FWB after orif ankle surgery
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I dislocated my ankle, tore the ligament between my tibia and fibula, broke my medial malleolus and fibula, and chipped my posterior malleolus 8 weeks ago. I had orif surgery the day I fell, and i got a plate and 9 screws, including one that goes through both my tibia and fibula. After 8 weeks my doctor gave me the okay to start walking, and told me I could probably drop the crutches in a day or two. It’s been four days since then and it’s still extremely painful to try and use just one crutch, is this normal???
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kpower breanna54759
Posted
Hi Breanna,
I would echo the advice of others here that you need to listen carefully to your own body with regard to how much and how quickly to start walking and full weight bearing.
Your doctor is not in your shoes (sorry about pun) so he has no skin in the game so to speak. Generally, the medics leave us to our own resources once bones are healed enough to carry weight.
Some pain is absolutely to be expected when recovering from ankle injuries as severe as you sustained-- I wish it were not so but there it is.
My experience indicates that slow and painful recoveries are caused by considerable soft tissue damage (ligaments, tendons, muscles, nerves, fascia, and so forth). These tissues are usually slow and capricious to heal. Putting too much activity and stress while these connective tissues are still inflamed and vulnerable from an ongoing healing process is no good, and could cause recovery setbacks and even (worse case scenario) chronic long term ankle problems (incomplete recovery).
If you can't figure out how to proceed safely from here on your own, you might be advised to consult with a seasoned and competent foot and ankle doctor, and/or a really good physiotherapist that specializes in ankle injuries.