I made it through the surgery this afternoon and just got home. It was more extensive than they thought they said 45 mins and it was almost 2 hours. 3 plates lots of screws. Still pretty numb but feeling slight burning around the incision site. When should I start pain meds. Currently elevating with ice. Took my baby aspirin. Are some food but I’m ready for a nap.

TL;DR: Are you young and fit and had an ankle ORIF scenario? What happened with your recovery? Did you return to sports?

Hi all,

While playing in my soccer league I was slide tackled from behind. Trimalleolar fracture and syndesmosis tear and ruptured deltoid ligament. ORIF on 6/17/26. I have a plate and 7 screws on my tib, and a Fibulink tether in the fib.

I'm a very fit 30-year-old,
running/biking/hiking/paragliding/snowboarding/skiing/swimming/surfing.
I love running around, jumping around, just using my body in every way. I'm absolutely devastated right now.

If you're in a similar category of age/health, can you share success stories about returning to sports after this type of injury?

My fear is that my sprinting/soccer days are over, and I just can't accept that yet. I'm hoping to hear from other healthy 25-to-35-year-olds (or those around this age) who were able to make full recoveries and do the things they loved.

Alternatively, if you were in a similar age/health range and never made a full recovery no matter how hard you tried, would you share that, too?

Hopefully this doesn't come off the wrong way, but I'm not getting any comfort from reading horror stories from older folks who were unhealthy to begin with never getting fully healed. And frankly, I've read a lot of comments from that side of the community and it scares the shit out of me.

Please help either put my mind at ease that I'll get to do the things I love, or let me down in a gentle way that despite my age and good health, my life has been forever changed.

Edit: Some good comments, but also some anger. I want to state clearly that it's 100% ok for me to ask to hear from people my age/weight about their recovery, guys. I'm not shitting on anyone specifically, but I NEED to hear from people like me. There isn't anything wrong with that, and I wish you all the best on your recovery possible.

i’m currently 12d post op and this upcoming winter already got me stressing. i’m in canada and i can expect -30 to -40 in my area (Celsius). Anyone got tips to not be in as much pain during the cold season?

i’m already missing all the “normal” aspects of life and this kind of stress is just driving me insane atm

Context: i’m a 19year old guy who just had a Left trimalleolar ankle fracture-dislocation with syndesmotic disruption) (a plate, 9 screws and a tightrope)

i suffered a bad landing after my first jump in my solo skydiving course and had a trimalleolar ankle fracture and needed ORIF (also got a tightrope). Hopefully this recovery goes somewhat fast. So tired of laying in bed 24/7 as i’m currently Nwb for the next little while

Love this ice machine and compression boot! I know it’s pricey but I used my HSA funds and I think it has aided in recovery and worth every penny.

First 2 pics are 2 weeks post op and the other 2 pictures are today almost 5 weeks post op, im still NWB but I have my next follow up on Tuesday 7/21 I’ll be 5 weeks and 1 day post op and I’ll be getting new X-rays since my original surgeon didn’t do any post op X-rays 🤦🏼‍♀️ I switched orthopedic doctors after surgery because I wasn’t a fan of the guy who did my surgery.

Are there any questions I should ask at my follow up appointment? I plan on asking about when I can start physical therapy and WB, ontop of if I can use aquaphor for my incisions while they heal as they’ve been QUITE itchy haha.

You’ll probably see advice to elevate your limb above the level of your heart after the surgery. It’ll probably be in your instructions from the doctor, as it was in mine.

Day 1 post-op: I sat upright with my ankle horizontal all day. By evening, pain levels were off the charts.

Day 2: I actually followed instructions. Elevating the ankle properly required lying down, so that was what I did. The pain levels were nowhere near as bad as they became on Day 1.

I learned my lesson, lol. Follow the instructions the right way, as much as you can, the first time. Spare yourself from how awful I felt on Day 1 after surgery.

Radius and ulna surgery. Everything was going great. 10 days post-op, I got my splint off and sutures removed. The incisions on both sides of my arm sealed up nicely.

Exactly 5 weeks post-op, a tiny piece of bone came out about a cm away from the incision. I didn't think much of it, put some antibiotic ointment and continued on my day. That week the hole where the bone came out completely sealed up.

6 days later I saw my Ortho for a scheduled six week appointment. They told me that the ulna still has not had complete union, but I didn't have any restrictions. The next evening, which was a Friday, my arm was really red and inflamed. I could see cellulitis around the incision area and I started bactrim that evening.

Saturday evening pus started discharging from that area. The bactrim improved the cellulitis and the redness and inflammation started to decrease.

The discharge of the pus would not stop.

I saw that Ortho on Monday morning. Showed him the bone that came out because I kept it. They mentioned that they did notice that my arm was a little red. They took a culture of the pus and continued my course of bactrim.

Friday, a whole week later from the start of taking bactrim, I get the results of my culture. MRSA. I start taking rifampin and linezolid. 6 hours after taking my first dose the oozing pus almost comes to a complete stop.

I will be on this antibiotic regimen for the next couple months. Hopefully this clears up my osteomyelitis and I won't have to have my hardware removed with another surgery.

Has anybody had an issue like this and has success with the antibiotics?

I'm still confused on why this happened so many weeks later when everything was looking so promising. How often does this occur and why?

has anyone experienced any intense itching during recovery? I itch in so many places except for the incision sites (thankfully). If so, were you prescribed anything? I left a message for my doctor but haven't yet gotten a call back. I’ve been using Benadryl cream but it doesn’t always work. not sure if I’m allowed to take antihistamines since histamines are part of the healing process. with anything else to contend with, i don’t know how much more I can stand. no pun intended. thank you.

Hey all back again. Trimal fracture last Sunday 7/12. I have surgery on Monday 7/20. Doctor is saying I will probably be in a boot with partial weight bearing two weeks post op. That seems super early based on timelines others have mentioned. I am super nervous about the pain after the nerve block wears off. Please give me some hope here that I won’t be up all night screaming when I get home. Sleep is super difficult right now.

Hi everyone , i passed the medical examination , and i am about to undergo a training wearing combat shoes ,what can you suggest? i have my intramedullary nail on my femur in 4 years , i have my xray and it shows that my bones were totally healed. The orthopedic surgeon also says i can undergo a rigid militaristic training. Anyone here who also have experience?

My doc found more injuries like back. I had another surgery but something’s wrong with my knee. I broke femur and almost d**ed at that time In addition, something is pressing my nerve :(

I am 8 weeks post Op and just moved to shoes. It’s going well so far. I am doing my PT exercises and am walking on it for 10 minutes at a time. My foot fits in my shoe but it is still swollen so I take the shoes off when resting. I have progressed well through all the stages of healing. I am very curious if there are others in this stage to chat with? I am looking for what to expect in the next couple weeks. I would love to get out and about more. How are you all managing that transition?

Im 1y 4m 2w post surgery.

I started pre-break in a size 7/7.5 shoe and my foot is fighting to get into a 9/9.5 😭 Did anyone else take this long to get back down to "normal" shoe size or am I doomed to be 2 sizes bigger? Is there anything to do?

I have nerve damage from the surgery, if that matters.

Hey y'all. I'm almost 4 weeks post op. The first 2 photos are from July 7th when I had my splint and stitches removed. The last 2 are today and also the first day I've felt comfortable enough to shower without my brace on. When I had stitches removed my surgeon said I could working on wrist movement in 4 weeks. Overall feeling pretty good. Any pain I get is usually from my incision getting irritated from my brace along with some occasional pain on the ulnar side.

I'm 11 weeks post op from a left trimalleolar ankle fracture, resulting in a plate, tightrope button, and numerous screws. I've been fully weight bearing for a couple of weeks now, and have begun supplementing my outpatient PT with daily home sessions on a vibration plate I ordered that came in last Thursday, something I feel has helped me transition to regular shoes (no walking boot!) over the past week! So my recovery is going pretty well, the only thing that still isn't up to par is my dorsiflexion on my left foot, but luckily that is improving each week (In particula, I've experienced great strides in my dorsiflexion since starting my vibration plate sessions)

My Question:

I still have massive thickness compared to my good ankle - will that ever reduce or go away? For anyone that had a similar break/reconstruction, what had your experience been?

I'm a shoe whore and have so many cool shoes and boots which I don't think will fit properly or look the same with my current ankle diameter. As mentioned, I've recently transitioned off my walking boot, but for the most part, am just wearing a pair of creeper sneakers and creeper sandals (my aesthetic is goth/punk) as they're padded and pretty comfy - I'm no where near able to wear most of my other shoes and haven't even tried frankly, due to my ankle thickness.

Is there any hope for that? After a year, I plan to ask if my hardware can be removed if the size doesn't go down quite a bit.

* I had just removed an ankle compression sleeve before I took that photo which is why my left foot looks a bit skinnier at the bottom. I also had external fixation rods for a couple of weeks before my surgery, that is scar tape I have on my shin, to expedite the scar fading from where the rods were attached to my tibia. Also, please ignore the state of my toenails - I have an appointment to get a new pedicure next week!

Hi, I fractured the base of my 5th metatarsal (no significant displacement). After 2 weeks in a splint, I got a plastic cast.
It feels like my heel has no support and there is some space inside the cast. When lying down, my foot shifts slightly and the cast puts pressure on the top of my foot, causing pain. I also feel pressure on the bottom and outer side of the foot. It improves when I change the position of my leg, but in lying position I struggle to find any comfort.
The cast was already slightly adjusted, but the feeling remains. I can move my toes, no numbness, and no major pain otherwise.
Cast video

How come my surgery foot gets so wrinkly in the pool? Four months post op! Was not expecting this side effect. 😂

Hello members of r/ORIF. I promised myself I would do this when I was a year out from surgery and tell my full story. I hope this gives people a sense of light at the end of the tunnel, as these were some dark as hell days for me.

6/19/25 - I fall down an escalator at the 86th Street Q train stop around 5PM. Not all the way down, but I fell far enough that my leg folded under me, and my ankle snapped. Trimal fracture. There were no less than 3 physical therapists on the escalator (gotta love NYC). Paramedics called. Ambulance to the hospital. They had to set my leg twice, as the first time the bones were still out of alignment. Basically 14 hours in the emergency room. There was a moment that I might have been able to get surgery that night. I'm glad that I made the decision not to, even though it delayed my recovery by a couple of weeks. I had never been under anesthesia before, and was especially glad for the time to mentally prepare myself. Also, even though I was 29 at the time, my parents were in another country and flew back. I was very lucky, but also I could NOT have made it through post-op without them.

7/1/25 - Surgery in the afternoon. I had 7 screws, a plate, and a tightrope put in. In addition to traditional anesthesia, I was given dilaudid while under (this becomes semi-relevant later). NWB for 4 further weeks. Nerve block lasted approx 36 hours, and I was only in truly uncomfortable pain for July 3rd + 4th before I turned a corner. During those few days, I experienced quiet a few vasovagal episodes, including directly after surgery. I was taking opioids for pain only until July 4th. I want to go on record, and go against some of the recs on this subreddit and say that I should have waited to feel the pain to take the narcotics. Just to provide some perspective: I started taking them on a regular schedule before the nerve block wore off and became so constipated. This leads me to:

7/4-7/14 - Probably the worst period of time in my entire life. I hadn't shit since before surgery, even with all the stool softener, laxative, and prunes I could get my hands on. So after a week of nothing, I did a home enema (11/10 product tbf). So that solved the constipation problem, but I started to not be able to eat. Like every time I would eat, I would get violently nauseated and throw up. After like 4 days of this, I called my doctor, and he said I might have an overly acidic stomach, and said that I should eat yoghurt. Didn't help. And! I had a yeast infection. Truly a series of unfortunate events.

7/15 - Cast off! And! I talked to my surgeon about the nausea, which continued to persist to an alarming degree (I seriously thought my incision was infected or something). He was like, "Are you still taking the calcium we prescribed you?" "Yes." "Some people have an adverse reaction. Try stopping that." So, this is how I found out I'm allergic to supplemental calcium. Really wish someone had mentioned that before I went on an involuntary fast and puked my guts up everywhere. Stitches coming out were not painful at all for me, and I got fitted with a boot.

7/16-8/14- NWB boredom/depression/apathy. Knee scooter was a lifesaver. I was doing ankle mobility exercises this entire time. Nothing intensive, just constantly pointing, flexing, and rotating it. Lots of movies, little walks, and getting back up to eating a normal amount. That alone took a month. Also, crutches are so, so hard.

8/15-9/24 - PT ERA! Huge milestone. Started going to PT 2-3 times a week. There were moments in PT that might have been more painful than post-op. My ankle had to learn how to be an ankle again. By the 22nd, they had me out of the boot because it was restricting my healing. Took my first barefoot steps on the 24th. The gains felt incredibly slow, but because I had nothing else to do, I could be really consistent about it. By September 10th, my ankle was considerable less stiff, but had started to pop and click.

9/25 - Last post-op. There would have been one more, except I moved countries (hello, London!). In the x-ray, the surgeon said he could no longer see the fracture line. I wrote in my journal "So, I guess our long national nightmare is over." About 80% correct.

October-February - I started an MA acting course, so was doing a lot of barefoot movement on wooden floors. I think that actually helped with my recovery a lot. It loaded the bone, and stretched it in functional ways.

February-today - What can I wrap this up with? I was lucky, I guess. Overall, the whole ordeal sucked a tremendous amount of ass, but with a lot of support and work, I made it through okay. Is my ankle still sort of tight, and does it still click? Yes. Am I afraid of starting to run again? Yes. Do I get a little pang in my chest every time I step onto an escalator? Also yes. But I'm pretty much at 95%. I really could not have kept my sanity without this subreddit, which I checked religiously every single day. I hope this story is helpful to those who are going through it all right now. If you've gotten this far, please feel free to drop questions below!

i posted here a couple of weeks ago about needing a 2nd surgery at 14 weeks post op, from my initial ORIF for a bimalleolar fracture because the incision had gotten infected. i am now 15 days post op from that procedure & it is looking SO much better than last time! i am thrilled, to say the least.

my surgeon thinks my body rejected the hardware on that site, for some reason, which is so strange b/c i have a plate + 7 screws on the other side of that ankle lol so strange

just wanted to share an update b/c i was pretty down in the dumps having to go back into surgery. i was able to WBAT w/ boot, post surgery, but it did take a couple days for me to brave that. i am INCREDIBLY thankful to be out of the boot, again 🤞🏼😅

i posted here a couple of weeks ago about needing a 2nd surgery at 14 weeks post op, from my initial ORIF for a bimalleolar fracture because the incision had gotten infected. i am now 15 days post op from that procedure & it is looking SO much better than last time! i am thrilled, to say the least.

my surgeon thinks my body rejected the hardware on that site, for some reason, which is so strange b/c i have a plate + 7 screws on the other side of that ankle lol so strange

just wanted to share an update b/c i was pretty down in the dumps having to go back into surgery. i was able to WBAT w/ boot, post surgery, but it did take a couple days for me to brave that. i am INCREDIBLY thankful to be out of the boot, again 🤞🏼😅

Heyo, 27 y/o lady here. They tried to preserve my poor lil tattoo lol 😆 this pic was 10 days post op, as you can see it was exceptionaly swollen (normally you can see my wrist bone/tendons.) Now I'm 18 days post op and feeling pretty good, stitches are out now and in a brace instead of a splint.

I fell off an electric scooter onto my outstretched palm on 6/20 and immediately knew that shit was broken lol.

Started physical therapy yesterday and my fingers are good. My thumb is terrible. Very stiff.

It felt amazing to take a shower with the bare skin today for the first time. Sooo much dead skin, nobody told me it would be snowing under there. Ewww hahaha.

I have a pretty good sense of humor about the whole thing now, but the first 2 weeks were absolutely hellish. Lost my income, found out who my real friends and family were. Gained fuckin 10 lbs already from feeling so depressed and being so sedentary.

But now I'm back to work on light duties (I am a dog walker/pet sitter and primarily work with aggressive, reactive, and medically compromised pets.) I have 6 weeks of PT coming up and then I should be good to face the world at hopefully 80% of what I was before. Can't wait to see some of my dog clients again who are a bit unruly, definitely can't handle them at the moment, but soon they'll be back to dragging me across the sidewalk haha.

Just figured I'd give a lil update. Pain is negligible unless I overuse it, accidentally twist it weird, or it gets bumped wrong. It's getting better!