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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

#141

Post by tombert »

Aromasin wrote: post #25

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 t…

At the risk of sounding like an American stereotype, have you considered starting something like a GoFundMe to pay for the future surgery?

Also worth looking into clinical trials. Obviously not ideal to be a guinea pig, but sometimes you can find experimental treatment on these things and they won't charge you.

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

#142

Post by parliament32 »

dfxm12 wrote: post #11
faitswulff wrote: post #6

If anyone's heard of RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) for healing joints, the new guidance is called POLICE: Protect, Optimal Load, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. The key differences being Protect and Optimal Load, meaning don't re-injure it and expose it to some level of weight-bearing or usage.

Anyone can RICE their joints. It's foolproof, more or less objective and requires no monitoring from a professional. What defines optimal load? It sounds impossible to gauge, unless maybe if you're working with a physical therapist. Then, what happens if load more than the optimal level? Is the outcome worse than if you just stuck to RICE? I think these are things that have to be considered for medical protocols.

>What defines optimal load?

Uncomfortable but not painful, just like pretty much everything else physiology-related in life.

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

#143

Post by gnarcoregrizz »

jamiedumont wrote: post #124
gnarcoregrizz wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shattered mine mountain biking as well (6 pieces). Ortho took one look at it and scheduled surgery for the next day. It wasn't a 'standard' break since it included my AC joint and coracoclavicular ligaments which needed a special type of plate. Ultimately it took 2 surgeries (ORIF, then plate removal). Total recovery was 9 months. My arm/shoulder is as strong as it was before, and it looks anatomically correct. My sh…

Mine felt immediately worse after the ORIF. After two weeks getting comfortable in their new positions, all the ligaments really resented getting wrenched back into place. Good illustration was that my run of the mill, 45 minute surgery ended up taking 4.5 hours. It’s good to hear that everything felt good after your plate was removed. At 18 months post-surgery, I’m in a really good place where I can do most anything…

I should restate - mine definitely did not feel better post-surgery, the ORIF pain was worse than the break, but it felt good to have my bones secure with my shoulder in its anatomically correct place, and not have any more crepitus.

My plate was extremely uncomfortable, it was a "hook plate" which held my collar bone to my scapula. I couldn't raise my arm above shoulder height with it installed, it had to be removed after 6mo.

Plate removal was a bit tougher than anticipated (short term). I read accounts of it being a 'relief' but I was in quite bit of pain.

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

#144

Post by cyrillite »

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…

Having recently walked away from that exact situation miraculously unscathed (the teenage drunk drivers also managed to walk away somehow), that’s an interesting insight into the type of injury I avoided. Grim, scary, but very interesting. Glad you recovered.

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

#145

Post by ghaff »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #140
marssaxman wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been advocating mandatory shower-helmet laws for many years now; it would make as much sense as a lot of the other nanny-state regulation does.

On the other hand, mandatory rough surfaces on the floor of showers seem pretty reasonable.

There's so much about showers in hotels that I hate a good proportion of the time: super-slick tiles, high step-in tubs, accompanied by no handholds. I've gotten more sensitive to this over time but even when I was much younger, nearly took spills a couple of times.

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

#147

Post by marssaxman »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #140
marssaxman wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been advocating mandatory shower-helmet laws for many years now; it would make as much sense as a lot of the other nanny-state regulation does.

On the other hand, mandatory rough surfaces on the floor of showers seem pretty reasonable.

That's fair. It's one thing to tell people "don't build things in such a way that other people would be put at risk", and quite another to threaten people with punishment for choosing to take risks themselves.

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

#148

Post by ghaff »

TylerE wrote: post #114
grayhatter wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is such a wild take to me... it's impossible to quantity at what point something becomes a net negative for society. Smoking seems to be an obvious example, because it's addictive quality inhibits a fair decision to the smoker, and it's something with a lifelong pathology. But trampolines and mountain biking are both activities that result in ephemeral injuries. There is the rare case where a particular injury m…

Yes, we should absolutely ban, at the very least, contact football among minors. We have ample evidence of football (and soccer, too, for that matter) student athletes developing full blown CTE by their 20s, and with lifetime risk thousands of times the general population.

A few years back, I thought there would be more of a push to regulate/limit American, at least contact, football. But didn't happen. Soccer? Good luck.

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

#149

Post by bitwize »

In 2017 I suffered a nasty fall. I landed on my right arm that was so in pain afterwards I was T-Rexin' that one arm for a few weeks. Too much flexion or extension hurt. Guess what set my arm right again: gym rehab. I was lifting weights then, and as soon as I was able I put the dinkiest weight on the bicep curl machine, 10 lbs or so, and just repped with that arm for a couple of sets. It hurt a bit, but training the arm got my body's repair mechanisms headed right to the site, and after a few sessions of this the arm became quite usable if not 100% pain free. It's pretty much back to normal now.

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

#150

Post by doubled112 »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #140
marssaxman wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been advocating mandatory shower-helmet laws for many years now; it would make as much sense as a lot of the other nanny-state regulation does.

On the other hand, mandatory rough surfaces on the floor of showers seem pretty reasonable.

My friend's parents dropped a shampoo bottle in their new build, and it broke through the bathtub. I hope this rough surface will be more durable.

I'm imagining some rough sandpaper layer that comes off every time you shower until it's smooth anyway. Glue is expensive, you know?

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