Avulsion fracture 2 years ago, still hurts

Posted , 5 users are following.

I had an Avulsion fracture a couple of years ago. During the hospital X-ray they confirmed there was an Avulsion fracture in my left ankle, there was alot of swelling, pain and I was unable to walk on it.  I was provided a boot and advised to attend fracture clinic. After this the NHS totally messed up my treatment, I was told I didn't need to go to fracture clinic by the fracture clinic team then advised by a GP 4 weeks later I should be going.

I took my boot off after the amount of time I was told to and had no physiotherapy, no follow up xray and no treatment of the sort.

Two years on it still hurts most of the time (dull pain), swells up and bruises. To be honest I am getting fed up now, I either wait months on an NHS waiting list or dish out hundreds for private treatment.  

Anyone had a similar experience, why is it still hurting, weak and swelling even now? 

0 likes, 6 replies

6 Replies

  • Posted

    I'm sorry you're hurting! Hopefully you can get some answers soon! Hang in there!!!

  • Posted

    Sounds awful... you should be able to get help asap since they messed up your treatment plan sad

    What type of fracture and how soon were you allowed to bear weight in your boot?

    • Posted

      An avulsion fracture of the lateral malleolus. 

      They never told me if I could bare weight, but I was just about able to do it about 2 weeks in with an aircast boot : / 

    • Posted

      Hmmm... that is concerning that they didn't give you any instructions. I wasn't allowed to bear weight for 4 weeks (originally I was told 6 weeks, but due to my good progress my ortho doc allowed me to go ahead early). I had an avulsion fracture of the fibula (Weber A), non displaced, hence the boot treatment. My doctor was conservative in her approach with weight bearing as sometimes going early can result in mal-union and non-union issues (its rare with my type of fracture, but it happens so she doesn't take any chances, for which I sure appreciate as I am largely pain free now (four months later) with just some stiffness and a tiny bit of swelling leftover. I wonder if your fracture displaced and didn't heal correctly? They should be giving you a new x-ray to see how the bones look now and probably an MRI to check up on your soft tissues. 

  • Posted

    Hello!

    Sorry to hear about your ankle.

    I know this is an old post but I wondered if you had found a solution? I have the exact same problem as you, except I did it whilst travelling and couldn't get medical care straight away. I did eventually come home after a few weeks and went under the NHS but it took 6 weeks to get an appointment and by that point they said there wasn't much they could do. It's been almost a year since I did it, and as it was a secondary injury following a bone bruise in the same ankle, I over used my right foot so much that that one now has a host of soft tissue problems. My fracture settled down a lot from lots of resting but whenever I need to use it to be the dominant foot when I'm on crutches resting the right, it comes back again, or if I just walk on it more. They said there was a larger chip and lots of little fragments embedded in the tendon/ ligament. I just wondered if yours is better now or if you ever found out how to fix it?

    Thanks in advance!

    • Posted

      Hey there,

      I have a similar issue for 2 years.

      It's fine if I don't do too much but it's really a handicap if I want to go jogging or biking. It hurts for a few days after that.

      I've been offered surgery to extract the fragment and reconnect the ligament but I'm a bit of a chicken to pull the trigger.

      I can tell you one thing that helped me a lot is a lace-up ASO style splint. It's a pain to lace it up every time I exercise but it helps a LOT.

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