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

scientificamerican.com

281–290 of 342 posts

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

#281
post #212

Anecdotal but... Broke my femur neck on a mountain bike. Surgery, plates and screws. Surgeon said no weight on the broken bone for 8 weeks and no walking on it for 12. And then we'll see he said. In 4 weeks I was on a trainer (fork fixed to the trainer). Started easy with 30min sessions and then increased time and force applied to the pedals. After 2 weeks of "riding", started putting weight on the bone with short wa…

On the other hand, I'm 6 weeks on from 3 fractured ribs, and still no exercise. I'm sure there are a few medical people on here that will tell you that ribs are a special case. If I were to breathe too deeply during the first few weeks, there was a good chance that I'd re-fracture them; sneezing is known to do this. And for what it's worth, despite what you might see on the TV, broken ribs are no joke. Recovery time…

I probably broke a rib, or damaged some cartilege last summer. I never went to a doctor because it was "fine", also our 1177.se site even says not to go unless its very painful and so on.

Week 2 was worst I would say. I was sneezing a lot for some reason.

The weird thing though, it was fully healed (it felt like) week 4, but then suddenly several weeks later the same exact pain came back, without me having done anything similar to the first fall from a MTB. It did go away again though, so its all good now!!

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

#282
post #270
post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 t…

Is this survivorship bias?

Yes.

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

#283
post #270
post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 t…

Is this survivorship bias?

I just searched around and it’s accurate and worthy reading by user called Minardi-Man: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/73aiiu/what_...

The chisel part happened to my classmate. I rather take western medical titanium screws than second attempt to fix the hand old school.

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

#284
post #32

Oh this is so bad: > In the 19th century German surgeon and anatomist Julius Wolff recognized that healthy bones adapt and change in response to the load placed on them. That is why everyone—but especially women, who are more susceptible than men to osteoporosis—should lift weights as they age No, weight lifting won't improve bone density, it's running that will edit: https://theros.org.uk/information-and-support/bon…

Squats/Deadlifts, not bicep curls with 3lb dumbbells. And yes, it absolutely will improve bone density.

[dead]

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

#285
post #212

Anecdotal but... Broke my femur neck on a mountain bike. Surgery, plates and screws. Surgeon said no weight on the broken bone for 8 weeks and no walking on it for 12. And then we'll see he said. In 4 weeks I was on a trainer (fork fixed to the trainer). Started easy with 30min sessions and then increased time and force applied to the pedals. After 2 weeks of "riding", started putting weight on the bone with short wa…

How old were you?

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

#286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Controversial take: On a population level, the negatives of smoking are at least partially mitigated by the "smoking suppresses obesity" side effect. Obesity is such a huge (pun not intended) public health issue in modern American society that any intervention reducing it is actually quite valuable. It's at least arguable and perhaps even true that we as a society would be better off if everybody used tobacco at 1950…

Smoking is significantly worse for you and your family than obesity. It causes a greater reduction in life expectancy, and can impact the physical health of those who live or work with you via secondhand smoke. It is simply wild how many ways nicotine can find to kill humans. All kinds of stuff stems from the lowly cigarette. Obesity impacts many more people (that is to say, we have more fat people than smokers/tobac…

Nicotine itself isn't very dangerous, it's the carcinogens in tobacco that are and the combustion products in the smoke.

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

#287
post #30
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.)

Aren't there already insurance rebates in the US or something for tobacco-free attestation?

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

#289
post #195

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…

Almost everyone I know that mountain bikes, had broken their collarbone.

I plan to purchase one in the spring. This thread is giving me second thoughts lmao.

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

#290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there padding or gear sold that can reduce the likelihood?

For collarbones specifically? Nothing I'm aware of. At least if the explanation that was given to me for the high prevalence of collarbone injuries is correct, that makes sense. Someone explained it to me as "when you start to fall, you instinctive tend to reach our towards the ground to try to break your fall. So your hand is the first thing that hits the ground, and all the energy of the fall goes up your arm and i…

Hmm. Every time I've been in a similar scenario (breaking a fall, warding off an incoming projectile) it has been my wrists that broke.
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