Purple and red leg after being up for too long !

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hi all !

so on feb 28th I had a snowmobile accident and fractured my tibia and broke my fibula. I was diagnosed at the hospital with a displaced tibia plateau fracture and was told i would need surgery to realign the bones. i had an external fixator on to hold the bones in place and to get some swelling down before they could perform surgery. i had surgery on March 16 and now have plates and screws just below my knee. i started PT 2 wks later.

im now almost 7 wks post op and have full extention and reached 90 degrees flexion. i had my 6 wk post op last wk and doctor said i can start weight bearing as much as i can tolerate . im so excited to take the next step in this long painful recovery.

i am still elevating and icing throughout the day and i also wear a compression stocking for a few hours a day to help with some swelling . i do notice a ton of discoloration when im standing , my doc said that its normal and that its all the blood and fluids returning to my leg . he said it should go away over time. im currently about 15-20% weight bearing and continuing to add more weight in PT . my physical therapist thinks we can start gait (walking) training at 8 wks and we'll also do some pool therapy too!

good luck and well wishes to everyone currently going through a tough injury and thank you for reading my story ! its always nice to talk to other people going through something similar 😃

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  • Posted

    hi! im 10 weeks after ORIF surgery(trimalleolar fracture) and im FWB in a shoe. God its uncomfortable, my ankle is so stiff. Im going to PT also and it has helped lots. i feel like when my ankle loosens it will feel easier to walk. im using a cane still, i can walk without it but it hurts my other muscles. ( im also 32 weeks pregnant i might add) The red/purple in the leg and foot its normal they said but i hate it. i dont even like looking at it. its apparently because its still healing in there so the blood has to work harder. i will be happy when that stops happening. This is such a long hard and painful recovery, wishing you all the luck for a speedy and easy one!

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