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Broken legs and ankles heal better if you walk on them within weeks

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Broken legs and ankles heal better if you walk on them within weeks

#21

Post by ghufran_syed »

miketery wrote: post #12
ehnto wrote: post #3

The pathology for broken collar bones was changing right as I took up mountain biking, and subsequently shattered my collarbone. It was hotly debated at the hospital, if my specific case should be operated on or not. Each time I had a checkup, one doctor would say "wait and see" while the other was saying "I can't believe we didn't operate on this". At any rate, the outcome was as good as if they had operated on it,…

I had a clean break on mine. If I had not had surgery I believe my shoulder would have been a centimeter or two lower. So I got a plate and 7 screws. Am I right to understand that had I not gotten the surgery my shoulder would’ve likely returned to the normal position?

usually it shouldn’t affect position or function of the shoulder once healed, and while the clavicle does tend to heal with a “bump” in it at the site of the break, its long been thought that the risk of surgery at that site outweighs the benefit. But it does depend on the specifics of the fracture: https://www.orthobullets.com/trauma/1011/clavicle-fractures-...

Re: Broken legs and ankles heal better if you walk on them within weeks

#22

Post by taneq »

The human body (like most fit organisms) is antifragile. It needs to be challenged. In this context, people who think "ooh that hurts I'll never do that again" and carefully avoid discomfort find that, by middle age, they can't do anything, and everything hurts. Meanwhile people who think "ooh that hurts, I'd better practise it until it doesn't" are still fully functional into old age because they push their bodies in the right way, and so their bodies stay strong.

Don't get me wrong, the latter group still hurt. Getting old sucks. But their bodies work.

Re: Broken legs and ankles heal better if you walk on them within weeks

#23

Post by mrfox321 »

wkirby wrote: post #16
tomaytotomato wrote: post #13

I had a bad pilon fracture of my ankle a couple of years ago with both a break on Tibia and Fibia. I fell off a ramp whilst pushing a wheelbarrow full of rubble into a skip (should've stuck to building code instead of building a house!). Normally that type of injury is associated with car crashes when someone instinctively puts all their force on the brake and the shock of the crash travels up the pedal into the ankl…

I suffered a very similar break playing soccer. ER surgeon asked if I fell off a roof. 3 metal plates and 15 screws later I was non-weight bearing for 14 weeks. I lost almost 5 inches in circumference from my left thigh while waiting to put weight back on that leg. My post-break recovery has not been as good as yours sounds. Almost 3 years later and I rate my ankle at 75% of what its sibling is capable of. I had foll…

What's your leg circumference at, now?

Mine is also smaller, due to patella tendinopathy.

Re: Broken legs and ankles heal better if you walk on them within weeks

#24

Post by ghaff »

edwcross wrote: post #20
ehnto wrote: post #3

The pathology for broken collar bones was changing right as I took up mountain biking, and subsequently shattered my collarbone. It was hotly debated at the hospital, if my specific case should be operated on or not. Each time I had a checkup, one doctor would say "wait and see" while the other was saying "I can't believe we didn't operate on this". At any rate, the outcome was as good as if they had operated on it,…

Given the amount of injuries related to mountain biking, is there some specific insurance needed for it? It seems one of those "net-negative for the society activities", like trampolines.

In general, "society" deciding what activities are too dangerous to routinely allow is a really nasty slope. Yes, there's some special insurance offered through private organizations for things like higher altitude mountaineering. But it's not that big a step to rule that any contact sport, for example, should require special insurance. I'm sure the insurance companies wouldn't mind.

Re: Broken legs and ankles heal better if you walk on them within weeks

#25

Post by Aromasin »

I can certainly attest to the consequences. I unfortunately shattered my ankle and broke my back simultaneously, which meant I didn't walk on my ankle until 6 months after the incident. As such, even 10 years later my ankle is a constant irritant to me. I have next to no dorsiflexion beyond a straight leg now. No ankle mobility means persistent pain in my hip, knee, and back on that side, and I'm only 29. God bless the NHS for saving my life at the time and not charging me a penny, but despite my best efforts I can't get any further treatment now to improve the flexion. I'm counting down the years until I can finally afford further surgery and get some quality of life improvements.

Re: Broken legs and ankles heal better if you walk on them within weeks

#26

Post by tomaytotomato »

wkirby wrote: post #16
tomaytotomato wrote: post #13

I had a bad pilon fracture of my ankle a couple of years ago with both a break on Tibia and Fibia. I fell off a ramp whilst pushing a wheelbarrow full of rubble into a skip (should've stuck to building code instead of building a house!). Normally that type of injury is associated with car crashes when someone instinctively puts all their force on the brake and the shock of the crash travels up the pedal into the ankl…

I suffered a very similar break playing soccer. ER surgeon asked if I fell off a roof. 3 metal plates and 15 screws later I was non-weight bearing for 14 weeks. I lost almost 5 inches in circumference from my left thigh while waiting to put weight back on that leg. My post-break recovery has not been as good as yours sounds. Almost 3 years later and I rate my ankle at 75% of what its sibling is capable of. I had foll…

Sorry to hear about the outcome on your leg, I am sure you've tried lots of things to beef up your muscle. Just looking at my two legs I can still see a slight difference in calf thickness.

One thing I didn't appreciate is that in a break the bone is the easy part, but getting the muscle back or preserving it is the hard part.

Re: Broken legs and ankles heal better if you walk on them within weeks

#27

Post by 77pt77 »

Medicine is still to a very large degree hocus pocus.

I had a close friend that broke his scaphoid a couple of years ago.

There was no consensus on whether the thumb should be immobilized in the hitchhikers position.

No consensus on whether to stabilize via surgery apart from extreme cases.

No consensus even on weather the elbow should be immobilized.

A complete joke.

And nothing has really improved in a decade or so for such a common thing with dire consequences.

Re: Broken legs and ankles heal better if you walk on them within weeks

#28

Post by alistairSH »

edwcross wrote: post #20
ehnto wrote: post #3

The pathology for broken collar bones was changing right as I took up mountain biking, and subsequently shattered my collarbone. It was hotly debated at the hospital, if my specific case should be operated on or not. Each time I had a checkup, one doctor would say "wait and see" while the other was saying "I can't believe we didn't operate on this". At any rate, the outcome was as good as if they had operated on it,…

Given the amount of injuries related to mountain biking, is there some specific insurance needed for it? It seems one of those "net-negative for the society activities", like trampolines.

I don't know that "normal" mountain biking is any worse than cycling in general, or sports like tackle football.

A lot of the injury risk when mountain biking is reasonably easily mitigated by controlling your speed and walking the bike through terrain that's above your skill level. There was a report out of British Columbia a few months ago about injury rates, and they were high, but BC is also a major downhill trail region.

Certainly, compared to road cycling, I know more people with major injuries from being hit by cars than from crashing solo on a mountain bike. And for my own cycling injuries - a few concussions, the worst of which was on the road bike (during a race) and a few torn rotator cuffs/mild AC joint separations.

Re: Broken legs and ankles heal better if you walk on them within weeks

#29

Post by Daneel_ »

edwcross wrote: post #20
ehnto wrote: post #3

The pathology for broken collar bones was changing right as I took up mountain biking, and subsequently shattered my collarbone. It was hotly debated at the hospital, if my specific case should be operated on or not. Each time I had a checkup, one doctor would say "wait and see" while the other was saying "I can't believe we didn't operate on this". At any rate, the outcome was as good as if they had operated on it,…

Given the amount of injuries related to mountain biking, is there some specific insurance needed for it? It seems one of those "net-negative for the society activities", like trampolines.

No? I’ve been mountain biking for over 20 years and never any broken bones or had to go to hospital as a result, despite doing downhill, trials, and dirt jumping. And I have 20 years of fitness to show for it - that’s about as positive as it gets.

Re: Broken legs and ankles heal better if you walk on them within weeks

#30

Post by 4ggr0 »

ghaff wrote: post #24
edwcross wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the amount of injuries related to mountain biking, is there some specific insurance needed for it? It seems one of those "net-negative for the society activities", like trampolines.

In general, "society" deciding what activities are too dangerous to routinely allow is a really nasty slope. Yes, there's some special insurance offered through private organizations for things like higher altitude mountaineering. But it's not that big a step to rule that any contact sport, for example, should require special insurance. I'm sure the insurance companies wouldn't mind.

One thing which comes to mind is - why should we stop at sports, then? we'll immediately be at the point where smokers, alcoholics, obese people etc. should pay more, after all, their way of life statistically causes higher costs.

(i don't think either of those things should result in higher insurance prices, just continuing the thought.)

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