I broke my humerus mid shaft over an arm wrestle in June it’s coming up go 9 weeks now and I can use it normally again and there’s no pain or clicking sensation coming from it anymore. Does that mean it’s healed up?
I hope I can get a answer...or reassurance. I broke my toe severely around the first of July. See pic) It was set by the doctor and buddy taped and I was non weight bearing for 4 weeks, walking "as tolerated" since. Every two weeks I've been xrayed. At 6 weeks it still showed I have had ZERO healing. I'm now very concerned. My MD basically shrugged and said they've done all they can.
I am a type-2 diabetic with neuropathy, but my sugar is well controlled. My A1C is under 6 with my meds and really, it was never over 8 at the very worst. The doctor had prescribed Vicodin, but I seldom took it because the neuropathy meant I felt little pain. I have, however, taken prescription strength ibuprofen every single day for back issues. I've taken it for years. At NO point was I advised it would inhibit bone growth and healing. I learned that from my chiropractor just yesterday! I immediately quit taking it, but, am I screwed? Will it heal after so many weeks have gone by? This is really starting to scare me a bit.
I have a meeting with a trauma orthopedics surgeon next week, what’s the likely outcome? I’m still often in pain, depending upon how much I walked that day.
Broke it the exact dumbass way as others - arm wrestling. Orthopedist and physio recommended no surgery, since the cast aligned it nicely and I'm young. I'm one day from week 3.
I've got two questions: swelling in my hand disappeared about 6 days after the injury, but two days ago it came back just to the top of my hand and forearm. I have a fiberglass cast on right now and it's not too tight on neither forearm nor my shoulder. It's not painful, stiff, red or anything, but makes me quite anxious, especially since I can't elevate. Should I be concerned? I'm trying to ice it and move my fingers frequently.
My second question is about sleeping - how the fuck are you supposed to sleep with elbow dropped? Of course I'm trying to sleep upright, but I always wake up with it dropped anyways. Fortunately I'm not semi-resting on it, but still, if anybody has any tips I'd be grateful. Every goddamn broken arm sleeping video has the elbow propped up on pillows
Compression socks are a game changer! I struggle with keeping my boot clean and my foot. I had a month of built up dead skin and started to clean it with a washcloth over my bandage where my incision is. I just got a compression sock today as a recommendation and let me tell you it is SO much easier than an ace bandage! I was told it helps wick away moisture so you don’t get your skin and boot as dirty and stinky. This is my first bone break so please don’t be too harsh. The more you know!
I broke my 5th metatarsal bone. I kept asking the Dr and the radiologist if this is a Jones' fracture or an avulsion. They have completely avoided to answer this question. I am in a cast for at least 4 weeks.
UPDATE (20 aug)
Thank you for all your replies. I went to surgery today but ended up saying no. My head is a mess right now. I was prepared to have the surgery but then I had a chat with the surgeon before the surgery. I asked a couple of questions. First, I asked why no closed reduction had been tried. He said that we had to go to the screen to look at the x-rays. After he had a look he said that closed reduction could have been tried but coldn't tell why it had not been tried. I also asked why ER said 10 degrees and ortho said 20 degrees. He looked at the x-rays again and said that the ortho had used a slightly wrong starting point and he measured it to 11.x degrees.
Now, for me it did not feel right to go through with the surgery after that chat and I said I could not do it now. Now, I will be booked for a follow up with new x-rays and I have contacted my insurance for a second opinion as well.
But seriously, my head is spinning and will try to gather my thoughts. Again, thank you for your replies.
Situation
On Saturday, I hurt my wrist playing sports.
On Sunday, I went to ER and they confirmed it was broken.
The doctor told me briefly that his best guess would be it could heal in a cast. Nothing further was done. No attempt to move the wrist in place (closed reduction). The description from the X-ray was (translated):
"The X-ray of the right wrist shows: a distal radius fracture with approximately 10 degrees of dorsal angulation. There is an impression of a possible undisplaced intra-articular fracture line."
On Monday, I was called up by the hospital for a check on Tuesday. On Tuesday, I was told that they recommended surgery. Their description from the same X-ray picture was (translated):
"Normal neurovascular conditions in the hand.
X-ray shows a distal radius fracture, acceptable length in the AP plane, but angulated dorsally approximately 20 degrees in the lateral plane."
They offered me surgery tomorrow (Thursday). I have to decide today.
My finger mobility is fine. I can make a fist, bend my fingers, and my thumb can reach my little finger with only minimal discomfort. Supination is not great but hard to say if it due to the cast.
Maybe my situation is a no brainer but I have just been lefted a bit confused due to the different feedback from the same pictures and no attempt at closed reduction.
I’m mainly posting here to hear from others who’ve been in a similar situation. What have your experiences been. Whether you chose surgery or decided against it?
I recently fractured my tibia straight across to behind my knee. Luckily I don’t need surgery assuming it continues to remain non displaced. However, I will not be able to put any kind of weight on my leg and will have crutches and full brace for 10 weeks.
I have been struggling mentally, I went from working overtime and going to the gym 4 days a week to barely moving. I feel isolated at home and I hate relaying on everyone around me. Everyday feels the same and I can’t believe I have 6 more weeks or this.
What helped get through it mentally?
I also have significant stress as I bought a house a month ago that now has 20k damage. Life has been a dumpster fire.
TLDR talus and pilon fracture in January >surgery in March> daily pain during an after school in August even with Bondi 9’s.
Back in January, I jumped a ramp chasing a kid and fractured my talus and right pilon. Due to workers' comp and initially being misdiagnosed, I didn't get surgery for over a month. I had ORIF in March and started twice-weekly PT 5 days later, and that lasted until July. Confirmed screw placement and healing in July.
School recently started back up, and I got moved to Pre-K special education. Before, I worked with 4th/5th graders, and I wasn't on my feet as much. My foot/ankle hurts more now after work than it did when I was doing twice-weekly PT.
I am only 30 and I am not used to this kind of daily pain. Would rather deal with another kidney stone than put up with this.
I am pretty sure surgeon said that there was not much they could do but debriment for the Talus fracture and I
Would have arthritis, they put screw through leg for pilon fracture.
Taking advil in the evening but I dont know if that is the best course of action long-term. Have not spoken to my PCP because he is useless and only reason I keep him is because I have to order to see my psyche doctor for sleep and ADHD meds.
Edit I have been wearing Bondi 9’s since back during PT. They are amazing for pain from stepping/jarring and were life savers early in injury. I don't know how much they are helping now.
If you've never heard of it, the iwalk is basically a little peg leg that you put your knee on and strap yourself into to walk around on without putting weight on an injured foot.
I sustained the dreaded Jones fracture of my fifth metatarsal earlier this month and spent the first bit of it on crutches which made me MISERABLE. I got an iwalk 3.0 a week and a half ago and its a total game changer I can literally do all my day to day life stuff normally. Hang out with friends, go to the store, go for walks in my neighborhood (up to 2 miles before my back starts to hurt), go up and down stairs, basic household chores, basically anything that doesn't require running or jumping I can do. I can even speed-walk at a decent clip.
The caveat is that this thing takes some practice to get good at and takes way more coordination than crutches, so your mileage may vary based on your physical fitness and mindset. If you're an active person with an ankle or foot injury and you're losing your mind dealing with crutches I highly recommend this thing it gave me my life back.
pro tips:
Watch ALL the videos from the manufacturer and follow ALL the steps for fitting it. I had the leg too short for a few days and it made walking really hard and slow. Fitted correctly I have no discomfort and can walk mostly normally.
Practice walking! Walk as far as you feel comfortable every day. Preferably outside because figuring out how to deal with uneven ground basically gives you an XP multiplier lol.
Perhaps controversial, but practice balancing on only the iwalk. My record is around 2 seconds. Getting to where I could balance in place on the iwalk for a moment while I move my good foot made a few things you might not think of way easier (slipping on a sandal, opening my garbage can that has one of those foot pedal opener things, etc).
These things can be had for under a hundred bucks used and there's a ton of them floating around from people who healed and no longer need it. I know this post is a lot and probably reads like an ad but I'm being so serious I love my silly pirate leg. If crutches or a knee scooter or whatever are frying your quality of life and you have a compatible injury I beg of you get an iwalk its so awesome sauce.
Hey all,
31/F, I broke my ankle in 3 places on 7/25 and had ORIF surgery on 7/31, so I’ve had a cast on other than for surgery a little over 3 weeks now. Woke up yesterday and my toes were all of a sudden noticeably a bit wrinkly.. I drink plenty of water every day so I don’t believe it could be that, and the cast doesn’t feel so tight that it’s cutting off much circulation. Anyone know why this might be happening?
Hi, I am 24 F. Broke my femur in January 2026 in a car accident.
I got dynamization surgery in June in which they removed one distal screw because the healing was very slow.
Now it's 7 months post operation and my femur looks like this.
I was prescribed 225mg calcium carbonate tablets for 7 months. Now it has been increased to 750mg calcium citrate tablets by another doctor.
Some doctors are asking me to wait, saying that it will heal slowly. And some are suggesting for a bone marrow graft and removal of both the distal screws.
I am confused and scared because if I never walk normally again I'll kms
Please share your experiences with xrays, it will be very helpful.
Hey guys!
I fractured my distal radius with ulnar styloid involvement in a car accident, then had a radial ORIF August 6th. Follow up the 19th unsure of next steps as I’m currently in a backslab. It’s my dominant hand, I’m a full time bedside nurse who does paper charting LOL
I’m not looking for medical advice, obviously will follow the professionals! I know everyone is different but curious on individual experiences.
- How long did it take to go back to regular activities?
- Did you have numbness? The top of my hand and thumb/index have been numb/tingly since surgery. How did this affect physio and stuff?
- How long did it take you to write again?
- What about holding weighted items?
I have a feeling it’ll be a long road.
hey everyone, i’m hoping to get some advice from people who have been through something similar, or anyone with a physio/rehab background.
about exactly one year ago, i fractured both the lateral and medial malleolus in my left ankle. i also fractured the 2nd and 3rd metatarsals in my right foot. i had surgery on the left side, and i currently have two screws there. there was also a pin/wire on the right side, but that was removed without another surgery about a month after the operation.
the biggest issue i’m still dealing with is limited dorsiflexion on the left.
after surgery i spent roughly 3 months mostly in bed, and unfortunately my doctor didn’t put much emphasis on physiotherapy/rehab afterward. as a result, i lost quite a lot of muscle in both legs and i feel like i never properly rebuilt the strength and mobility i had before.
i’ve been trying to work on this myself, especially my calves and achilles on the left side. i’m currently doing things like:
i’m trying to be patient and slowly retrain the calf to work through its full range in a controlled way.
one thing that concerns me is the difference in dorsiflexion between my legs. during the knee-to-wall test, there’s currently around a 10 cm difference between the two sides.
i sometimes also get an aching sensation throughout the left leg. i’ve been wondering whether this could be related to the altered ankle mechanics, calf weakness, or compensation higher up the chain.
i’m also wondering if my achilles/calf being relatively tight is contributing to the reduced dorsiflexion. because of the limited dorsiflexion, i feel like i may have developed things like early heel rise and altered pronation. i’ve also wondered whether altered tibial rotation could be contributing to occasional knee pain.
visually, i can still see quite a big difference in muscle size between my legs. there are also a few small areas where the muscle looks almost indented compared with the other leg, like little dimples where there’s less muscle underneath.
another thing i noticed recently: on the outside of my left ankle/lower leg, there seems to be more muscle prominence/swelling than on the other side. the surgery was on the inside of the left ankle, where the screws are. there’s no real pain or tenderness when i touch the prominent area, so i’m wondering if it could simply be a muscle that has become more developed because it’s compensating and doing more work than on the other side.
still, seeing the asymmetry made me a little worried.
at this point, my understanding is that i should mainly be focusing on:
but i’m not sure if i’m missing something important.
so for anyone who has experience with ankle fracture rehab, physiotherapy, or similar injuries:
does this sound like a reasonable stage of recovery one year after this kind of injury?
is a ~10 cm knee-to-wall difference something that can still improve significantly at this point, or is that considered unusually large this far out from surgery?
and regarding the muscle asymmetry and the increased prominence on the outside of the left ankle/lower leg: does that sound like a possible compensation/adaptation, or would you consider that something worth getting checked in person?
i’d really appreciate any advice on what i should focus on at this stage, what i might be doing wrong, and whether there are any red flags i shouldn’t ignore.
tldr: one year after a left bimalleolar ankle fracture + right 2nd/3rd metatarsal fractures, i still have significant left ankle dorsiflexion restriction (~10 cm difference on knee-to-wall), major calf/muscle asymmetry and occasional leg/knee aching. i’m doing mobility, calf, quad and glute work and trying to rebuild calf rom slowly. does this sound normal for this stage, and what should i focus on now?
I posted about my ulna fracture (caused by a car accident) last week. I’m at three and a half weeks now and still in pain. I hate the plastic splint. It digs into my wrist and I still feel tons of pain in my arm. Pretty sure it’s not supposed to hurt this much by now.
I have terrible back pain both upper and lower. The pain management doctor has ordered X-rays for tomorrow but will only order 3 areas at a time. I’m worried whatever is causing the pain won’t show up on an X-ray (though, not a doctor so obviously I have no idea).
I still have chest pain. I can barely sneeze properly. It sounds funny and then my chest spasms. They did a CT scan in the hospital and said nothing is broken. Does it really take months to feel relief?
I’m barely getting any sleep. The doctor treating my arm prescribed Celebrex and muscle relaxers that barely scratch the surface. With Tylenol mixed in.
I don’t know if I should find a new orthopedic. At this rate I’m tempted to go back to the hospital. But I worry they won’t do the proper imaging and then I’ll just be walloped with a massive bill.
I guess this is more of a vent than a plea for advice. I don’t know how to resume any semblance of life feeling this way. School is about to start and now my husband will have to take on my role as a mother because I am not capable of packing a lunch let alone driving a car.
Hi all ! i (22F) got into a bad car accident roughly 2 months ago. i broke both legs but the right one has an external fixator. i forgot the medical terms but basically the whole leg is shattered. I have to have the fixator for 6 months and it’s only been 1. I’m struggling big time with pain and just basic function. I’m in a wheelchair for now (will probably be for a while) and i really can’t function to do much. i can’t use our shower because the bathroom is too small. so i really am not able to take care of myself the best right now. i luckily moved back in with my parents after the accident and they help. i guess it’s mainly mental stuff im going through right now. I hardly sleep at night, am hardly eating, and am very depressed. Is there anyone else out there with a fixator? i’ll attach a photo for reference. any advice or words of wisdom needed!