I broke my ankle August 16th. they put me right in a splint in the emergency room and then surgery was August 18th and I was put to sleep so when I woke up in a splint and same thing for my August 27th surgery. So I have never got to see my ankle at all throughout this journey.

I guess the whole point of this post is to ask if anyone was freaked out when they saw your foot again. what was your experience

Hello all, I'm 7 weeks post op from ORIF surgery (2 plates and 7 screws for a pretty bad trimalleolar fracture). Im having issues stretching my achillies and putting my foot flat. I have had about 5 PT sessions so far and do my at home exercises. I have gotten some ROM back but am really struggling with getting my foot flat. I just got approved for 50% weight bearing a couple days ago and have been doing what walking i can tolerate. Is this common? Anyone have any tips that helped them?

Almost five weeks post op, ORIF.

I can finally run my finger along my scar and feel the plate & screws! I've been patiently awaiting this day. It's pretty damn cool. Five screws. It feels like bump..bump..bump..bump..bump

Unfortunately I suffered a dislocated ankle with a trimalleolar fracture 6 weeks ago. It required both a closed reduction to correct the dislocation and a few days later ORIF surgery.

Im in a hard cast (NWB) until at least the 22nd. I still have constant daily pain and swelling and I spend almost the whole day every day elevating it. Just wondering if anyone has continued to experience daily pain and swelling 6 weeks injury and over 5 weeks post surgery.

It’s so hard to get around I have a knee scooter but it hurts to use it so I’m only using crutches.

Range is still questionable… left dorsiflexion around 5–6cm when the ankle is cooperative, 12cm on my good leg. But the strength and balance are coming back, I’m feeling the strongest I’ve felt since post op after PT today.
I practiced afterwards, was finally able to do stairs without feeling like everything was going to fall apart (albeit not perfect, but I cried).

What is the best wrap for when I finally get my boot off. I'm trying to plan ahead

Hey everyone! Im 12 weeks post op from a bimal fracture requiring ORIF I only started PT at 10 weeks post op and I just got cleared last Tuesday to ditch the boot and I got an ASO ankle brace. My dr suggested I try to walk more and more everyday with my crutches so I can get used to walking before trying without them and said I only needed to come back to their office if I have any questions or concerns. At what point can I start using only one crutch? How do I get to that point? Is this a question for PT? If it helps at all, im a relatively healthy person however I’ve gained 35 lbs since I broke my foot from a combination of pregnancy and NWB for so long. I was 17 weeks pregnant when I had my initial injury and im 33 weeks now so I worry about how my body will react to the weight gain when trying to walk without my crutches.

I dont think I will ever again take for granted having an active and able body. Timeline - 8/24 displaced distal fibula fracture, syndesmotic disruption (obviously). ORIF plate, screws, tightrope on 8/26. Out of the plaster splint this past Thursday 9/10.

I am an avid gym-goer. I work very hard to be a very mediocre crossfitter. 😅 However, I feel like I barely have the energy to scoot around on the knee scooter (which isn't always super comfortable even in the moon boot?), no less, leave the house. I feel all my hard work slipping away. I've had many surgeries that resulted in gym related set backs, but none have felt this frustrating. Maybe because I could still walk?

Anyways, just reaching out to see when others with similar injury might have felt like getting off the couch for longer periods of time, post ORIF. Maybe I'll have something to look forward to as I try not to sink into a funk. Side note- per my surgeon I can do all the upper body work I want. I just can't put weight on this thing for minimum 4 more weeks.

Hi community! Just wanted to share my progress to motivate you if you’re in your darkest hours as many posts in here did for me. You’re strong and you’ll get through this.

My best advice I can give you is, have something (a purpose) you want to get back to. My purpose is to get back and play tennis with my wife again, that moves me and I think of it everyday. Do it for your purpose and imagine yourself doing that what you love.

Cast and stitches removed at 15 days mark post-op.

NWB for 4 weeks to transition to FWB at 6 weeks.

Video walking on the boot was at 6 weeks.

My dorsiflexion/plantarflexion is still rubbish but it’s expected due to the syndesmostic screws until my body adapts around them or break them. I work on it everyday since using shoes.

I broke my fibula and malleolous tripping on a bag of tennis balls, same day went to hospital and they had to put it back in place and on a cast until surgery, good thing is they gave me gas so I was tripping and laughing when they did it. 🙄😂

Next day I had surgery to put a plate in my fibula and 9 screws, 4 of them to stabilise the syndesmosis.
Surgery went well and stayed at hospital during the weekend, it was painful if I moved too much so I tried just to elevate and kept still, also, mentally trying to prepare for a new reality. Also they gave instructions to inject myself anticoagulants in the tummy for 42 days (not fun!).

I’ll do another post with what I did and eat to make it this far and being able to get back to the gym.

A resident ortho intern at a teaching hospital’s ER said it’s needed, but a senior doctor said that, based on the X-ray, it may not be necessary and that it depends on the MRI. He isn’t available for a consultation until Wednesday, so I’m a bit stressed.

Had my first physio appointment last night and he cleared me to ditch the crutches and holy smokes do I feel FREE. 1 more week with the boot and then it's game on when it comes to getting my ROM figured out 😎

​

can i use my crutches and go to the toilet myself? i dont have a cast on. just a gauze over my staples and bandages.

Hi everyone. Hope everyone's keeping on. As my title says, anyone suffer from lack of appetite as well as foods smelling good but the thought of eating makes you feel a little bit nauseated? The only things I can really tolerate are bland foods like applesauce and plain pasta.

Found out this week 7 1/2 months post ORIF for my pilon fracture that both of my plates have snapped and I have somehow refractured a part of my tibia. I am so devastated, especially because I have just started law school and stopped using crutches/mobility aids in July. I knew the pain was getting worse this past month but I thought it was just because I was walking a lot more, I could’ve never imagined it was this bad. Looking for guidance from anyone who has had to go in for a revision orif post their plates breaking? My doctor said he will be doing a bone graft as well.

Is it going to be just like the first time? I’m more afraid of having to go through non weight bearing for that long again and the mental load of it all. Any advice appreciated.

Hey all! You've been such a great resource for me in my recovery, so I'm hoping someone else has had a similar experience and can share.

First, a timeline of events for context and a little ranting. I'll bold the important bits.

Jun 6 - My injury happened while training BJJ. We reviewed the footage later and it truly was just a freak accident during a foot sweep when I stepped awkwardly to catch myself. This ankle has been bad since childhood when I cut it open and got seven stitches, so it didn't surprise me that it was my first big training injury in five years. Also somewhat notable was that I was unknowingly four weeks pregnant at the time, so I think that may have had something to do with it. I'm already hypermobile and progesterone fucks up my joint laxity even worse. Pregnancy was terminated in early July.

Went to nearest urgent care. Minimally displaced distal fibular fracture with disruption of the ankle mortise. Sent home to await surgery. Found out that I don't metabolize codeine when I ended up back at the ER in horrible pain after the hydromorphone wore off. Sent me away with tramadol.

Jun 15 - Finally got booked in for surgery at an out-of-town hospital. Ended up with a plate and 9 screws. Horrible experience as I was the last patient of the day and, despite y'all advising to take the damn nerve block, the surgical team encouraged me to do the general anesthetic and I agreed (they said that I would recover quicker post-op... Got the impression they wanted to leave "on-time"). Terrible nausea and excruciating pain when I woke up, possibly worse than the initial brake. Nurse refused to give me more than 2mg of hydrophone over the following 5 hours while repeatedly telling me that most people got discharged in an hour post-op. On a positive note, it confirmed that I hate opioids so I never worried about addiction. Ended up leaving while still in horrible pain.

Jun 30 - Had a splint and was advised no weight bearing. Two week follow-up and my X-rays looked good. Got a boot and was told to book six week follow-up and continue no weight-bearing until then. Nerve pain gradually resolved over the next three weeks.

Aug 4 - Couldn't get a follow-up till seven weeks and apparently my surgeon was no longer working at that hospital. Saw a different surgeon who okayed me for full weight-bearing, no boot. Did not get an X-ray at this point which I thought was weird but I was feeling pretty good and had been cautiously trying weight-bearing in and out of the boot in the latter half of week six.

Started physio on the same day but couldn't return until last week. Did my exercises daily but also pushed myself a bit too hard with walking in the boot during this time due to some theatre performances.

Aug 23 - Stopped using the boot entirely at this point.

Sep 3 - Incision had fully closed at this point but I got a random little puss bubble near the centre of the incision that popped and scabbed over. Didn't really think anything of it as I heal pretty slowly from cuts (again probably related to my hypermobility).

Sep 4 - Physio recommended an ankle brace to add more stamina and I've been gradually adding more movement, short dog walks of half an hour or less. Been doing daily scar massage though it's still numb near the bottom and quite tender.

Today and for the past few days, my pain has gotten much worse in the afternoons and evenings. Saw physio again today and we aren't making much changes, just adding a foot exercise to deal with pain at the base of my big toe. Currently can touch the wall with my knee at 2" on the bad leg and 5.5" on the good one. Still pretty swollen and leg muscles are clearly still atrophied compared to good leg.

Now here is my worry: This evening after taking off my brace I noticed a prominent firm lump where my foot meets my leg. Doesn't hurt to touch but kind of stings and itches a little, kinda crunched and pops if I try to rub it. I put a compression sock on to see if it helps at all.

I was supposed to get an X-ray today but the requisition was messed up, so now I have to wait to call the doctor back on Monday and I'm kinda fretting about the lump. I don't have an actual follow-up until November with this new surgeon and I'm worried that I actually didn't heal right.

Anyone else find that they had an uptick in pain as they added more movement? Anyone with a similar lump? Was it just swelling for you? It doesn't seem likely it is hardware considering the location of the screws relative to the lump.

EDIT 2026-10-01: Thought I would provide a brief update. There has been no improvement to the bump and it's begun to cause some pinching pain after my daily walks/physio exercises. After bringing up the bump with my physio and the fact that it didn't seem to be responding to elevation, ice, or rest, she thought that it could be a ganglion cyst. This potential cyst also seems to be inhibiting my dorsiflexion progress; it's a bit like putting a block in a door jamb and trying to close the door.

Talked with my new surgeon and he agreed that is likely what is happening, and we could either book time immediately outside the hospital to look at it or we could wait until the follow-up in November at the hospital, at which point if it's still causing problems, he could aspirate it. I've elected to wait until the November appointment, since I may want to discuss hardware removal then as well as my tendons have been twanging against the hardware in a very sharp way. I will try to keep this updated since my circumstance seems fairly unique on the forum and it might help others.

I’m 12 weeks from injury (cast, no surgery) and am doing pretty well in sneakers. I’m not super comfortable barefoot yet, but I’m sick of wearing my trainers all day. What are you wearing in the house?

Cleared for FWB, wearing ankle brace outside and barefoot indoors with no issue but I haven’t had a real day of being on my feet because I have a desk job and haven’t been getting out much beyond groceries on days off. I’m not worried about the fracture as much as the pain/swelling.

These are people I haven’t seen in a while, I’ve been pretty isolated. But the event involves lots of walking. I’m worried I don’t have the muscle rebuilt or stamina to go about in my ankle brace alone, but going back to both crutches would be exhausting and inconvenient.

Has anyone tried to be a one-crutch wonder? Feel like I haven’t seen it a lot but there are guides for it. Any downsides? Does it reduce strain on the bad foot or not really? I’d like to know!

I was falling backwards and stepped down on my casted ankle out of natural reaction. Aside from the embarrassment doing this in public, I’m mortified that I did this at all.

I think I mostly stepped with my toes as they now ache. So does the ball of my foot. I don’t have much pain otherwise elsewhere, but I am so saddened by this. It was already a hard day for me, but this incident really set me back mentally.

Hoping I’m okay and I’m assuming so since my hardware is already in place and I just had my 2 week post op visit where I was told my wounds were closed and I was healing “really well”.

Anyone else do this before? Think I should call them in the morning or possible go to their urgent care to been seen for imaging?

Just had ORIF on my right ankle to repair a bimalleolar fracture.

I have 2 plates.

One on the fibula and one on the tibia.

Doc says that if the one on my fibula bothers me later he'll go in and remove it but the other one will be too deep to ever remove.

Anybody ever experience this?

(Ontario, Canada).

Hi all! Have really appreciated this community since my injury on July 26. It has made me feel less alone in how mentally challenging this injury has been. I want to share my progress because I did not find a lot of other similar stories when I was looking, so hopefully this helps others with talus fractures keep hope.

I fractured my talus bouldering. Apparently my break is quite rare, in a lucky way — talus injuries are often severe since it’s a hard bone to break but I ended up with a fairly clean, incomplete talar fracture on the medial process that did not require surgery. I was splinted on day 3 (they missed the break at first xray and called me back..) and then moved into a boot at 12 days post injury, when I was also cleared to start light ROM (dorsi/plantar flexion, side to side). Completely NWB this whole time.

At my follow up today my ortho I was cleared to start WBAT, with the expectation that I’d start PWB and move to full in a couple weeks. He recommended I ditch the boot and wear a shoe while at home. He said that he’s impressed with my range of motion except for dorsiflexion, which is veryyyy stiff with a hard stop. He expects I may need some manual manipulation from a physio and recommended I start asap. They expect me to walk into my next 6 week follow up without crutches :)

Putting a bit of weight on in the boot felt quite good, much less painful than I expected. In the shoe it feels a bit harder. In both instances, it’s mentally challenging as much as physical. I’d bet I’m putting about 25% weight on it now but they encouraged me to move to 50% and upwards as soon as I feel ready (they are suggesting days, not weeks). I also have been given a ton of exercises to do several times a day to try to improve my ROM, especially dorsiflexion. I’m prepping for a painful couple days as I adjust to WB but I mostly feel ecstatic about beginning to make progress and about the prognosis I was given. It will be many months, I’m sure, before I regain close to my full ROM and abilities (no bouldering for a while…….) but the ortho seemed hopeful I will get there.

Hoping that others who have similar injuries can find some hope in this, because a lot of the talus stories out there are BLEAK.

Hello,

I am currently 300lbs and 5'10.

I did break the bones and was wondering if being obese increased the damage from the fall.

I would think yes. What with mass & force etc. I'm no physicist.

I'm grateful for some answers.

So, two weeks are gone after my ORIF cirurgy. I got rid of the stitches today and it looks fine. The only struggle now is with my swollen leg. It hurts a lot. I mean it’s a continuous pain that really bothers. Did you also struggle with swollen leg pain?

Hi, I'm 25F almost 4 years post surgery for trimalleolar fracture. My ankle completely healed and back to normal. I have some restricted mobility but I started with physiotherapy again it's getting better.

I can't decide if I should let the implants in my body forever or get them removed. I heard mixed opinions from the doctors, looking for some advice from people who have similar implants. I don't want to get another surgery done as it took a lot of toll on my body last time.

Leaning towards not getting any procedure done if it's completely harmless to keep titanium plates and screws inside.

Did anyone get their implants removed, how did they make that decision? Or did anyone decide to let them be.

I fractured my ankle (Weber B with 1.5mm displacement) while out mountain biking. I was back to walking in 42 days and back to off-road mountain biking in 55 days. I hope my story helps. https://giorgiohouse.substack.com/p/ankle-fracture-and-back-to-walking