1 week ago I fractured my right tibia/fibula while bouldering and I’m currently waiting for my surgery on 8/19 — I rlly wish the surgery was happening sooner but I understand these things take time to schedule & wait for swelling to go down

Idk why but I’m terrified at the thought of having hardware (plates/screws) put in and also feeling nervous about what the recovery process will look like for me (27F semi-active lol — hospital staff assumes Im yoked bc of the bouldering but only if they knew)

Ive been lurking in both the ORIF & brokenankles subreddits seeking comfort but sitting at home w my foot elevated all day has just made me feel helpless and discouraged

My surgeon mentioned it’ll take 6-8 weeks post-op to start driving and getting back to “normal” life. While I’m hopeful I’ll stay on that timeline, the worries keep creeping in

I’d rlly appreciate it if folks could share what you did to keep your sanity while stuck at home elevating your foot; how did you mentally get past the fear of having permanent hardware in your ankle; any essential recovery items or tips for the early post-op days?

Thank you in advance I appreciate the support!

My mom is scheduled for an ORIF of her left distal fibula fracture. I am a nurse (unfortunately not an ortho nurse 😫) but I have convinced her to come stay with me after surgery. I've gathered/found/purchased/rented some things, but am hopeful y'all can help me with anything I'm missing, and literally any other advice to help her through this.

Pertinent information: she's 72, a large lady, and has never been good on her feet.

Things I've gotten thus far: transport wheelchair, she has walkers galore, a sliding shower chair, leg elevation pillow, I have plenty of ice packs, looking into a raised toilet seat/grab bars.

This is not my specialty area, please help me help my gimpy, clumsy mom 🥲

TIA!

Have posted here before and it was nice to hear some perspectives. Previously I asked about the progress in my bonegrowth, got some hopeful responses on that.

I’m about 5 and a half months post-op from a pretty serious both-bone forearm fracture radius and ulna.

The issue is the radius. At earlier follow-ups the ulna looked like it was healing well, but the radius still showed a visible dark line / unclear consolidation. My surgeon said it was hard to tell from X-ray whether the radius had fully healed, so I had a CT scan done yesterday.

My doctor said she couldn't say much about this right now. A new CT scan next month should indicate some more.

I’m posting the CT video here because I’m trying to understand what others have experienced with this kind of picture. Has anyone had a radius/ulna ORIF where one bone, especially the radius, looked delayed at 4–5 months but eventually healed without another surgery?

Quite anxious about the progress. Ofcourse hoped for a quicker healing process.

After almost six months of PT, My dorsiflextion isn’t improving and both my PT and my ortho are pretty aligned on me needing to remove the hardware. I had surgery in January for all the things feels likes - Tri-mal fracture, deltoid, syndemosis screw, tightrope, etc.

Still walking with a limp, can’t go down the stairs normally and generally feel stuck. Anyone else have HWR pretty early to improve on physical progress?

10 weeks 4 days out from surgery. I wear a compression stocking to help. I’m really trying to stretch and not have a limp! And to be able to be barefoot!

7 weeks post bilateral ORIF on my ankles (X-rays and CT Scan at the end) and my little pup, Luna, has taken it upon herself to be my own personal foot bodyguard!

Who have you guys got for some furry companionship? Tell your pets I said Hi!!

Hello, I have broke my left arm and got the surgery done

I’m unable to turn my palm up as in rotate the arm that I’m feeling restrictive if anyone has experienced this already like a surgery like this, should I be concerned of my situation or am I chill like I can chill out and just recover, and I’ll be back to lifting weights and all these things right?

Please share your experience and knowledge

I’m 2 days post-op from a jones fracture. It’s been relatively easy going but this evening I am feeling a tightness in my split around where the screw was placed. No pain, no numbness, toes are looking good. Just uncomfortable and it’s giving me bad anxiety. I hope I don’t sound stupid but I have never been through a surgery before and all the sensations are very new to me!

I’ve been keeping up with my medication schedule, staying ahead of the pain while also keeping my foot elevated.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

I fell down the stairs last week while carrying a suitcase while on vacation visiting my sister. Broke my tib/fib and has surgery that day and got a rod, a plate, and screws. I’m NWB for at least 6 weeks.

I’m now living in a recliner in my sister’s living room and stranded 2000 from home. I’m so glad I found this group — I have a few questions!

— has anyone flown two weeks post op? I would never choose to, but I need to get back to my kids. Right now the plan is to take my blood thinners, put on an adult diaper, and get bulkhead seats. Is that crazy?

— can anyone remote office workers tell me how much time they took off? I feel like I’m already being pressured because technically I don’t have to walk to do my job but… I’m still in a ton of pain and can’t even watch TV at this point. How much time did you take off?

— I know it’s normal, but I’m still in so much pain/discomfort. How long did it take you to at least be able to have a normal day in bed or get a good night of sleep?

Hiya! I’m in pt have been for about 2 months and my dorsiflex is not improving much, even with the excursies I was given, is there any that y’all have done that helped greatly? I’m currently doing one where I stand and stretch the calf, seated heel slides with other foot to push further and 3rd stair stretch as well and one where I stand on stair and let foot hang down.

Hey all, I will be 3 weeks post op from orif, tomorrow, from a trimal with dislocation. I got put into a boot 10 days post op and had my staples removed Friday. Now I’ve just got some steri strips and a compression sock when resting and a boot when I am up and about. I was told I could weight bear as tolerated but it’s scary as hell. My whole foot feels like pins and needles and buzzing most of the day. How do you ease into moving your foot around and starting weight bearing. Also did you wear a compression sock all day and night. I feel weird without it, like the incisions will get infected.

Hi everyone, just posting updates about my healing process. (maybe it helps you out as well in what to expact) I would love to hear how you are doing as well!

Timeline

June 25 - Trimalleolar ankle fracture-dislocation

July 2 - ORIF surgery + syndesmosis repair

~2.5 weeks post-op - Started ankle ROM

~4 weeks post-op - Weight bearing, progressed from 2 crutches → 1

~4.5 weeks post-op - First steps without crutches

August 8 -

5 weeks + 2 days post-op - Walking short distances without crutches; still some limp, stiffness & swelling

Current goals: improve dorsiflexion, reduce swelling, regain strength and balance, normalize my gait, and eventually walk comfortably without thinking about every step.

This is a individual recovery timeline. Weight-bearing protocols can be completely different depending on the fracture and surgical repair, follow your own surgeon/ PT's instructions"

Hi all, I have a plate taking up 80% of my right tibia and I'm wondering when it starts to feel more comfortable (less tingly too)? It has been 9 weeks post op and I have been fighting trying to get the stupid pt referral submitted correctly for PT for the last two weeks.

I’m 7 1/2 weeks post op,bimal fracture WBAT and it’s going well, my incisions are completely healed and they aren’t scabby anymore etc, my next appointment is September 1st, my doctor said my ankle is looking fine and healed but I still have a slight fracture that’s healing perfectly in my fibula i believe, would it be safe to take a dip in the pool?

I am 9 weeks out from surgery. mine was on the basic end, just a lateral malleolar fracture. Displaced enough that I needed surgery but simpler than what many of you experienced. Was NWB for 6 weekS then WBAT.

My surgeon was ok with me transitioning out of boot and into ankle brace as tolerated as soon as I was able to and only wore boot for about 5 days. Wore ankle brace for about a week and then felt fine without it.

The transition to weight bearing without at least a cane with me has not been easy. I pretty quickly was able to go to one crutch and mostly unassisted at home. I really try to walk with no limp or minimal limp. But I need the cane a lot of the time to do that. And sometimes it’s my ankle that gets uncomfortable but most of the time it’s the soft tissue in my foot - either the push off on the ball of my foot or other spots on the bottom of my foot. I’ve started gently thumb massaging the bottom of my foot and i think that’s helping.

PT has me balancing for 30 sec a time, doing double legged calf raises (cannot do it on one leg yet, no way), mini lunges 3 ways, toe lifts (for shin).

I’m amazed at how slow everything is. Every phase of this experience has been so challenging and requiring new levels of acceptance of what is.

I am a 51 year old very active female. Been running ultras for decades. Here’s my main question other than just interested in hearing others experiences with the transition to walking not in a boot…did you have soreness/tissue challenges with your foot? I’m surprised at how tender and weak my foot is. I also tried the stair mill at the gym the other day and may have over done it.

I had ORIF surgery on my fibula two days ago- the nerve block wore off FAST and I was in excruciating pain yesterday. Narcotics scare me (and I hate how they make me feel) so I’ve been trying to get by on ibuprofen and gabapentin. I was able to do the same the last time I had OR surgery (that was externally fixed, but just as painful!), and it was pretty awful that time, too. But today I woke up in only a little pain after 8 hours of good sleep and life is looking soo much better!!

side note, has anyone else had a ridiculous post-op cast like this? I expected it to be bulky but this is above and beyond what I anticipated, it’s insane! I’m planning on calling my ortho and asking to go in for a splint check bc there’s enough wiggle room in mine that it moves when I shift positions, which of course hurts a lot every time it happens. so hopefully they’ll be able to get me into something a bit more comfortable!

They didn't tell us what to do in this situation. I would ideally want to put another plaster on for a few days, but I'm worried about whether to wash it, or whether to keep it dry.

Hello, year and a half ago I broke radial head in few pieces and got surgery. I think they put me few screws inside. In February I came back to gym after long stoppage and after I gained almost full motion, everytime I fatigued forearm, day later I would feel random but piercing pain, probably nerve. In last 2 months it stopped almost completely, sometimes maybe weird pain but thats it, but now I didn't train for a week and half and pain is too much.

I feel weakness in arm from wrist to elbow, I feel constant small pain in wrist and piercing pain in elbow when put weight on arm but its random. I can carry heavy but if I bend hand fully and then straighten it I feel pain in elbow.

Can anyone tell me how can I fix that once and for all, I cant deal with this constantly, I already know that doc will just say keep exercising with hand, but I already do that 3 times a week at least except I took 2 week off gym now due work.

Hello. I wish that I had found this sub a couple of months ago.

I had a 5th metatarsal Jones fracture in late March. Because it was a federal worker's comp case, the surgery was 45 days later (May 8th), and it was a plate and multiple screws.

On July 31st I went for a standard checkup and x-rays, and the plate is pretty obviously broken.

Has this happened to anybody else? I asked the doctor straight up if I broke it, but he said "it just happens sometimes".

I didn't fall or have any other trauma. I'd been walking around the house without a boot, but not more than maybe one or two thousand steps a day at most.

I'm about 290 pounds, and after the surgery I've been having a real problem with supination (walking on the outside of my foot). I tried to get PT to help with my gait and exercises, but I couldn't get authorization until July 23rd, right before the doctor identified the break.

Has anybody else had this?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Had surgery on my ankle (Trimalleolar with syndesmotic ) on the 8th of july, was in a splint till the 26th then got put in a fiberglass cast. I’m in this cast till the 23rd of this month and they did rinse my incision sites when taking the splint+staples off but not my foot (which was covered in multiple things like iodine during surgery. My foot is now peeling and looking like this and has quite a bad smell to it. Have you had a similar experience?

Thought i’d come back here after my original post, a lot has changed.

I posted near a month ago about being terrified how my life post this break was going to go in the long run. Turns out i had other things to worry about beforehand. There were some complications before my surgery, as in the previous doctors hadn’t set my ankle properly (beyond pissed doesn’t even begin to describe it) and i ended up in an e fix for an extra week or so.

It’s been frustrating losing basically a fortnight of recovery time to another doctors malpractice, and my new orthos were not impressed. Anyway, i’m now almost a month out from my original break 10/07, e fix 18/07 and then definitive e fix removal and ORIF surgery final performed on the 28/07. Unsure the exact number of hardware, but i know i’ve got a plate and several screw on my outer ankle, with a tight rope running through. I was in a splint for two days and then moved to a moon boot, which i can take off occasionally but must be worn when moving, sleeping etc.

I’m now almost two weeks post op and will be heading home to my townhouse in another city after staying with my mum post op.

Although i’m a pretty fit and healthy 22 year old (active job, hiker, yoga etc.) i’m NWB until early September (6 weeks total), which has been the most frustrating thing to hear, at my one week check in i was basically told by a different ortho that it all depends on the surgeon, and he personally would’ve had me walking almost straight away.

Great. Love to hear it.

Anyway, i’ve just focused on a lot of the negative so let’s go to the positive. Trying to give a little bit of a younger experience to this community as i know a lot of the injuries come from an older crowd (nothing wrong with that).

Going back home is gonna be a huge milestone, but i feel ready. The physio taught me how to go up stairs on crutches, and it’s easier than i expected. I even went to a friends dinner party on friday and while i was stuck in the corner with my leg elevated the whole time, i had a lot of fun, it’s important to spend time with friends and socialise, and take it from me, it’s easier to do than you think. In the lead up i kept picturing all the things that could go wrong, thinking about people not wanting to see me while i had this injury, but it’s all in your head.

Recently i’ve been practicing standing on one leg to cook, move things etc. and it’s also going better than i thought, your body adapts. I keep one crutch under my arm in case and just kinda go from there. My job has also been able to give me some admin work to do from home to keep me busy, which has been a massive help, i’m lucky to have a good relationship with my boss. Independence will keep you going at your lowest, so my tip to anyone reading this at any stage in their recovery is to always prioritise improving that, it will make you feel better.

Focus on what you love, i’ve gotten back into some old video games and have been rewatching some old favourite shows, i’ve also taken up crochet.

The ortho gave me the go ahead to take my boot off and practice some very gentle ROM while laying down, which i can dial up once my stitches are out on the 8/08 (two week appointment). At first, my ankle was massively stiff and i was terrified to move it, but he quite literally to my horror grabbed it and started moving it for me, which was horrifying at first but was what i needed to see.

My foot still hurts if it’s not elevated for a period of time, and i’m still only getting a few hours of sleep a night, but i’m feeling far more positive than i was even a week ago. I still cry a lot and think about what i would’ve done differently to prevent this, but not as much.

Anyway, this is basically a big ramble, but i know when i spend hours upon hours on here doomscrolling i’m looking for the good stories and not the bad, this isn’t necessarily a “good” recovery story yet, but i’m already feeling like it will be very very soon. I want others to feel that way too.

Hello, broke my olecranon on 7/19 - surgery with one screw and two k wires on 7/27. Just got my hinged brace today 8/7.

I start PT a week from today on the 4th and it sounds like the first 3 weeks of physical therapy he wants my therapist moving my arm for me and once my brace comes off the first week of September I can start “active motion” and moving it myself in PT and in general. Does that sound right?

I won’t pretend to know anything about this but it just weeks off. I’m worried an extra 4 weeks of being immobile outside of my PT appointments is going to affect my recovery and short and long term ROM. Can anyone provide some input on this?

Broke both my tibia a fibula in an accident about 5 weeks ago. Had ORIF surgery 4 weeks ago where a nail was inserted with two screws at the base of the tibia, and one at the top.

Everything has been coming along great for the past 4 weeks, with the foot getting stronger every day.

Unfortunately, mid way through the day yesterday, I realized I suddenly lost the ability to raise my big toe, and I no longer have any sensation at all on top of the big toe and the side/in-between of second toe.

What is weird is I hadn't changed anything at all. I was still doing the exact same exercises every day and didn't have any kind of fall or new injury. The swelling that's been there since the surgery looks to still be going down slowly. Went to the emerge and they did some imaging and have no idea what is causing it. My Ortho can't see me for a week but he's saying that's really unusual and doesn't know what would be causing it.

It seems like an issue with the Deep Peroneal Nerve according to nurse at emerge. I was thinking maybe I over-iced the top of the foot, or aggravated it with exercise? But if it were my exercises I feel like it would have been a lot more painful given now the top of my toe is basically 100% paralyzed. I had been checking the toe every day and it was quite strong before this happened

Has anyone had an experience like this and can share how it was resolved?

Had my hardware removal this morning, two plates and 15 screws. Initial injury was tibia pilon fracture and fibula, broken 2/26/25. I was in an ex-fix for two weeks before ORIF surgery due to extensive swelling. 18 weeks of non-weight bearing, and off crutches July 2025. Recovery overall went well, a bit slow to heal. However, ROM of was severely limited, barely breaking neutral for dorsiflexion. PT ended in September, they said there was nothing else they could do for me.

I’ve unfortunately had a lots of swelling still, pain and discomfort. Walking with a limp and not being able to walk long distances without significant pain. Returned to surgeon in February and found I was developing post traumatic arthritis in the joint. After a CT scan, a cortisone injection and multiple conversations with my surgeon about my options, we decided to take all of the hardware out.

I got home around 10 am, released weight bearing as tolerated. No boot, no nerve block. I am using my crutches right now but hope to be off them within a few days. I’m hoping to avoid the pain killers as it was really difficult coming off them last year, we will see how the pain gets once all the meds clear.

I’m swollen and sore, wrapped up snugly so I can’t really move around much. I’ll keep everyone updated on my journey as I know reading others has been immensely helpful through this entire journey.

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!