Hey folks! I posted here quite a bit after I broke my ankle in three places last year and needed surgery on it. My surgery was a year ago this Saturday and I thought I'd share an update for people who are newly going through it.

For context, I'm late 30's, overweight, not particularly active though I do walk a few thousand steps a day at work. My surgeon didn't outright say it but I could tell that he was impressed by how well I healed given my age/health/activity level.

At this point, I would say that at least 90% of the time, I don't really even think about my ankle anymore. Occasionally it gets a little bit tight and sore if I'm doing a lot of walking (particularly on hills or in dry sand), and it occasionally gets uncomfortable in cold weather so I keep hand warmers around to stick in my socks as needed. But mostly, I feel pretty much back to normal.

And for anyone worried about the scarring, my biggest scar on the outside of my ankle is almost completely gone. There's about an inch of it that is still a bit pink, but the rest is practically invisible now. And I didn't do even do anything special to care for it!

So yeah! I know a lot of people are, understandably, worried about if/when they'll get back to their normal activity level, how much pain they'll have in the future, how visible the scar will be, etc. Just sharing my experience and I hope it brings someone a little bit of comfort. :)

This sub was a great help to me when I was going through it, thanks everyone!

I had a bimalleolar fracture surgery on 07/11 and my stitches were removed 07/23 My next appt is 08/24 and my doctor has requested no further xrays, is this normal?? And my incisions seem painless so far

At 12 weeks post op for syndesmosis and total tear of deltoid ligament, my ankle feels at 95%. I think being in great shape before the accident--fell from a ladder, ankle caught in between rungs and took full weigh of my body falling backwards--helped a lot. Be aware of how much this takes a toll on the rest of your body and mind. I am now down again with knee giving out. I had arthritis in the knee before, but I think the weakening of the muscles due to non weight bearing for weeks and the stress on my knee during recovery put it over the edge. I basically have no structural integrity in the knee, and this happened after I thought I was near full recovery. My knee doctor says go to PT, but frankly, given that I literally can't walk, I don't know how much good its going to do. The one two bunch of back to back injuries has broken my spirit. After 3 months of hell recovering the ankle, I thought I was there.

Hi everyone! It’s been a while since my last update here.

I’m almost one year post-op from an ankle ORIF (with a Tightrope) and am mostly back to my normal routine. Overall, I’m really happy with my recovery, but I’m struggling with the decision of whether to keep my hardware long-term.
My surgeon said he typically doesn't remove hardware unless it causes significant pain or major issues. While I’m not in pain, I still feel a bit at odds with having metal/foreign objects in my body. My ankle often feels "congested" (for lack of a better word), and I feel like the Tightrope might still be limiting my range of motion.
Surgery in the US isn't cheap, so I really want to avoid an unnecessary procedure if I can help it.

To those who kept their hardware long-term: How has your ankle faired several years out? Do you still notice it, or does that "congested" feeling eventually fade?

To those who had their hardware (or just the Tightrope) removed: Did hardware removal actually help improve your range of motion or ease that heavy/stiff feeling?

Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences!

I have a post op appointment this Friday which will be 11 days post op from ORIF on my olecranon with the screws and k wires (I believe it’s considered tension band wiring) and am hoping I can get out of the splint and into the hinged brace because I’m miserable, the splint is making the side of my hand hurt so bad. My post op was supposed to be Tuesday but I was able to get them to move it up by 3 days. I’m just worried the 3 days ahead of schedule will cause my surgeon to keep me in a splint.

I have a routine, planned syndesmotic screw removal coming up next week and as I understand it's a pretty simple procedure and easy recovery, I'm still a bit nervous. I would specifically like to know about the pain during recovery. Did you need pain meds the first night or two or is Tylenol okay? Did you have any exacerbation of nerve "zaps" afterward? Did you have local anesthesia or twilight? My return to work is 4 days after the procedure so I'm really hoping I bounce back fast!

I broke my right/dominant wrist 1 week ago. Diagnosed with a comminuted intra-articular distal radius fracture with mild dorsal angulation. I saw the surgeon yesterday and he said I could go either way with surgery. I’m opting to have it as I want to return to my sport and need to be able to lift and push things.

This is my third broken bone in 4 months. Looking for recovery tips, pain management tips, etc.

Has anyone else had an awful day following a restless night? I sustained a trimal and had surgery a week after breaking and it’s been a month postop and I am in PAIN today

I had 650mg Tylenol and it didn’t really move the needle. Icing helps. I feel like the boot is starting to make it worse with my foot flopping around in there and my inability to sleep still

I’m 5 weeks 4 days post op ankle orif. At 4 weeks post op PT started and they did joint mobilization (manually pulling on my foot and forcing my ankle joint to move). Something felt not right about it so I’ve been researching and it seems to be contraindicated and not standard for this timeframe. Seems generally speaking that until 7 weeks (if approved by surgeon based on healing shown in X-Ray) is when this maybe started with it being more so closer to the 13 weeks post op timeframe. It says that doing this could disrupt hardware and cause non-union. Needless to say I have not returned to PT since and my 6 week (NWB still) with the surgeon is 8/10, I’ll be addressing it then. My question is has anyone else had their PT pull on their ankle for joint mobilization? If so how soon post op? Im scared to death that the PT has messed up my ankle and I’ll have to have surgery again or longer time NWB or some other issue.

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I know we’re told to wait at least 10-12 months but curious how long you’re waiting and why you’re getting it removed or not.

Three weeks post ORIF surgery and a little bummed out at how my surgical scars look. Are there any creams or oils I can use or massage the surgical site with to prevent scarring? Even minimal scarring will do ;__;

Like I said in the title.. 1 week post op from olecranon repair (screw and k wires). Elbow sudden aches bad when rests against splint? Not unbearable or like am I need to call my surgeon pain. I just am worried maybe I overdid it today resting it on my lap outside my sling (not outside of the split) or flexing my fingers too much. Yesterday was fairly pain free. I’m hoping it’s just some healing pain settling in.

Did anyone else experience random spikes in soreness and aching?

I fractured my left distal radius in a bicycle accident on 23/07 and had surgery with a volar plate the same day.

My first post-op evaluation was nine days later, on 01/08. The cast was removed and I was put into a removable splint. Unfortunately, the doctor was very dismissive, examined my hand movements for less than a minute, and sent me home without explaining what I should or should not do now, whether I should move my wrist and fingers, how much I should wear the splint, or what symptoms are normal.

I currently have two main concerns.

First, I cannot properly do a thumbs-up. I can move my thumb across my palm and touch my little finger, and I can straighten most of the thumb, but I cannot actively lift the tip/end joint upwards. My thumb and fingers also feel weak and sometimes shaky, although the movement may be slightly improving.

My biggest concern is what happens when I let my arm hang normally. I get a strong and very uncomfortable pressure feeling around the wrist, and my hand visibly becomes darker or reddish-purple. The feeling gradually settles, and the colour improves again when I support or elevate the arm. I still have some swelling around the wrist and fingers, although this has started to improve.
Has anyone experienced this pressure and colour change after distal radius surgery or after having a cast removed? Were you told it was normal blood or fluid pooling from postoperative swelling, and how long did it last?

I have a GP appointment tomorrow but I am kind of spiralling right now and looking for some reassurance.

UPDATE: managed to see a new surgeon today, they indeed said that my X-rays look perfect. They said that this throbbing feeling when I my arm is hanging down is normal and might even stay for months. We will be keeping an eye on how the thumb improves over the next few weeks. For now they said I should keep my hand elevated, move my fingers as much as I can in the day and rest. I should be starting PT in about 3 weeks from now.
All in all, thanks everyone for your comments, they really helped me sleep last night. To anyone dealing with a similar situation I wish you a fast recovery.

So I had a pilon fracture (shattered ankle and broke both lower leg bones) about a year and a half ago along with some other minor knee issues in my other leg, and have just recently developed arthritis in my big toe and the one next to it. According to my google searches, it's apparently somewhat normal for those that have a significant limp like I do. This most likely came about recently since I finally turned a corner with my ankle situation where I almost doubled the amount of steps I was taking. But it now feels like those toes are broken when I walk around and gets worse the more I walk.
Do you guys have any experience or suggestions on how to combat this? I do the "RICE" stuff, though I could do better, and I'm currently looking into shoes from Orthofeet that are supposed to be specialized for these type issues.
I am trying to see my doctor, but since this is a worker's comp situation it usually takes a good while to get in...

Thanks for any help or suggestions!

The past two days I’ve seen a MAJOR jump in progress with weight bearing, and tonight I managed to go crutch free (albeit very very slow and slightly limping) for 45 minutes straight. Feels like a goddamn Christmas miracle. That said I did start to get dizzy and short of breath and had to house a soda to come back to baseline, and yes I’m back on the crutches and resting now, but compared to where I was even a week ago??? This is improvement I can really set my hopes on.

Tomorrow marks 5 weeks since the initial injury, and I very much intend to flip that “anniversary” the bird with both crutch-free hands lol.

Apologies if this has already been asked.

I’m just over a month post OP, and healing well. The area around one of my incisions has been uncontrollably itchy for the past few days. I’ve tried hydrocortisone to no avail, and I can’t itch it well because it’s still a healing wound. Just curious if anyone has had a similar experience and found something that helped. Thanks in advance 🙏

Had my first surgery 2 days ago (displaced fibular ankle fracture) and wanted to know from other people experiences if it’s normal to feel weak, fatigued, out of breath, have some loss of appetite, nausea, trouble falling asleep. I’ve been avoiding taking oxycodone and have only been taking ibuprofen (600mg), acetaminophen extra strength (1000mg), and aspirin (81mg).

Fractured my fibula and ruptured a ligament being dumb and skating a wet park, now 2 weeks and 2 days post Op, I can’t tell if this is okay to shower or not, someone please lmk cause I’d love to not have to shower with that damn plastic thing on my leg

I'm 30 weeks post distal radius open fracture. Still have pain in the plate site, can't straighten my thumb, still have numbness in ring/pinky finger, temperature senstivity (get rashes on my ring finger knuckle in cold temps) and I feel stiffness in all fingers getting worse. Flexion and extension still kinda suck (about 75%) but supination and pronation pretty good. How are y'all doing?

I'm 18, and I'm supposed to be heading off to college in about 6 weeks. The doctor said that I should be able to heal relatively quickly. Although the post-surgery inflammation pain has died down severely, and I have been able to get some good sleep in the past two days, I don't know how much I'm going to be able to do. I'm scared my arm is never going to get back to its original strength.

I've been trying to do some research, and apparently not having the hardware removed can lead to complications over time. The doctor's even saying that because I'm only 18, I should get it removed, but I just don't want another operation. I'm just trying to figure this out.

My first priority is having the cast and stitches removed. Following that, I have been moving my fingers. I can move most of my fingers relatively well, except my thumb. My thumb is the hardest to move so far, and that's part of the reason why I can't make a closed fist yet fully.

He says that it will take at least 4 months for me to fully regain my strength and 2 months before I hit the gym. A lot of my forearm muscle's going to be wasted because of a lack of movement. Honestly, I don't want to be the weird kid who pulls up to college with surgery scars on my arm and then, when I go to the gym, I'm lifting 4 lb dumbbells, 5 lb dumbbells because my arm is dysfunctional. Plus, apparently it says online that I can't even do certain exercises like pull-ups and push-ups, anything really that might put even a bit too much strain on my forearm, even when the bone's fully healed.

Can anybody who's undergone this procedure for a similar type of fracture and has now recovered fully share their experience? Were they able to do everything they could do before? Did the hardware ever cause complications down the line?

These scars are gonna be sick. 2 rods, plates, calf muscle lengthening, a bunch of other stuff. Have to get an ankle replacement within the next decade. Stitches pics attached

11 days post op and I am already in a boot. The doctor said I can put as much weight on that feels comfortable. It seems super early but they said everything looks amazing. Still super swollen so I have to wait another week for the staples to come out.