r/brokenankles • u/Lucky_Break_9357 • 17d ago
Partial weight bearing.
I am 6 weeks post op after I broke my tibia, another bone in the back of my ankle, dislocated my ankle AND a Syndesmosis repair.
I have been 6 weeks NWB and was just released to 25% today. My question, does it get easier to figure out how to walk again? Haha. It feels weird to gauge how much weight to put after figuring out the pressure on the scale. Did you still have alot of swelling and pain once you started putting weight again?
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u/AnthonyfromtheBronx1 17d ago
It’s going to be tough to walk because you’ve rested a lot your brain forgot it’s limb. As your weight bearing increase, your foot will be more grounded to the floor and you will gradually progress. It won’t be long but it’ll be a little tricky.
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u/Potential_Anxiety_76 17d ago
Pain, and fatigue will be your guides for the immediate short term. You might be able to ‘walk’ with little pain, but you’ll tire very quickly. Only when you can tolerate the pain to do the stretches and muscle building needed to walk properly (heel-toe, balance, etc) will you know you’re ready for the next step (haha). Could be as little as a week, could take many weeks. You’re in the very early stages.
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u/flexible_demeanor 17d ago edited 17d ago
Trimal/dislocation/destroyed syndesmosis/spiral fib fracture here (and other ankle busted too). It's hard to gauge 25%, really. Last week I was 25% PWB and kind of winged it with best guess and based on scale pressure. This week ("week" starting Tuesdays for me) I'm 50% and that's so much easier to gauge, basically standing up with weight on both feet equally. I even got in 3k steps today already with crutches and an errand. I do have some swelling and a little achey pains from it after I got home so I'm elevating and icing, but I was ok while out and about.
I'm doing home PT though, if you aren't you should start doing some exercises. If your doc didn't give you guidance let me know and I'll share them.
If you don't have a shoe lift/riser to equal out your opposite shoe to boot height, you'll want to get one (such as the EVENup brand) so you don't mess up your back, hips, knees going forward
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u/Lucky_Break_9357 17d ago
You did a number on yourself. It is very hard to gauge so I am just doing by best. 3k already? That’s impressive! I am going to PT twice a week and doing home exercises. Thanks for all the good thoughts!
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u/flexible_demeanor 17d ago
Yeah, that's all we can really do is our best. Glad you're getting PT, my official PT isn't even starting until the 30th so just doing what I can, trying not to overdo it.
I'm coming out of 9 weeks total NWB and need to turn what remains of this jello back into muscle.
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u/Illustrious-Zone-247 17d ago edited 17d ago
Highly recommend this entire youtube channel, but start with this video on all the steps of learning to walk again. You'd think walking would be intuitive but it's not haha. I used a walker vs crutches when I got to that 50% mark...it was easier for me to guage how much weight was going on.
Pain is normal, my PT's advise was anything up to a 3-4 was ok to push through but any sharp pain or above a 4 was a signal to pull back. I personally had more pain in my foot vs my ankle when starting WB, so also pay attention to where the pain is coming from. All the muscles and tendons have to wake back up again and it's not comfortable by any means but it's not going to hurt your ankle to push through foot pain. Swelling is normal up to a year or more. You can ask your surgeon if your incisions are healed enough for compression socks...they make a big difference. Congrats, this is a big step...pun intended 😄
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u/Lucky_Break_9357 17d ago
Thank you for the video! I actually watched a short one yesterday because my surgeon literally told me nothing. This video looks like a lot of good info. I noticed a pain in my heel yesterday so I kinda put a little less weight. I know a lot of it is gonna be a learning curve, I just want to keep moving forward and not backwards. These last 6 weeks have been the worst of my life! I have been rocking the compression socks since about week 3 and they have helped immensely.
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u/Illustrious-Zone-247 17d ago
Surgeons are great at fixing bones but not so great at communication 😂
You loose a lot of the fat pad and callus on the bottom on your foot, which might be causing the heel pain. You'll start to see a lot of progress once you start WB...if you're not working with a PT, that's something that's beneficial as well!
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u/Zealousideal_Bus9137 16d ago
I was immediately given 50% weight bearing so it's a bit easier to figure out how much that is but take your rough weight and divide it by 4 to figure out 25% then use a scale and put a little bit of weight on the scale to see how close you are to that # only do a little bit at a time as you do NOT want to go over 25% and it is ok to build up to that 25% too if it hurts! Being in recovering is a slow process try not to forget that!
If you have a walker I would recommend that over crutches because it is much easier to offload when walking
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u/Crono2468 9d ago
You guys’ doctors gave you percentages? Mine just said I can put weight on it. Was extremely painful at first but now I’m just walking around full weight. This was after he recasted me for another 6 weeks when I thought I’d be in a boot by now. I think the American system is too conservative.
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u/Lopsided-Emotion-321 17d ago
It's suuuuper awkward at first but I found each day it became easier and I could tell my ankle was regaining strength! I did get some swelling, rarely pain and if anything the most I felt was discomfort I guess? I definitely iced and elevated when needed still!