Post Orif ankle surgery, need some advice?
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I suffered an unstable spiral fracture to the fibula and unstable fracture to the tibia on my left foot on May 21st , i had orif surgery on the 5th of june with 2 plates and 10 screws to repair the bones , no nerve or ligament damage thankfully. i am now 3 weeks post op with no pain and everything healing alright. in another 3 weeks i will be transferred to the boot for only partial weightbearing , has anyone had the boot before as i feel i will be able to start full weight bearing and i do not want to be another month or longer before i can start bearing weight. any one have any stories or helpful advice ?
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donald84133 katy76264
Posted
Hello Katy:
I-too, broke tibia and fibula in a car accident. I had surgery to position all bones in place, and I was in an external fixator ( the kind of contraption that has metal rods coming out of the skin) for 8 months.
I had surgery to remove the rods and go into the boot. With the boot, I was fully weight bearing, but I used crutches the first two weeks. Why? I used the crutches, because I found the boot very HEAVY, and I had little to no balance at first, so I used the crutches for balance.
Since you will be in the boot a lot sooner than I, maybe your balance will be okay.
So, to recap--I was able to put weight while in the boot, but used crutches at first for balance.
Good luck to you.
Write something so we know how you are doing.
My best,
Donald
Llamalah katy76264
Posted
I had a single displaced oblique fracture to my fibula which ran into the ankle joint, and there was some evidence of syndesmosis tearing and I ended up with 1 plate and 7 screws to stabilise. That was on April 8th / 12 weeks ago.
I was:
2 weeks in back slab cast
3.5 weeks in boot
then began weight bearing as tolerated.
The WBAT went a bit like this:
Day 1-3: 20-25% weight bearing in boot
Day 4-6: 25-50% weight bearing in boot
Day 6-8: 50-75% weight bearing in boot / 25% weight bearing bear-foot
Day 10-12: Limping with boot not support / 50% weight bearing bear-foot
Day 13-14: still limpy with boot / 75% weight bearing bear-foot
Day 15-16: ditched the boot, used a cane, super limpy.
Day 17-18: ditched the cane. limpy. around 8/9 weeks post op.
Now @ 12 weeks post op, still limpy but a lot lot less. I can go up stairs properly but not down stairs properly yet and I can now balance on the leg again.
The main problems with the weight bearing is the loss of muscle over the 6 weeks of non-weight bearing. I have not built my calf back up to where it was yet. The other issue I found was that after 6 weeks of non-weight bearing the first few days of being allowed to weight bear - there was a lot of sensory overload as the nerves start having input again.
To encourage myself through out the journey I would (and still do) keep a little journal of each tiny goal I achieved. Yesterday it was wearing normal socks for the first time again because the swelling is holding off. The first time I tried to balance on my leg I was able to stay for 2 secs, so I wrote that down, and then each time I try, I right now the better times, and then I can see how far I have come because when you start weight bearing you are learning to walk again.