days post surgery, so I've been NWB for 25 days and I have a week to go before I get the walking boot. Every medical professional who I've seen has emphasized that I am NWB and that I should elevate as much as possible (and that I should have been icing up until I got a hard cast last week). I don't know how I would have tolerated putting weight on my ankle because it's been hurting pretty badly the entire time.
After my surgery, I woke up to a walking boot. Non weight bearing. Boot was to be left on for 2 weeks. After that I could take off for short periods of time to begin moving ankle to promote flexibility. Still had to sleep in it and still non weight bearing. It was virtually 8 weeks before I was promoted to 25% weight bearing. Always surprised to read about people being told they can walk after surgery.
BTW. While I could not remove the walking boot, I discovered if I put an ice pack behind my knee, I would experience relief in my ankle. I even had a large plastic cup that I kept filled with ice water. Fit perfectly in the crook of my knee. Feel asleep with it there once during a difficult night.
Best wishes in ur recovery!
Thank you Cynthia. I'm being referred to fracture clinic and waiting for appointment sometime soon. Will let but know 😊
Thank you lo50465. I do believe I've been misinformed.
Thanks Danas mom. I think you have Been most helpful. Looks like I was misinformed. Will check this out with doc. 😮
We made ice packs out of frozen dish soap or a mixture of frozen dish soap and rubbing alcohol. It creates a semi frozen gel that drapes over the injured area pretty well. Also, they don't drip like actual bags of ice. Just thought I'd share.
We put it in Ziplocs. I think I forgot to mention that!