Weber b fracture non surgical reduction in pain

Foot care
1

hi, i am 49 year old guy that unfortunately slipped down a grass verge and broke my ankle 4 weeks ago,

I attended A&E the next day due to the pain not residing, so i have a broken fibula, the dr told me it had displaced and gave me gas and air while he repositioned it and they then applied a temporary back slab cast,
i returned to see the specialist 3 days later which happened to be dr strike day , the consultant told me in the 3 mins he spoke to me was that he had seen the xray from 3 days before and was happy with the bones position, so to return in another weeks time,

when i returned the plaster room removed my cast and put new one, then sent me for xrays , i went back to see consultant , while waiting another dr came and told me that the xray had shown my bone had moved out of allienment , i was worried sick, he then told me i would have to have another closed reduction and if that did not work then i would have to have surgery , so they removed the new cast and then gave me gas and air and done a closed reduction (bone alienment) put a new tight cast on and sent me for another xray, so the new xray came back as ok and the consultant said to come back in a week , if it stays in place i will have dodged surgery , i was in pain but happy!

so week later i returned, the consultant told me it was in good position after another xray, then told me i should start weight bearing in 3 weeks time, then a week after this i return and they would remove my cast and another xray,

it has been 1 week since this last visit , a few days ago my ankle and bottom leg in the plaster cast was very hot , i also experianced pins and needles in my toes and foot, had some unusual nerve feelings and have lost feeling in my toes, i have very slight feeling left,

i have telephoned 2 times the dept where the consultant is and left messages twice with my concerns but have not had any response, i am concerned my bone is not rejoining and feel the consultant jut did not explain anything to me, he spent no more then 3 mins with me first time then similar on next visit, i am now 4 weeks into broken ankle and feel as bad as when i first done it, it did seem to be getting better a week ago but is now worse as in pain now when i was in hardly any over past couple weeks ,

could anyone please advise if you had a closed reduction , as i am worried that waiting another 4 weeks to go back and be told it has not united is going to have been 7 weeks since my accident and would mean i start all over again if a operation is needed to join my bone.
i also never realized how much this affects life, i am so lucky to have a wife that takes care of me

2

hi again,
im living the real nightmare and really fed up! after my first post above i went back to A and E with my plaster cast being to tight , i had it changed , i dont blame the cast man who put new cast but they are trained to put the cast and foot in certain ways and when my cast was changed he moved my foot 45 degrees to point my toes downward instead of straight ahead as it had been for 3.5 weeks,
anyway 3 days after they changed my cast my crutch slipped in bathroom and i landed on my toes which displaced my fracture again! i was just over one week from removal .....

so i wnt to A and E again , the day after i slipped , the dr said i would need a couple of screws in there as my fracture is unstable, i was given an appointment to return in a week! this is the state of my nhs hospital , they sent me home with a displaced bone moving in my ankle as no one there could help me for a week, they saw me and told me again that they treat this injury conservatively , i said ok, so they recast me again, a week later i woke up with my little toe and side of my foot in agony anf no feeling i it so i returned to A and E , they said it was prob cramp, gave me a xray and said it was ok and come back in 4 weeks for cast removal ,,, 2 weeks after this my bone just didnt feel right , i went back again to A and E , they xray me and then say the bone have moved very slightly since last xray , but not enough to warrant a operation ,,,,

so i am due to be 5 weeks in cast and removal next week ,,,,, i do not know if my fracture is ok, but for sure 3 weeks ago it was not ,,, it will have been 3 months since i broke my fibula, weber b fracture ,, i have been non weight bearing ,, i have had to go to A and E as the hospital orthopedics do not ever return a call or reply to a message , it really is pretty dire ....... i went pictures of my xrays to my dr friend , he said i should of been given surgery as first option , and i had no idea ,,, i am really sad that the drs here are actually not putting care first ,, the hospital has been in special measures as its overwhelmed with patients ,,
anyway i hope the cast will be removed as i am sick and tired of being non mobile ,,, but i really have lost faith ,, i worry my ankle is not healed properly as i have a very tender site under the plaster cast , also hear clicking when i move ,, hope thats where cast is loose and foot maybe clicking ,, my mind is permanently thinking the worse as i have never been in hell like this

i dont have any other options except the Nhs so have just put up with it , but i am surei i should of been given information about my injury and treatment options, but i was never told anything whatsoever ,,,, so accepted the plaster cast as i thought it was the norm

3

well to anyone reading this i returned yesterday to hospital, my fracture is partially healed, it is not fully united and when i saw the xray it looked worse then the xray i had 3 weeks ago as in it had moved again , i would advise anybody who ever breaks this bone to ask fir surgery , i was never informed of my options which has cost me a lot of recovery time , plus all the pain and time i went through having a very tight cast on the first time back 3 months ago, ,

so i was put in a boot and told to fully weight bear , which is mentally as well as physically shocking so will take me a few days i guess to get my mind set in to that , at least my leg is free at night time for bed ,

4

hello ,it sounds like you've had a really shocking experience with the NHS . I am very sorry to hear that . My experience was that I feel down three steps on October 24 th , I knew immediately that I had broken a bone as I heard the crack . I was taken to A&E via ambulance . After several hours sitting in a plastic chair my bad leg dangling turning blue and swelling up I was taken for an x-ray . More hours passed and I was told in the packed corridor that I had broken my Fibula . I was sent to the plaster room for a cast , given some paracetamol and sent home in agony after a 2 minute lesson on using crutches . I was told I would be driving again in 6 weeks and was even told if I wanted to go on my pre booked holiday to Spain the following week I should be ok . I ignored that last piece of advice as I was in no fit state to even get through my front door when i got home in the early hours with my partners help
Two weeks later at the fracture clinic after another x-ray the consultant cheerfully informed me that I had actually also cleanly broken in half my tibia and fractured three Metatarsal bones ! He booked me in for emergency surgery , which then didn't take place for 3 days due to lack of beds . The surgeon said that the operation was long and complicated due to the fact that my bones had all started to knit together and the new bone growth had to be chipped away before the old bones could be realigned . I stayed in hospital for three nights and was discharged . I'm angry that I'm at least two weeks behind in healing due to the A&E Doctor misreading the X-Ray and potentially my surgery and recovery might be less successful because of that . Your story sounds even more horrendous and I can see why you are so frustrated and upset .
I hated the crutches and refused to use them , I just saw them as another accident waiting to happen . I use a walker instead . Reading how you slipped on your crutches and re broke your leg made me shudder , how terrible for you. I really hope you are making progress now and your future looks brighter you've had such awful treatment and such a lack of vital information . It is certainly a long horrible journey and not one that I would wish on anyone . good luck .

5

thank you maria for sharing and understanding ,

My last appointment when they removed the cast , i went to see the consultant after the xray and the guys first words were , complaint complaint complains! , because i had made a complaint to the hospital about lack of communication and no way of getting in touch or any way of getting answers to any of the problems ,

where i am now is pretty much where i was in sept ! you honestly could not make it up, the xray looked no different to the one i had back in sept , i can feel my bone is not fully united , i dont understand how it will heal when i have been told to excerise my ankle with moving it when its not in the boot , i start to feel the nerves bite and feeling coming back as if my foot is now in right place when resting , but as soon as i move my foot it goes again and it seems i am interupting the setting of the bone,
i have at least managed to get my consultant changed due to his arrogance , he has not helped me at all , i am due to go back in 6 weeks , its like this will never end, im scared of exercising my ankle to much as i dont want to displace it again , 6 weeks will make me be at 4 and a half months with a fractured ankle in the uk , how unreal ... not been able to work . absolutely shocked if i had been informed in the first instance i would of been able to know if surgery would of been a better outcome,
if i go back in 6 weeks and get told then i need it i will want to strangle the first consultant !

6

hello again , 8 just wondered how you recovery is going ? Im not really making any progress ,its been 3 months now since my op , so much so that at my first physio therapy at the hospital i was referred to Hydrotherapy . Iv had three 30 minute sessions so far over three weeks . It was great to be in the pool , I actually walked , I was so overwhelmed I cried but of course once out of the water i was back to being immobile again . Im using a wheelchair to get around downstairs , still getting upstairs in my backside and getting around upstairs with a walker . Its making me feel so old ! I was fit and active before my accident . I bought a knee scooter which had given me some degree of independence to go out for dinner occasionally but I just want to be able to drive and walk again . As far as walking with crutches its still agony , I can only walk the length of about 4 cars and im still terrified of losing my balance and falling again

My foot is still swollen and purple and my ROM has inly improved a little bit .

This injury and the surgery had changed my life and i cant see a way forward right now . Its upsetting . I hope you have faired better than myself . let me know how you ate doing .

7

hi , well i am a lot better then i was , i spent Christmas feeling awful with my ankle and being in a boot, on boxing day i went back to A and E as it was not feeling right again , they took xray and said no change since last xray, they looked shocked in the xray room when they saw the xray and it had me worried , the dr saw me after and said i should wait for my appointment on the 17th jan but there was no way i could mentaly cope with waiting that long,

i had put a complaint in back in december and i was given a different consultant whom told me he would have treated me differently , ie a cast for 3 weeks then into a boot , if i had been treated that way i am sure i would be fine now but unfortunelty far to late , new consultant was a ankle and foot specalist , the useless first consultant was a hip and knee dr, im not sure why i was not given to the ankle dr in the first place ,

anyway so i saw new consultant on the 4th of jan and was told i am suffering from Complex regional pain syndrome , because i had been in a cast so long, he told me i could come out of the walking boot and do physio to get my movement back, i have slowly been getting back on my feet , i have limited range of movement still , my ankle and foot swells to double size of my healthy side , i had a MRI scan last weds and was told i should be back to normal in around 2 years ! i am not sure about the CRPS though as i have serious pain in my foot and it doesn't seem to be getting any less .....

i can walk without crutches , its been about 3 or 4 weeks since i came off them ,

To be honest i believe the consultant made mistakes with me, and the damn plaster room , i can only hope the Crps fades away asap as it damn painful , i blame the tight plaster cast and being in one to long

I hope you are doing better ,

8

Maria i was not making any progress either until all of a sudden i noticed i was able to stand up (painfully) in the house and hobble around without the boot , it has got me to a point that im much better then i was but i am not sure where i will be in months to come as the crps doesnt seem to be easing and I am unable to progress any more due to this pain in foot , in your case i would say you shall start to notice now that you are actually making good progress , although its slow at least you shall make it! i also agree its ruined my life this injury , but stay positive and you will get much better , as you had surgery i would say you will get back yo normal ! they cast me to tight and damaged me , i feel i may as well have bandaged my own ankle and would of had a better outcome ! good luck

9

thank you so much for taking the time to reply and giving me some reassurance . I'm glad that you finally have a consultant that is taking you seriously , You had so many set backs early on because of wrong information and bad decisions from so called professionals , I can't believe that you were assigned a knee specialist for your ankle ! Although on the morning of my surgery the receptionist told me that because it was an emergency and i had already been waiting for a bed for 3 days they had phoned around and managed to find a surgeon that had SOME experience in ankle surgery ! Im wondering now if my surgery was as good as it should have been .

On a more positive note , I know what you mean a about all of a sudden you find that you can stand and walk a few paces unaided . I did just that last week , I wanted to grab something that was just out of reach and I couldn't be bothered to hold onto my walker so I tentatively shuffled a few steps arms outstretched until I reached the sideboard , Its a start I suppose . Im using my crutches more now that Im not so terrified but I still have moments were I just freeze and cannot put one foot in front of the other . I wasn't given a follow up appointment , I was just told if I have any problems in the next 6 months to call the fracture clinic .
I wish you all the best in your continued improvement and recovery , it sounds as if you are making good progress now . I hope you manage to control the pain and before long hopefully will be pain free . Maria