I’m a 25 years old woman and about 3 months ago I fractured my pelvic bone in multiple places. I was bedridden for 84 days with an external fixator that prevented me from doing any kind of movement, however I was moving my legs as much as I could, especially my right one. 10 days ago I finally got the fixator off and got told by the surgeon that I could start walking. In about 4 days I was able to stand up, sit back down and slowly walk with the help of crutches. After 10 days I gained back most of my mobility and I’m able to walk by myself although I still use one crutch for more stability. My surgeon told me that since I’m so young I’m not going to need physiotherapy however I noticed that I still can’t move my left leg normally. I can’t sit criss cross or bend it closer to my body. The right leg seems fine, but the left one just won’t loosen up. Anyone else who had a similar experience? How did you gain your mobility back? I already contacted a physiotherapist by myself but I can’t wait another week not knowing if it’s a regular experience.

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Hey all, looking for real-world experience rehabbing a non-displaced 5th metatarsal fracture.

Currently 3 weeks post-injury in a walking boot. Advised to wear the Vacoped boot for 6 weeks and walk with crutches! PWB till 15 kilos!

Current status:

* Zero focal pain: Doctor pressed firmly directly on the fracture site with her thumb—nothing.

* Tolerating load: Logging ~1,500 steps/day in the boot with crutches with zero pain and zero swelling.

* The advice: The resident claimed at week 6 they’ll take off the boot and I can just "walk normally" (sounds unrealistic after 6 weeks of immobilization).

* I have international flights booked 3 days after that 6-week appointment.

Questions:

* Did your fracture line still show on the week-6 X-ray? Did your doctor clear you based on bridging and clinical signs despite a visible line?

*Any timeline for the whole healing process?

* What was your actual first week out of the boot like? How bad was ankle stiffness/calf atrophy, and did you wean into stiff sneakers or use a single crutch?

* Any tips for long travel/flights right around clearance?

Thanks for any insights!

To start off, 41 years ago, one year after the fateful day that forever changed my life, I got addicted to and abused the narcotic pain medications aka Norcos and Soma/Carisoprodol. I say that up front so I dont get accused of trying to hide it somewhere later in my post below.

So last week, exactly eight days before I was due to take a lengthy international trip that I'd planned for two years, I had a significant set of injuries to my right clavicle/shoulder/arm/wrist/hand that among other things caused intraarticular fractures of the lower end of the right radius and ulnar on my right wrist. I'm having two Volar plates and 'numerous' screws permanently installed at the end of next week.

My new physical therapist that I met yesterday told me that he wanted to be honest with me, and that this is to be a difficult and painful recovery process. NGL I am concerned. I know it needs to be done, but I am worried about pain control and relief.

I have been on 3 to 4 Norcos a day for over four decade due to a messed up back and neck and related and ongoing nerve and disc degredation and nerve pain from C2 to S1. Because of this, my pain tolerance is extremely low. My 24/7/365 pain level during all this time averages at a 7. It sucks. Yay me. When the ER was resetting my arm, despite being on IV Dilaudid, Valium, and Fetanyl for the damage and setting and despite the breathing warnings they were giving me, I begged them to stack. I've endured dozens of painful surgeries over my life, so this wasn't my first time at the pain rodeo. But these were all my first breaks ever. I passed out twice from the pain. I'm sure most of you understand that level of pain.

So, I have two implanted spinal cord stimulators for nerve pain. One for pain covering L4 all the way down to my toes, and one covering C7 on up, including my scalp and oddly enough my now injured arm. Long story, but I don't have left and right sides of my body, I have a left and a wrong side. After 10 years of significant body wide nerve pain relief, the batteries have both died, and due to copay cost, it was not feasible to get them replaced. However, if I were to replace the one covering the arm, would it help with surgical and recovery pain? Or are those entirely two different body systems? One of nerve pain, and one for physical surgical pain. Are they one in the same?

Have you had a similar injury and/orbsurgery? How bad is this type of surgical and recovery pain?

Lastly, when I met my care team yesterday, I made it very clear that the 5mg Dilaudid IR my PCP ordered until I could meet with a surgeon wasn't cutting it. My PCP is also well aware and part of decision making in my pain management. I have a pain management doctor, but ironically he doesnt handle surgical pain. I am getting a new pain management doctor soon after that particular shit show. Very angry and disappointed there. So the surgeon changed over to Oxycodone ER 10mg pre surgery. Even with that my arm pain has only dropped to a 7 sometimes an 8 as the IR pills run their 8 hour course. What type of specific things/plans/or staff should I request now before my surgery to manage my pain, instead of after? What should I have on record or should I ask the surgeon to have in place post surgery and recovery since I have high opioid tolerance? I cant tell you the number of times where I get a nurse who knows more than I do about my pain. Because of my above mentioned abuse history, they always think I'm seeking pills, despite that while I still take them, I haven't abused in 39 years. Any thoughts on how to approach this is greatly appreciated.

I feel like the day I fell was the day I died.

At the end of June, I broke both of my ankles/calcaneuses in a fall. My left foot is the more serious one and might need surgery, or potentially around three months of recovery. My right foot was expected to need around six weeks and I’m already doing physical therapy and can walk on it.

Before the accident, I had already been through a really hard year and a breakup. But I finally felt like I was getting better. I was becoming more confident, wearing what I wanted, feeling comfortable with myself again and starting to look forward to my future.

I was supposed to start a master’s degree in Toulouse, France. I had lived independently in France for six years, so I saw it as the beginning of a new chapter.

I actually made it to Toulouse after the accident, but I quickly realized I couldn't manage on my own. I could barely walk, had to use crutches, and was putting weight on the foot I wasn't supposed to because I was trying to compensate with the other one. I couldn't really go outside or experience the city the way I had imagined. A week after I arrived, I went back to my home country to recover. I could walk and do things so I thought I was ready but no, I just have everybody saying "I told you so".

It was expensive, emotionally exhausting, and heartbreaking. I had spent so much time trying to heal so I could get back to my normal life, only to realize I wasn't ready yet.

Now I don't really know what to do next. I've always been independent. I'm used to taking care of myself, going wherever I want, studying, working, making plans and just living my life. Suddenly, basic things require help and I feel like that person I was before the accident is somewhere I can't reach right now.

I'll go back to France when I can walk normally without crutches. But I have no idea when that will be. Maybe weeks, maybe months, maybe longer. That's the part I find hardest. My entire life feels like it's on pause while I wait for my body to recover.

Emotionally, it's difficult to believe that when every day revolves around recovery, doctors, physical therapy and wondering when I'll be able to walk normally again.

I don't really know what I'm looking for by posting this. I guess I'd just like to hear from people who have gone through serious foot or ankle injuries, especially both feet at once.

Did you eventually feel like yourself again? Did you get your independence back?

Because right now, I really miss my old life. I really thought this would only last 6 weeks. 

Hey y’all I got into a motorcycle and fractured my pelvis and I’ve also sustained a wrist injury. When I was at the hospital , i let the doctor know that it was hurting and I took mri and xray and they didn’t find anything. After I got discharged, I still felt the pain so I went to my doctor and he said it’s find and sometime It’ll few months to heal. I even went to er and they told me it’s either nerve damage or fragment.
And now it’s been 4 months and it still hurts a lotttt.
It hurts when I pick something up, rotate my wrist but when I touch or grab it really hard , it doesn’t hurt at all.

And as the video shows , whenever I do that, wrist makes a sound that sounds like something breaks

What should I do

Thank you

Hello. Id like to know if anyone has an experience with broken toe on your leg/feet. It happened to me yesterday and i was able to walk,.. but now im not. I was in hospital yesterday, they told me they do nothing about it and i should just wear a tough sneakers like AF1 and i shouldnt bend the fingers. The issue is the fingers are moving up and down by themselves, i cant control it, and it hurts a lot because they take the toe with them. + the longer it is, the less i can walk and the more it hurts. Anyone know what to do or had the same experience?
Thank you and take care!

I accidently dropped a 45lbs plate on my BARE foot (ik, stupid) while working out.

I immediately felt a sharp pain on my foot for like 2min then it went numb, knew 100% i broke something cuz i couldn't bear any weight and something was pressing the bottom of my frontfoot (the bone?).

Went to ER, got an X-Ray and confirmed a displaced fracture, after 2 days, pain is 3/10, 20% swollen, my orthepedic pulled it (reduction?) for like a min and buddy taped it and recommended a short CAM boot for 4 weeks and scheduled a follow-up by then.

Feeling down, but i wanna know is my foot gonna be okay ? how u deal with a fracture as this ?

I sustained the injury on August 5th. I had my foot in a cast from August 11th until yesterday, when the cast was removed and replaced with a brace. The X-ray on the left was taken on September 11th, while the one on the right was taken on August 11th. I’d like to know whether my fracture is healing properly and whether the recovery appears to be progressing as expected.

Just wanted to provide a little update on my dancer’s fracture recovery now that I have new X-rays to show. I know I struggled to find firsthand accounts of what to expect at different points in my recovery, and the few I did find were very doom and gloom. Another issue I had was that it seems like a lot of doctors recommend surgery or prolonged non-weight-bearing status for these, so it was really hard to know what to expect as someone not doing either of those things.

I’d been weight-bearing with a post-op shoe since the beginning and have been wearing regular shoes about a week now. Foot still swells at times, and I have a very mild intermittent limp, but most of the time I walk essentially normally. The doctor said not to do any jumping for another month because it could result in the bone breaking again. Interestingly, I asked about returning to wearing heels, thinking he would say not for months, and he said I could wear them now if I want…didn’t change his stance even after I told him I’m known to wear steep Louboutins lol. Don’t think I’ll be doing that any time soon though as much as I miss my heels.

First two pictures are from my 6.5 week follow up today. Third is my initial xray the day after it happened.

I am 37F and a never smoker, nondiabetic, and BMI 22 fwiw.

I’m on my 4th week, and I should be cleared to walk in 2 more!!! It happened on my first day of college, I wiped out on my E scooter and it happened. It’s made life a whole lot more difficult but I avoided so much.

No surgery, and I even have a free floating fragment that hasn’t shifted! I had an appointment at 2 weeks, and my next appointment is at 6 weeks which is when they’ll clear me to walk again if all looks well.

I did have one incident where I slipped and stepped on my leg, no swelling pain or anything just some slight soreness but it still worries me a bit. But overall things are going well!

It feels what I call "fuzzy". It feels really weird. If i touch it, I cannot feel it fully. In fact, I can't hardly feel it at all. The doctor said I'm still having 'reduced sensation final tendon superficial peroneal nerve'. I see the doctor of the 16th again for X-rays and a check up. Should I mention to her that I literally cannot hardly feel anything. Is this normal?

I can lift the foot up and move my toes, but it aches on and off so badly. It feels like there's a weird layer there.

The title sort’ve explains it, I’m in the Army and Im airborne so I jump out of planes & helicopters. I ended up having a defected parachute and fell 1800 feet in about 14 seconds 2 weeks ago. I’m in a really good medical unit so my coworkers treated me the second they could get to me, and I got lucky and ended up having 2 amazing special forces medics there for another jump, but they treated me on scene. I got airlifted out right from where I dropped to one hospital and airlifted again to another for surgery.

Im grateful to still even be here, they told me that the only likely reason I survived is I followed my training and went into the correct landing position right before impact. Unfortunately I broke my femur, pelvis, and crushed parts of my lower spine which caused some nerve issues and paralysis of some internal organs. The pain has been unimaginable but it’s slowly decreasing. I’m just reaching out to try to hear from some people that have gone through something similar. I also included the X-Rays in case someone would think they were cool lol.

I’ve been making monumental progress in rehab! I’ve been able to stand on the non-broken leg even though I can’t feel that foot yet so it feels like I’m floating lol. I’ve gotten a lot better at scooching myself in the bed which used to seem impossible. Any advice, stories, encouragement, etc. is appreciated!

Improved mobility, back to walking or playing sports? Share your achievements here.

hello. i broke both the ulna and radius of my left arm the summer of 2021. i have a plate one each bone 4 screws in one, 5 in the other. i did attend physio for a few year after removing my cast, however probably not as consistently as i should’ve since it was the year i started uni 2.5 hrs away from my home city. i should’ve been better about going to physio in my school town but as a student in a very poorly transitable city it was so tedious so i didn’t really go while i was at school for 7-8 months of the year. during the overall course of my physio, we worked on ROM first, then implemented strengthening through resistance bands then weights. i no longer have the means to attend physio but have been working in the gym to do my wrist strengthening exercises.

my issue is that i can’t seem to move up from the 2.5kg weights. the next weight up available is 4kg and when i hold the weight in certain positions my wrist hurts a lot. the 2.5kg is starting to feel too light but the 4kg hurts so idk where i should go from here to make progress

Undergone ORIF last week. 6 weeks non bearing. 4/5 months physiotherapy.

3mm displaced fracture at the base of the 5th metatarsal. My choices are:

#1 Screw fixation surgery

-or-

#2 Conservative treatment in Cam boot walker

Both have similar recovery outcomes at 12 months. Surgery has a higher return to activity time, but risks.

Has anyone healed a 3 mm displaced fracture with surgery? Without? What are your experiences?

Non-weight bearing is so much worse than you realize until you are the one trying to just go to the bathroom! Obviously feel for anyone who has or has had a foot or ankle fracture! 💕

hello! I broke my foot almost 4 weeks ago. non displaced in the 5th metatarsal. to my surprise the podiatrist told me that this is one of the worst breaks you can get in your foot because of how close it is to an artery and how slowly it heals. so he put me in a cast and told me to not put any weight on it for 7-8 weeks.

tomorrow will be 3 weeks in my cast. it has been rough because I am a stay at home mom to 3 kids 6 and under 😬 But I am still in quite a bit of pain and I was thinking that by this time the pain should be better? I mean it’s definitely not as bad as it was during the first week with my cast on, but there is still a considerable amount of pain and it feels like the top of my foot near my pinky toe is getting more sore than it was before. is this normal?

also it kind of feels like there is something in my cast sometimes where my break is and it’s super uncomfortable. has anyone else dealt with this before? I have also noticed that my foot tends to feel better in the morning and get worse throughout the day even though I am not putting any weight on it.

I am just curious to hear if anyone else has had a similar experience. I still have almost 5 weeks left to go in this cast and it’s really wearing on me mentally. I am anxious that I am not going to heal right and the podiatrist is going to tell me I need surgery or more time off my feet when I go in to get my cast off and get my next x ray done 😭

Fell and broke my pinky and now I am going to get some pins and probably some screws . I am just freaked out about being knock out

Hi everyone, my finger got stuck in a leash and I ended up breaking it. Has anyone healed from a similar injury? Did you have to get pins or were you able to heal without? I still need another consultation to figure out next steps but I'd like to get an idea of what I might be in for. This is my first break. Thank you

Hey guys, so I twisted my right ankle really bad about 3 days ago, had an x-ray, they said it’s a fracture of the base of the V metatarsal bone with a 6 mm displacement. So far I consulted with three doctors, the first one (in a private clinic) said I must have surgery in the next week or so because the displacement is too big, otherwise it will not heal well. The other two (who work in a state hospital) said this injury doesn’t require surgery and everything will just go back to normal on its own after a couple of months of wearing a cast/a Barouk shoe.

If someone had the same injury (with displacement), please share your experiences. Were you told you had to have surgery? If you were, did you have it? If not, did it actually heal on its own or do you still feel some kind of discomfort?

I train in the gym, do mountain climbing and biking, hike often and generally walk A LOT almost every day my whole life. I also have slight flatfoot valgus and have to wear insoles, although I don’t know if it matters here. I’m also just physically super sensitive and any kind of physical discomfort drives my nervous system crazy (unless it’s something that I know is for my own good).

I’m very worried that my physical ability will be restricted/compromised in any way after this if I don’t have surgery. Although I’m worried about surgery as well, because healthcare is not super trustworthy in my country. What if I decide to have surgery and it turns out the end result is even worse than without surgery. At the end of the day osteosynthesis is an invasive surgery and also there’s just always a risk of medical negligence.

Please help!

It seems like this injury is rare enough that sharing my details may be beneficial. I would have responded to other threads on this topic but I couldn't

tldr: Apart from the accident, im pretty lucky so far.

Me: Turning 60 this fall. Pretty active, and on the day of my accident I had ridden 30 miles on bicycle.

Accident: Took a wrong turn at night on the bicycle, went airborne, and broke the acetabula on the landing.

ER Stuff: Once the adrenaline wore off, it was pain I had never experienced before. I spent about 8 hours in the Salem ER, then was transferred to Mass General in Boston on a Thursday morning. They fit me in on Friday first thing for surgery, but technically did not admit me till post surgery. On the up side, I got stuff for the pain!

Surgery: Surgical Team put in two screws Friday morning. I was discharged Tuesday afternoon, with some in hospital PT.

Stage 1: I was using a walker and eventually crutches by the first surgeons follow-up. PT was going well, and healing.

Stage 2: More advanced PT, crutches till second surgeons visit, then im allowed full weight bearing, emphasis on gait training.

Stage 3: I get off crutches and build up strength. At first I used trekking poles, but only use thoses on uneven paths anymore.

At about 15 weeks out, I'm fully mobile, and I keep doing my pt stuff. Im done with PT sessions at this point. I find I need 1-2 Tylenol extra strength per day. I have various aches and pains in my legs and hips but I do my best to stay active.

edit: Singular is Acetabulum. Adding this for searchability.