11 Weeks Post ORIF - Advice & My Experience

I've come here looking for some advice, but thought I'd share my experience as well.

Looking for advice and experiences on range of ankle movement. I've done 6 weeks no weight bearing, followed by 5 weeks WBAT, and am now fully weight bearing although am in a moon boot full time (so have a very odd gait!)

My range of movement is really small though. I am doing 3x daily exercises to move ankle joint, and have been for 5 weeks now. I reckon my range of movement is about 20% of what I have in the other ankle. Is this normal? Will it improve? Can anyone tell me what happens next? I see my consultant this week, but desperate to know what to expect in the next stage of recovery.

Now I've asked my question, happy to tell my story (and answer any questions anyone else has).

• 11 weeks ago today, I broke (in 3 places) tib and fib, and dislocated ankle
• ankle was manipulated to try and stabilised it and put in plaster overnight
• surgery the following morning to put a load of metal in, and discharged the day after that
• NWB for 6 weeks, with foot elevated 23h a day (tedious!). I was given elbow crutches, but managed to swap them for armpit crutches which were much better for NWB
• Initially putting my foot down on the ground hurt like hell! The blood rushed to it, and the pain was horrid.
• Wound healed ok, but slowly. Outside was better than inside. I had strange green discharge, which GP worried was infected / but swabs were clear. At about 2 weeks post ORIF I had very painful swelling which GP worried was cellulitis. Sent back to see orthos, who were totally unconcerned and said it was normal swelling. Full wound healing took 5/6 weeks. I think it was slow due to blood thinners I was on for first 6 weeks post surgery.
• WBAT tolerated started from week 6. Felt slow at first. Had calf muscle pain in the first week, but passed quickly. I found adding weight was tricky on armpit crutches, so swapped back to elbow crutches which were much better for WBAT. By week 10 I was down to one crutch in the house, and a couple of days later was crutch free at home. Still needed crutches on uneven ground, but managed to do gown to one crutch outside by week 11.
• Progress between week 10 and week 11 was massive! It's amazing the difference when you can hobble without crutches - I can make food and drinks, put dishes in the dishwasher etc. Life changing!! 😃
• I've had various bouts of nerve pain (which is horrid). Mainly in the early weeks, but also two really bad nights around week 7. Fingers crossed nothing since then!

Very happy to answer questions, as there's not a lot of info out there 😃

1 like, 1 reply