Stuff like that can all be different depending on what happened.

A guy hit me head on near the end of October 07, it broke my femur and crushed my kneecap plus did a lot of damage to my knee. I was walking with a cane by Christmas but to tell the truth I'm still in pain! Not horrible pain but a total constant ache. Like they say, mornings and anytime after a rest is bad.

Contrast that with my cousin. She got hit by a truck, I mean really hit by a truck while she was walking across a parking lot. It broke her femur in nearly the same location as mine and they were just about the same straight break. But shes doing a lot better than I am. She still has some pain but she doesn't have what I have from what I understand.

I hope yours gets better but you never know! Hope that guy gets what he deserves though!!

 

October 2007 I has a post hole digger accident and broke my leg in 6 places near my ankle. I was very close to needing surgery, but since everything lined back up i was spared that ordeal. I was taking Vicadin every night to sleep until the dr cut me back to oxycodone. Still had to every night. Wife was gettin worried I'd get hooked. She knows I only take medicine when absolutely needed. Anyway, they aircasted me in December, but told me not to walk on it yet. In January I said screw this and started to walk on it. It hurt, but got better. Now 17 months later I feel back to normal. Observant people can tell I still favor it a bit, but most don't.
My point is, a year ago I thought the pain would never end. It did, just be a little patient.

 

I've never broken a foot but a couple summers ago I partially tore a ligament of the top of my foot. Hurt like a (few very choice words)! I went to the DR a few wday after my incident and they couldn't do anything for me. Not enough damage for surgery so they wrapped it up and told me to be easy on it for a few weeks. It took about 6 months to heal to where i could walk normal, and even today i still get pain if I step on it wrong or the weather is just right. I'veb been told by others that foot injuries can take a while to heal.

 

I have had a broken ankle a few times, boss... Soaking it or wraping it in towels warmed in the microwave in the am helped it, and, while I did not do it, physical therapy works well too.

Hope you get to feeling better.

 

I've been in the same position after a broken ankle.. When I woke up in the morning it hurt like hail and then after walking a little, the pain seemed to ease up.. I called the doctor to check if this was normal and was told to come in. After another visit he sent me in for a MRI. Come to find out I tore my medial collateral ligaments that required minor surgery. The reason for the pain in the morning was that the ligaments were tighting back up a night while resting and re-stretching during the day.. May want to get it checked out.

 

Physical therapy is the best. I use them for my rodeo injuries, makes a world of difference.

 

What helped me to get my legs back to normal was swimming- daily. The morning pain I had that would stay constant before starting to swim went away approx. 2 weeks after starting to swim. Even after the first 2 days it was much better than before.

Hope you'll get well soon!

Markus

 

Jack, I looked around for the pamphlet the doctor gave me last time I fractured my ankle, it had lots of exercises in it, this website is pretty much the same:

http://physicaltherapy.about.com/od/...anklerehab.htm

Get a medium strength resistance band ( drug store should have them) for the resistance exercises. I found that doing this stuff helped me heal faster the second time ( done the same ankle three times now). It will never be as strong as it was before, you will spend the next three months watching where your foot is going to land EVERY time you step, trust me.

 

Thanks for the posts and the tips guys. I have been having to keep it raised a lot more over the past couple days to keep it from swelling too much. I don't know what the deal is because I was walking on it without any swelling for days before. Oh well, I guess it's just part of the healing process. In the mornings, it's very painful but gets better after I'm up and about for a little while, and especially after the morning shower.

 

Yeah, that's another thing. When you leave it down too often, and it swells, the blood vessels trying to grow and heal can't take the pressure and get damaged. Can your system take motrin? Motrin can be your friend.

 

If your leg swells too much, try a compression hose. If your leg begins to ache, be careful of DVT's.

 

Have you returned to the Doctor and had a follow-up x-ray to check that your ankle is in fact healed? Time is not the measurement of healing, a follow-up x-ray is. Having some pain after a lengthy immobilization is normal, but it should work out pretty quickly, not remain for more than a week or so with regular walking and use. Some stiffness in the am is also normal, but it should also work out after a week or so. Again, the follow-up x-ray will tell the story about your healing.

I fractured my ankle a few years ago, several fractures actually. Cast for 8 weeks, then an elastic support for about another 8 weeks.

You can get an elastic support at Wally World, they are inexpensive, it will help you to have some stability until you build the muscles back up.

A gentle level of exercise that is good for building the muscles back up is done with a tennis ball. Sitting in a straight-backed chair, put the tennis ball under your foot, put enough weight on the ball to control/handle it, but not too much, just a light contact.

Roll the ball back and forth, up and down, and in circles for about 10 reps in each direction. Do that a few times a day, increasing the reps by 5 each day, for a week.

You can also add an ankle weight to the process after about the 4th day, that actually makes you raise you musculature with weight to keep the light touch to the rolling process. After 10 days using the weight you will have a much stronger, in tone musculature without over doing it to the point of feeling the burn.

Get a massage type footbath, Wally World has them too. Use a slightly warmer water temp than your body temp, maybe around 102-105*, while having the water massage your foot/ankle, rotate your foot, raise and lower your toes with your heel solid, raise your heel with your toes solid, again this is good for building your muscles, it is a form of isometrics.

The other thing that will help you is to use some linament on your anlke and surrounding areas. Probably the best linament is still found in the horse supplies, made by absorbine.

At night just before you go to bed, rub on the linament and then wrap your foot/ankle with saran wrap, then apply a warm slightly wet towel, hot water from your faucet will do, but you can also microwave it for a few seconds. Take this stuff off after about 10-15minutes, it will start to get real cold, thats when you remove it.

You will be suprised in the morning about the changes in stiffness that you will have after doing that treatment a few times, sometimes after the first treatment.

ANY TIME you have swelling or stiffness after walking a lot, do the linament, it will give you quick relief. And always remember to wear the ankle support when you go out to walk, it will help you greatly in recovery. I wore mine for about 3 months, and I still use it when I know I am going to push the ankle to an extreme for long periods of time.

Hope that helps.


CD

 

I second the swimming...

After some extensive knee surgury it seems to be the best thing... I started out with just walking in the pool and then progressed...

Get into a pool about chest deep, it will take some body wieght off your ankle and just walk around, also the water pressure helps keep the swelling down.

 

I broke mine once when I was young and it took at least 3 months..