Soon to graduate to a walking boot

I agree with Jenni about wearing a shoe that is the same height as your boot to avoid hip and/or knee pain. I didn't have anything that fit the bill so I ordered an Even-up from Amazon. It's less than $20, and while it's not beautiful, it will help. I wore it with a solid black Saucony walking shoe so it wasn't all that noticeable.

I was in the boot with crutches for a couple of weeks and that was hard for me because I'm not good with crutches. Once I got down to one crutch, and then no crutches at all, things got a lot better. As far as walking your dog is concerned, a lot will depend on how far you want to walk and how well-behaved the dog is. You don't want to risk a dog tugging too hard and making you lose your balance. But, I live in the country and have only outside dogs so I don't have much experience to go by.

Good luck! I hope the rest of your recovery goes well for you.

Everyone's recovery experience is different depending on severity of fracture, place of fracture as well as fitness level prior to activity, as I'm sure you already know. But I was in your shoes a while ago, so I feel your pain! I was NWB for 6 weeks after a nondisplaced medial malleolus fracture. Didn't need surgery, and after 6 weeks of boredom and immobility I was finally cleared to walk after X-rays showed the fracture had healed. Ortho told me to get rid of crutches immediately, but I was terrified to walk! First few steps I took while using the crutches as a cane, and it HURT. Pins and needles all over my foot. After about an hour and some pain meds, pain subsided a bit and my gait was kinda normal with some steps I took.

I was given a brace to use intermittently with my sneaker in order to wean off of boot. Walking with the brace HURT. LIKE. HELL. Mostly on my heel. But it was a tolerable pain, didn't stop me from walking. On day 4, I was only wearing the boot a few hours a day (mostly when walking outside/on uneven grassy areas) and I was able to walk up and down my flight of steps normally without a railing. After that, the heel pain stopped, and I had persistent pain along the ball of my foot. That stuck around for a good 3 weeks or so, and made walking down steps pretty uncomfortable. After 2 weeks however, I was able to do a light 4 minute jog on treadmill. Still had a limp, but it was due more to weakness than pain. Also around that time, I was able to tolerate walking on uneven outdoor surfaces with just brace and no boot.

Overall, pain completely went away for me after about a month. Weaned off the brace completely after about 3 weeks. I'm a little over 1.5 months post weight bearing, and just got done running 4 miles outside with no pain. Range of motion is still a little bit off, but only noticeable if it's measured. So not enough to inhibit me in any way.

All in all, it's going to hurt. And it's going to be tough when you first start walking because your knee and ankle muscles will be extremely weak. Good news is, strength comes back daily quickly. Range of motion takes much longer to come back. Mine still only about 98% back. Biggest piece of advice: start putting weight on that leg as soon as you're cleared to! And make a conscious effort to shift your weight into that leg as much as possible (following any weight bearing restrictions you may still have). If ortho recommends physical therapy, which I assume they will, start it ASAP! The sooner you start rehabbing that foot, the quicker that range of motion and strength will come back. Good luck on your recovery