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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

#241

Post by imp0cat »

sexy_seedbox wrote: post #192
m463 wrote: post #170

I broke an arm and the emergency room couldn't see it on the x-ray and gave me a sling to wear. A couple days later I got to see an actual bone doctor and he got the x-ray and immediately pointed to the fracture. What surprised me was that he said not to use the sling, because it would lose my range of motion. "Keep moving your arm, use the entire range of motion, and let pain be your guide."

Remember, "Pain is weakness leaving your body".

Pain is an illusion of the senses.

Literally, it's just electrical impulses travelling through your body.

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

#243

Post by baxtr »

b212 wrote: post #208

I battled PF for ages, tried literally everything, and when nothing worked, my feet were in pain I decided to do the dumbest thing in the world and try to only thing I was told I shouldn’t do - run. I picked a day when my plantar fascia was not too painful and did the first training from c25k plan (roughly 8 minutes of jogging if I remember correctly). It actually helped me. Don’t try it at home, I think I got lucky…

Interesting. For me PF gets worse when I walk more. Even with special soles. Still trying to figure out what works.

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

#244

Post by lnsru »

rodary wrote: post #222
spacemark wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I definitely believe you. I know from a few injuries that with tendons you want to be moving and applying resistance as soon as you are able to prevent the formation of scar tissue and encourage blood flow. It's not a huge leap of logic that bones, too, benefit from movement and resistance when healing. Honest question, how did you know to disregard the doctor 's instructions and start home exercises on the bone at 4…

> how did you know to disregard the doctor 's instructions My background (Russian). Don't trust western approach to solve problems with pills etc. End up talking to (usually) Soviet-trained doctors who can't practice here in the west. The advice makes sense so I follow it believing they know what they're talking about. It's always about the cause, not the symptom. This sort of thing. > How did you limit yourself duri…

Best Soviet doctors! Poor guys working without any equipment to get perfect results. Sure good way for easy cases, bud hard cases are cripples afterwards. Or badly healed bones are separated with chisel and then comes next try… been there, saw that. Thanks but no, I’ll take a western medicine with all the screws and plates. Despite screws and plates being much easier to work with, every sane doctor will try without them at first even for moderately hard cases.

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

#245

Post by aitchnyu »

ghaff wrote: post #155
doubled112 wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

There are smoother and rougher tile surfaces. When getting tile put in my house I've made something of a point of avoiding the very slickest/smoothest tile.

I feel only rocky texture will be satisfactory after a year. Or is there any chemical that can safely strip the soaps and other fatty stuff from the mineral?

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

#246

Post by ghaff »

aitchnyu wrote: post #245
ghaff wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are smoother and rougher tile surfaces. When getting tile put in my house I've made something of a point of avoiding the very slickest/smoothest tile.

I feel only rocky texture will be satisfactory after a year. Or is there any chemical that can safely strip the soaps and other fatty stuff from the mineral?

My roughest and lightest tile--which has to be replaced for other reasons after a couple decades in what we call a mudroom in New England--could probably be cleaned but would be a procedure. In general, darker and just somewhat textured tile seems to work pretty well in less-trafficked areas.

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

#247

Post by usrusr »

sheriffofpaddys wrote: post #240
jamiedumont wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I shattered my collarbone - and I do mean shattered, ~8 pieces - in a mountain bike crash September 2023. I went over the bars after the back wheel of my hardtail caught a berm. Landed on my head and shoulder and compressed it laterally inwards by about 2 inches. Even with this mess, it was hotly debated for around two weeks whether I needed surgery. A good chunk of my collarbone was trying to push through my skin an…

Also shattered mine mtn biking (2022), and the surgeon scheduled surgery as soon as he saw the x-ray. I broke it twice as a teenager, and went through the sling route for both of those. The craziest part about the plate is how quickly the pain from instability was relieved. I could finally sleep and honestly could've used my arm at ~80% days after surgery. I still have the plate which causes some discomfort, but I li…

Do yourself a favor and don't wait too long to get rid of the plate: when you crash on that shoulder again, the collar bone won't be able to do it's job of being the predetermined breaking point that saves the shoulder ligaments from ripping. And the AC ligament, unlike bone, will never recover. Not even with the surgery that you'll then likely need to at least restore the other shoulder ligaments. Fractured collar bone is a feature, not a bug.

Yeah, I failed to get my plate removal appointment in time, then I got a plate replacement appointment on the fast track and the next removal appointment then happened to be almost the same day as the one originally scheduled (the plates for separated shoulder stay in much shorter, and they better should, because they aren't painless at all)

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

#248

Post by Sharlin »

imp0cat wrote: post #241
sexy_seedbox wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember, "Pain is weakness leaving your body".

Pain is an illusion of the senses. Literally, it's just electrical impulses travelling through your body.

Doesn’t make it any less real though.

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

#249

Post by usrusr »

homefree wrote: post #194
jamiedumont wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I shattered my collarbone - and I do mean shattered, ~8 pieces - in a mountain bike crash September 2023. I went over the bars after the back wheel of my hardtail caught a berm. Landed on my head and shoulder and compressed it laterally inwards by about 2 inches. Even with this mess, it was hotly debated for around two weeks whether I needed surgery. A good chunk of my collarbone was trying to push through my skin an…

I also broke mine in a crash, had surgery, but have not bothered to get the plate removed and it's fine? The only time I really notice it is if someone pushes on it or if I'm doing front squats with a bar.

Get it removed: the next hit will be much worse than a broken collar bone if the bone can't do its job of giving in before less restorable parts of the shoulder give in.

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

#250

Post by jraby3 »

baxtr wrote: post #243
b212 wrote: post #208

I battled PF for ages, tried literally everything, and when nothing worked, my feet were in pain I decided to do the dumbest thing in the world and try to only thing I was told I shouldn’t do - run. I picked a day when my plantar fascia was not too painful and did the first training from c25k plan (roughly 8 minutes of jogging if I remember correctly). It actually helped me. Don’t try it at home, I think I got lucky…

Interesting. For me PF gets worse when I walk more. Even with special soles. Still trying to figure out what works.

Constantly stretching the heel in two ways works well for me, both to cute it and prevent it in the future.

The first is hanging your heels off a step and letting them stretch down, both with straight legs and bent knees (one foot at a time).

The second is putting your heel as close to a wall as possible, with toes on the wall.

Both work better with sneakers on.

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