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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

#251

Post by baxtr »

jraby3 wrote: post #250
baxtr wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Thanks I’ll try that!

Stretching and rolling with a small foam roll helps me as well.

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

#252

Post by amatecha »

I broke my wrist on an 11-day hike this past summer (Tour du Mont Blanc). The awesome doctor I dealt with in Switzerland was like "you can finish your hike, just don't fall on your wrist again or it will be really bad" (or something along those lines). It healed so fast I can't even believe it. I was still using poles for the hike, too. The combination of sustained high-output (12hrs+ hiking per day with major elevation deltas) and some usage of the wrist surely bolstered bloodflow and oxygen throughput, etc. .. eating well surely helped too. Was a really cool experience. My climbing friends back home were surprised how quickly I was back on the wall after such a short period of healing up! At this moment I literally don't remember which wrist I broke... lol

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

#253

Post by lennxa »

notShabu wrote: post #231
rodary wrote: 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…

The cost of this increased healing rate would be the tail risk of compounding injury though. It's not something a doctor could recommend even if it were true for everyone consistently.

if it were true for everyone consistently (faster better healing), where does the tail risk come from?

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

#254

Post by raverbashing »

rodary wrote: 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…

Doctors are good at doing the "fixing" work, but the recovery work is something else

Good physios will insist on working as soon as possible, even if it's very light work.

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

#255

Post by albinowax_ »

hnburnsy wrote: post #193
mindcrime wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apropos of nothing in particular, when I first started mountain biking, a guy I was riding with told me: "You can divide all mountain bikers into two groups: the ones who have broken their collarbone, and the ones who are about to break their collarbone." Knock on wood, 20 years later I still haven't broken a collarbone, but I've had plenty of scrapes, bruises, cuts, etc, a couple of concussions, a torn rotator cuff,…

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

Strength training can help reduce injuries from crashes up to a point.

Experience helps too but that’s harder to get safely!

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

#256

Post by TomK32 »

WithinReason wrote: post #97
TomK32 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://theros.org.uk/information-and-support/bone-health/ex...

That page directly contradicts you since it lists weight lifting exercises like barbell squats

It does not contradict, it lists weight lifting under muscle training, not under bone density.

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

#257

Post by interludead »

A few decades ago, full immobilization was the gold standard, now it turns out early movement is actually better. I wonder what other long-held recovery protocols will be overturned in the next 20 years. Interesting, but I haven't broken anything in my entire life so far...

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

#258

Post by interludead »

rodary wrote: 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…

Sounds like you basically tricked your body into healing faster by gradually loading it

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

#259

Post by Panzer04 »

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.

I wonder how it would go without shoes. It's an enjoyable change from wrapping your feet up all the time anyway :)

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

#260

Post by interludead »

jack_pp wrote: post #84
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 broken collar bone last year in Bucharest and I moved back to my hometown because of it. I had to check in after a week or two to see how it's healing but was lazy about it so I went to the hospital after 3 weeks and was told there's a waiting list 10 days long and go to a private clinic. At the private clinic the doctor didn't even look at me, or the x-rays I just took and just told me to go into surgery bac…

Man, that's a wild ride just to get a proper diagnosis. It's crazy how much a doctor's attitude can shape recovery
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