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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

#301

Post by hinkley »

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…

I essentially had to relearn to walk to clear mine up. Rolling your ankles makes it much worse, but the entire leg is involved in that “decision” and it starts from the gluteus minimus muscles and builds down.

Went from pain after more than 2km total per day to walking a half marathon just over three hours. And then my knees decided they didn’t like that at all and have not yet forgiven me.

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

#302

Post by hinkley »

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.

Shoes with a wider toe box. Take your uncomfortable shoes to a reuse/charity drop off and never look back.

Every time I wore shoes that were too narrow my problems multiplied. Reworking the laces helped a bit but it was not enough and I had to switch brands.

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

#303

Post by hinkley »

This is one of those areas where it’s quite obvious how much confirmation bias there is in medicine. I told the patient to do X, they did X and they are better. Only the patient either didn’t do X and lied or they did X and something else and didn’t argue with the doctor about it.

How many people over the centuries have been told to stay off their cast but got up to get their kid or themselves some cookies from the top shelf? Or to do chores because nobody else was picking up the slack?

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

#304

Post by shadowtree »

Yes, of course. Same with herniated discs - you need to keep walking, no matter the pain.

If you stop moving, you die.

A ton of biomechanics at play, but walking is the baseline of all human activity. Not running, not swimming.

It's why the 10k steps thing is both a myth and absolutely true.

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

#305

Post by __mharrison__ »

eweise wrote: post #195
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…

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

Multiple folks in my family have broken their collarbone (myself included). None that ride mountain bikes 2-3 times a week have broken it biking.

(More anecdata to persuade you to buy a bike. Great fun.)

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

#306

Post by theultdev »

hosteur wrote: post #298
nasmorn wrote: post #295

A friend of mine who is a doctor, osteopath a once played pro basketball in Austria said: if pro sports injuries would be treated like the general population is treated there would be no pro sports.

Care to elaborate on what they meant by that?

It means pro-athletes would never recover so there would be noone left to play pro sports.

Because pro athletes get procedures that actually work, vs general population procedures that can be detrimental.

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

#307

Post by theultdev »

devilbunny wrote: post #226
pessimizer wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"As soon as it starts to hurt" is not some hopelessly complex and useless standard that involves delving into philosophies of subjective pain sensation. It is actually obvious and easy to follow. Use it, but when it hurts, stop.

Yeah, but given the huge variations in pain tolerance, some will reinjure it while others will never use it again.

tolerating it doesn't mean you can't detect it.

no amount of pain tolerance will help you if something is broken.

you WILL feel it. simply stop when you do.

it's not a hard thing to grasp.

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

#308

Post by __mharrison__ »

hosteur wrote: post #298
nasmorn wrote: post #295

A friend of mine who is a doctor, osteopath a once played pro basketball in Austria said: if pro sports injuries would be treated like the general population is treated there would be no pro sports.

Care to elaborate on what they meant by that?

Many athletes are playing with injuries?

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

#309

Post by webmaven »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #139
doix wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. Wait, do they not? I genuinely assumed they did. I remember when I got private insurance through my work I had to fill in some questionnaire. It was "free", but it was a taxable benefit so you knew how much you were costing the company and me and my friends…

>> we'll immediately be at the point where smokers [...] should pay more, after all, their way of life statistically causes higher costs. > Wait, do they not? Why should they? It's not obvious at all that smoking causes higher costs; a smoker who gets lung cancer is a smoker who never needs the medical care we give to the elderly.

The smokers who DON'T get lung cancer still have more heart and lung problems (like emphysema, COPD, etc.), and those get significantly worse late in life.

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

#310

Post by nasmorn »

hosteur wrote: post #298
nasmorn wrote: post #295

A friend of mine who is a doctor, osteopath a once played pro basketball in Austria said: if pro sports injuries would be treated like the general population is treated there would be no pro sports.

Care to elaborate on what they meant by that?

Basically conservative therapy takes off so much load that you have no muscle strength left once you start training. Pro athletes will always apply the max stress they can currently handle.
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