r/brokenbones

Was jump roping with nephew and rolled my ankle inward trying to do a trick. Heard a pop. Went to ortho this morning.

Xray taken. Doc looks at it for like two minutes. “You’re fine. Wear the boot come back in 3 weeks. Should be fine in 6.”

I’m seeing longer timelines here. Anyone have insight?

Aside, AI is total slop. I asked all 3 pro version; they all immediately went to “Jone’s Fracture.” I don’t think they even look at images tbh.

Thanks!

So it's been 13 months since the ORIF surgery for my trimalleolar ankle fracture and I've decided to get the hardware removed. The two longer screws are causing the most pain and issues. The pain on the inside of the ankle is basically always there and I can't walk down the stairs normally because of the pain. I don't feel much pain around the plate, I do feel it when on tippy toes or sitting cross legged.. my surgeons suggested that if I'm getting surgery, might as well get it all out.

To people who have been through a similar situation, how did the surgery look like and especially how was the recovery process?

It's been 1 year and 8 months since ORIF of distal humerus (11 screws + 1 plate). It was a pretty long surgery (around 3.5-4 hours). The reason for this was because the arm was in a cast for 4 months prior to surgery and after it not healing well, surgery had to be done. Is it possible to play as a goalkeeper in football at this time? I was told by my surgeon 3-4 months post surgery that the arm is healed well and he was surprised with the improvements on ROM as well. I haven't done an X Ray since that time. It's worth noting that as a goalkeeper, I would have to dive a lot on sides and landing on my arm, could this cause another break in that same arm due to the plate/screws being there? I'm still not sure whether visiting the surgeon to remove the plates/screws. Any opinion would be appreciated

Guys, I apparently broke the worst bone. I have a scaphoid waist fracture. The bone has been displaced by 2MM—“minimally” in strictly scientific terms.

I’m going into surgery next Tuesday and I’m just worried about the recovery. I’m worried that I won’t be able to lift again. I have been a big workout guy. This is really scary guys. Please give me any tips with the recovery process and the union bs

Sorry in advance for asking for imaging interpretation but I just have a bad feeling that there’s something else going on. I fractured my proximal fibula, posterior malleolus, and tibial plateau back in February. Throughout the recovery, my ankle has been incredibly swollen and painful. Last photo shows the swelling after the injury- it wasn’t where the break was. That spot was also insanely painful during recovery.

Fast forward to now and the two fractures on the tib side have healed fine, but the fibula has no evidence of healing and my ankle still has a ton of swelling. I’ve also had some issues with my nerves. Lots of numbness and tingling during the healing process and I struggle to lift my foot up all the way when walking.

I’m just really concerned this may be a missed maisonneuve fracture. The initial injury was from a ski crash- ski didn’t eject and twisted my leg around. They did an MRI on the knee and that’s fine, but nothing on the ankle. And now the non-union of the fib is just making me suspicious.

Any input would be super helpful! I’m really active and do a lot of high impact activities. I know this has the potential to cause some serious complications down the road if I’m right, but I don’t want to make a fuss over this if it’s just a normal tib/fib that’s having some complications with healing.

I took a pretty nasty tumble at the gas station this morning. Super embarrassing. It was super slick from rain. I was wearing wedged sandals on my way to work. I went to an urgent care to avoid the ER and they sent me home with an ACE bandage and said they were waiting for someone to read my X-rays and that they would call. 🙃 Hurts to put weight on and wiggle toes. Last two toes barely bend. What are we thinking?

Hey guys.
My last post was a miserable one (how the surgery was 3 weeks delayed and a misdiagnosis of my Weber B fracture, the injury occurring straight after rehabbing since 2023 from knee surgery and re-tear etc.)… Here’s a more optimistic, puff-of-the-chest update!

Had the op on Friday and all went to plan. You can see the difference in how much closer the bones are post-tightroping! A few screws and a plate but not too phased now that they’re in.

I’m pretty active (28M) and hoping to return to football asap. Most of the day I’m elevating my leg and feeling pretty useless/slobby. As soon as the leg goes down, it gets pretty painful and the foot swells up quickly!

My nutrition stack is the following (pills):
Marine Collagen
Vitamin D3+K2
Calcium + Magnesium
Multi-vitamin tablet

Am I missing anything? BPC157 Peptide sub-q is tempting but am not fully convinced. I try to eat pretty healthy, drink loads of water and have stopped the snus.

The plan is 2 weeks in a cast, and then re-scan and hopefully move to a boot and we’ll see if they want me to start weight-bearing. I really hope they don’t put in a plaster cast. I’ll then check in with my PT to see if we can start doing some mobilisation/activation as ideally I’d like to get the ankle moving asap (without disturbing anything).

I’m keeping the leg exercises going which seem to be doing a satisfactory job of keeping my muscles activated (bar the left calf, that poor guy has become something like a floppy, slightly soggy tortilla). I don’t look forward to doing the exercises at all, because it involves having to put my leg down/manoeuvre.

Leg Exercises:
Thighs: Leg raises, seated knee extension with band, inner range straightens
Hamstring: bridges, curls with band
Glutes: side clams, hip extensions multiple directions with band

I haven’t done any adductor exercises yet. Will do copenhagens planks once I can put some side weight on it.

I’ll then be in a boot for 6-ish weeks and then I imagine an ankle brace/support-when-needed sort of situation? And then plain-sailing rehab and strengthening?!

If the above goes swimmingly:

My hope is I’ll be actively playing football in 6 months time (mid-November), which means within 4 months I’d want to be running and putting normal weight through my ankle as before. I know this is very optimistic. What do we think?

The surgeon said recovery was 6-12 months, which seems to be quite a broad estimation… so I’ve stuck with 6 months!

I do look at Musiala (German footballer) for inspiration. He had a severe, SEVERE ankle dislocation and fracture and was back playing within 7 months. How on earth he achieved this I do not know, so if anyone has any tips or advice for the journey, please feel free to add to this thread and I will do the same! I know he was surrounded by PTs and an unlimited budget, but if there’s any secret sauce to this recovery, I wanna know!!

If of interest to anyone I will put in updates every now and then on my progress. Please do the same with yours as I’d love to see how you are getting on and what your experience is.

Thanks!

3 weeks post-op from ORIF surgery for a spiral tibia fracture with distal plate and screws. One thing I’ve been wondering about is that my surgeon didn’t put me in a cast or boot.

I’m NWB (3 more weeks to go!) and he says it’s completely fine to go without a cast, but most stories I’ve read on here mention a cast or boot after surgery, so it has me second guessing.

Has anyone else had distal tibia ORIF and not been given a cast or boot?

Just trying to understand if this is common or if I should push my surgeon about it.

I broke my leg pretty badly in a car accident and it wasn’t just a small fracture either… the whole recovery process has been way slower and more frustrating than I expected…

It’s been about 4 months now, and I’m still wearing a support brace…

Feels like it’s just part of my daily routine, like I get up, put it on, and don’t even think twice about it anymore. The good news is I can walk again, which felt like a huge milestone after everything that happened, but I’m still not fully back to normal and the brace is still necessary as my doc says

How long other people actually ended up wearing theirs after a serious break? I keep getting mixed advice and some say a few months, others say it can drag on much longer depending on the injury and recovery progress…

Since it’s become such a big part of my life right now, I’m also debating whether it’s worth investing in a better, more comfortable and probably more expensive support brace for long-term use, or if that’s overthinking it and I should just stick with what I’ve got until I’m fully done with it?

Curious how it went for others who’ve been through something similar

On April 4, 2026 I (32f) was playing a rugby game in a mid-sized US city when I was tackled from behind. My foot was planted, I felt a snap, and then ended up at a really nice hospital with a trauma 1 center and had surgery the next day.

My surgeon was able to do an intramedullary nail placement because the break was relatively uncomplicated. A few bone chips but no involvement beyond the break. Closed fracture as well. I was released with a CAM boot and crutches and was weight bearing as tolerated.

I’m a sports dietitian so I work closely with a local physical therapist who has had a lot of experience with this surgery, so he got me set up pretty well with rehab starting about 10 days out. I also have been mostly very consistent with nutrition, eating a lot of calories, protein, calcium, and also supplementing vitamin D because I was a little low.

The first 2 weeks were tough, especially at night. I was alternating Tylenol and 800 IBU with oxycodone for breakthrough pain and I still couldn’t get on top of it through the night. Midway through week 3 I started being able to sleep through the night and sit up more and more. During the 3rd week I phased out the crutches and the 4th I phased out the boot. I mostly wore a cushy running sneaker at home, but at 6 weeks I’m pretty comfortable barefoot around the house. My ankle is still really stiff so my pace is not very fast and I have to focus to not limp.

Prior to the injury, I was pretty active and strength training is a hobby of mine so I’ve been back in the gym since I could drive again (about 3 weeks). I started with training only the unaffected leg and upper body, and over the last few weeks I’ve been lightly strength training the affected leg now. All guided by my physical therapist who is a board certified sports PT so I trust him a ton.

I just got my 6 week x-Ray and it‘s kinda cool that you can start to see the cross-bridging and callus formation. Also equally as crazy that the bone is still fully broken and I’m just walking around the house and going to the gym.

I definitely have a long way to go, and I also recognize that I’ve landed in “best case scenario“ territory for most of this but I have gotten a lot out of reading everyone‘s stories so I hope this is helpful for someone!

Hey me again, I just saw a podiatrist today for a second opinion on a 5th metatarsal fracture. They diagnosed it as a jones fracture and told me that the original doctor misdiagnosed it. Here are my x rays from yesterday, I'm just curious what you guys think of his diagnosis, I'm worried now after the original misdiagnosis.

I had surgery and a rod installed in my tibia, and during my rehab I was given an ultrasound bone stimulator to help heal it quicker. I followed the doctor’s instructions to the letter. To this day the spot where I broke my tibia there is a callous on my skin that never heals. It gets pretty hard like a scab, but as soon as that scab heals it bleeds and opens up again. There is a bump where the bone healed, and it seems to me that the skin issue is a result of that bump sretching my skin. It’s either always painful or itchy. I keep it clean but it gets infected and inflamed often. I put lots of skin products on it, aquaphor baby ointment works the best. Anyone experience this after using a bone stimulator? Any advice? My surgeon and rehab team seem to be complacent about it.