weight bearing

Foot care
1

I broke my ankle a couple of weeks ago, went over on it, I'm always doing that, and it gets sore and swollen for a while, but finally it broke.  

My orthopaedic doctor has told me that I can weight bear now, which seems quite soon to me.  He also told me to stop if it began to hurt, which it did, but wondering how much weight bearing I should actually be doing in the first place.  

I'm also considering cutting back on my ibuprofen, there seems to be some controversy about whether ibuprofen inhibits healing or not.  

​Thank you for anyone wishing to try and help. 

2

http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/booth/painpag/wisdom/NSB.pdf

This suggests that in relativeky short term use it does not ihhibit healing

3

Hi Denise 

it does seem very strange that you are able to walk on it now if it's only been a couple of weeks since you broke it because you would think it needs time to heal. When I broke my ankle my surgen told me I had to stay off my foot / ankle for 6 weeks and then I had to go into a boot that went up to my knee for another 6 weeks to make sure it was compteatly healed plus had a lot of X-rays along the way, I was taking ibuprofen for the pain but my sergen said that was fine because it would help with the swelling and pain. 

Maybe u should take a trip to your gp if your concerned with what you are ment to be doing good luck with everything and I hope you have a merry Christmas 

regards Nadine 

4

Hi Nadine, that's what I thought, it's all very strange, maybe I misunderstood.  I could give them a ring today, he did however say if it starts to hurt, stop weightbearing and come back and see him if pain doesn't subside

5

Hi Denise 

it might be a really good idea to give them a call maybe even see if you can get into see your specialist even if it's just to put your mind at easy after all they will probably be closing soon for Christmas so try and see how you go good luck !!!!! 

Nadine 

6

Thank you Jon, I also find it upsets my stomach, another reason for cutting back on it.  

7

Hi denise i would ask for an MRI i was told after many times rolling my right ankle it was a stress fracture in fact after pushing for MRI they found out that i had ruptuered two of my ligaments they had completley torn and wasnt a fracture at all so i had to have surgery to repair them had surgery in July this year and i am now nearly fully recovered ( just cant wear high heels any more ) i would really push for an MRI good luck

8

What sort of things should I be looking for Allison to detect potential ligament damage?  I assumed that there is always some soft tissue damage accompanying a break?

I'm really struggling with my wrists at the moment due to using crutches, really quite painful 

9

Hi Denise A fracture of the ankle and and a severe sprain can present the same signs swelling bruising hard to weight bare sorry to say the only way the hospital or any one can detect ruptured and torn ligaments are by having an MRI x rays only detect broken bones. If you also keep going over on your ankle as i did ( 15 times to be precise ) you might have ankle instability which i was dignosed with prompting the hospital to give me an MRI then leading to a complete repair operation on my ligaments i hope you can get some answers from the hospital hope this is of some help but you really need to push the hospital or they will never sort the problem out. I now feel like i have got a new ankle.

10

thank you allison, I will wait until the fractue mends and then take it from there.  I definitely had something else going on in the same area for some time prior to the fracture.  

11

Denise, I fractured my ankle 3 months ago and was not able to weight bear for 10 weeks.  I was in a cast for 7 weeks.   a few weeks after your fracture seems too soon to be weight bearing.  Good luck with your recovery.

12

hi Gail, thank you, yes I thought it was too soon too, I did ring the hospital and they told me I should be partial weightbearing, but they didn't say that during my apt, so I am trying to put some weight on it, but not very much at the moment.

 

13

Do take it easy, Denise.  Both my ortho surgeon and physiotherapist told be not to place any weight on my ankle until after the cast was removed and then it took a further 2 weeks.  Compared to serious ilnesses a fracture is not so important, but the lack of mobility and the length of time to recuperate is a nightmare.  I've been told it may take 12-18 months to regain my former level of mobility.  Ankles are very delicate, yet they do a massive job in keeping us upright!   If you can put some weight on the ankle, good, but don't overdo it, keep up with your exercises and elevate it as much as you can to reduce swelling.

14

Hi Gail

I haven't got a physio apt as yet, I may see if I can ask to see one.  I feel like I've been thrown in the deep end, given crutches and a cast and on my way.  I'm having wrist problems now, it's an existing one that's getting worse by using crutches.  Off to see my gp about it this morning.