Pain and burning at incision in medical boot.
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I am 11 days post ORIF surgery. I broke my ankle on both sides and the top of my fibula. I have 2 screws and 2 pins in. I had a follow up at 7 days and they changed my dressing and rewrapped my ankle. Incisions looked great. The last 36 hours have been excruciating. I have severe burning and stabbing pain at both incision sites, going across the front of my ankle, and my heel, while wearing my medical boot. It feels like it is on fire. The doctor said I could take the boot off as I'm resting but my ankle isn't finding a whole lot of relief even after removing the boot. I'm also nervous about having it out of the boot the entire time I'm at rest. I unwrapped my ankle today to make sure everything looked okay and it does so I rewrapped it. Within 20 minutes of putting my medical boot on I removed it again because I couldn't take the pain any longer. Has anyone else had this issue? Is this just par for the course? I can get the pain to diminish some if I take a Vicodin, but I am really trying to wean myself off of them. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance 
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tricia09818 dionna72828
Posted
From what I'm gathering from reading in here, and my own experience (I'm 8 weeks post ORIF surgery)its normal. The burning is from the nerves regenerating where they cut , and the stabbing is the screws/pins settling. It does get better with time and its fine to still take a Vicodin here and there at 11 days if you're still having pain. Try pumping up the pillow things in your boot to cushion your incision areas a little better. Also wiggle your toes as much as you can to keep the circulation up. You can also ice the areas when you have the boot off, for 20 min at a time. Just keep it dry.
?It really will get better, but if youre not having any relief after several days, give your ortho a call.