Broken Ankle Question

I broke my ankle (a small bone in my ankle) two and a half years ago in the summer, so it was considered a minor break and it was extremely painful. I was off of my feet for the most part (bathroom only) for almost a week and another two-three weeks on crutches after that. (The first week on crutches, my foot in cast didn't touch the ground, then the second week on crutches my foot started touching the ground.) My cast was a removable one, so I didn't sleep with it on, which was great.

One of the hardest things about having a broken ankle was trying to keep clean. I took baths, but it was hard to get in and out under my own power without putting a foot on the ground, and even once the healing had begun, I couldn't stand on one leg to take a shower. Finally we bought a little stool and my husband would help me get in and settled and then I could turn on the shower. I still remember how wonderful it felt to have the water falling down on my head.

I'm a teacher, and I broke my ankle in early August so I didn't have to go back to work for three weeks, but even then, I used a wheelchair at work, because I went between classrooms and there was a lot of walking that I had to do. So I used the wheelchair to do the long walks and then got out of the wheelchair and walked around each classroom. Then back in the wheelchair to go to the office/cafeteria/next classroom.

One last thing to note was that every time estimate my doctor gave for healing, my ankle took longer. You'll be putting weight on your foot in a week (took two weeks), off of crutches totally in two weeks (took 3-4) completely healed in 6 weeks (took 8 and my ankle still bothers me sometimes, like today)

Hope this helps,

txutxi

My sister shattered one of her ankles. It took almost three months and two surgeries before she was allowed to even think about putting weight on it.

We aren't close and she lives in another state, so I really only got snippets of it from her and my aunt.

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When I broke my ankle, I was given a 'boot' style of cast. It didn't have to be set, but as I understand it, this may differ according to the actual break, or bone that was broken. It didn't keep me from working - as a web designer. I'm sure it would depend on a person's job, though. My husband broke his kneecap/shin at a time when he was a service technician; he couldn't drive the company truck to get to job sites, anymore, and couldn't stand on his leg for long hours while fixing diesel engines, so his company moved him to a temporary position answering phones. Having a broken appendage worked out considerably less well for him than it did for me.

I wasn't given crutches for my broken ankle. I was given what is called a walking cast. It is a very sturdy boot type of thing with velcro straps. I got around pretty well after a day or two's learning curve, sometimes by pulling myself along the wall.

I was asked to stay off it, and prop it up at night. It didn't hurt all that much after the initial fall. I've heard it is much worse if the ankle has to be re-set; I got lucky and broke a minor bone called the fibula, which is a non weight-bearing bone and didn't need more intensive attention.

Excellent info, thanks ... the character whose ankle I'm breaking is a teacher, it so happens, so it is great to hear how it might affect her firsthand.

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I broke my ankle and had surgery to have a couple of screws inserted. After that I was in the hospital for a couple of days and then went home with a cast and crutches. I was in the cast for maybe 4 or 5 weeks (it was a long time ago, so some of the details are fuzzy). The hardest part, though, was when the cast came off and I found that because I my leg had been immobile for so long, it took me a long time to be able to walk again without crutches.

I broke my ankle in 3 places (I broke the little bone in the ankle and the bottom of the tibia in two places). I had to have surgery to get the tibia pinned together (and then again about 2 years later to get the pins out). After the surgery, I was on crutches for about a month and then started to phase off of the crutches (you know, like I would use the crutches but I would kind of 'walk' between them putting a small amount of weight on it for a couple of weeks, than I used one crutch, etc). Since I had the surgery, I actually didn't have a cast on, just bandaging over the incision. I know that sometimes they give you a cast to protect the leg (which I kind of wish that I had had), but I only had some bandaging over the incision. The other thing, as someone mentioned, is that once I was able to walk again I had to kind of 'teach' myself how to walk - the muscles in my leg were weak and didn't remember, so I had to think about how to walk. Also, because of the different motions, long after I walked normally if I tried to run I would have a large limp.

From the surgery, I have 2 scars (one on each side) that each run about 6 inches from above the heel, curving up over the ankle and onto my lower leg.

As the teacher, it would be a major pain in the ass. Teachers mostly stand up for the majority of the day, so that would be annoying, but it could be worked out (they could sit in the chair at the front and ask students to move things around, hang out papers, etc, for her). The other problem would be that students have to go various places throughout the day - lunch, specials, etc. Most schools are on more than one floor, and I can tell you that someone who broke their ankle (whether they had surgery or not) is not going to be going up and down stairs, particularly down, very easily for awhile. Depending on the age of the students, the teacher might be able to send them on their own, or maybe with younger students they could join another class (as generally classes from the same grade have the same schedule).
Also, the teacher would probably have to miss at least a couple of days - definitely if they have surgery. This means that they will have to be making subsitute plans, and when they get back they will have to reorganize the students with all of the upheaval.

My teacher broke his ankle in two places last year. He was supposed to be on pain meds, but when he took them they made him really loopy, and when he didn't take them he was a real jerk. He was in a wheelchair for a few weeks, then got a walking cast.

I broke my ankle playing hockey a couple of years ago. You've gotten some details on the varieties of healing so I'll also give you some additional details that you may not be aware of.

When I broek it (someone hooked my skate out behind me and then fell on my outstretched leg - hockey skate boots don't give). I felt a little pop and it hurt immediately, but not like excruciating. Bad but not, oh kill me or even "I'm going to cry". My teammates got me up and I thought maybe it was a sprain and I could skate on it but we decided probably best not to take a chance. They got my skates off for me and everything looked mostly fine. I figured I'd watch the game and have someone help me to my car later.

Abut 20 minutes after I broke it was when the pain kicked in. And it was bad. Probably worse because I was sitting on bleachers and had no place to prop it but it was uncontrollable tears (no sobbing, just I spontaneously cried) and it BURNED. I looked down and instead of my whole ankle and foot swelling up - you know like when you have a sprain? I had one little localized area, about 2-3 inches above the ankle ball joint thingy on the outside of my leg, that looked like someone jammed a golf ball into the side of my leg. I'd never broken a bone before but sprained many and ankle and that's when I knew something was broken.

Did you know, at least in some cases, that emergency rooms don't actually cast your broken ankles? Yeah I didn't either. I had a slightly displaced (the bones weren't lined up anymore) fracture but then just suck a half cast - a plaster piece that went along the bottom of my foot and up the back of my calf) on me, wrapped it up with an ace bandage, and gave me some numbers for orthopedic doctors.

Needless to say, without the break really supported it was incredibly difficult to sleep that night. The next morning I called around to the numbers my doc gave me and some of them were like "Oh you broke your leg? We can get you an appt to get that set and casted in about 2 weeks." TWO WEEKS! I finally, thankfully, found someone who could get me in that day.

My cast was on for about 6 weeks. I had the "walking cast" which, if you don't know, if a regular plaster, non-removable cast with a rubber nub on the bottom of it to abosorb shock and provide a surface for traction as well as a rounded surface so it makes it easier to walk. However they did give me crutches which I used for about a day an a half and got annoyed with them.

I broke it on a Thursday night. Ended up taking Friday off work to get the cast stuff taken care of and I think I actually went back to work Monday or Tues. I have a sit down job though so that wasn't an issue. Getting on public transit was a bit of a pain in the butt though.

Other random thoughts - you always hear about casts itching, and they do. What you hear less about is you can see your leg shrinking. You think at first it's the padding in the cast compressing and that's part of it, but over the course of six weeks you can see bigger and bigger gaps between your leg and the cast and it's not all the padding's fault.

I also coulldn't take baths. I ended up sitting in the tub with my cast hanging out the side and the shower curtain draped over it and I'd turn on my shower and just do my best (I didn't have one of those handheld heads, just tried to get under it from it's standard 6' height or whatever)

Oh one more thing about itching - it's not just your skin that itches. My break itched too. I used to pound my heel on the ground or if I had my feet propped up, on like the couch arm or something to stop it from itching.

Hope some of this random assortment of information helps in some way :-)

Edit to add - Pain meds - they gave me 800mg motrin and vicodin. I don't like the way vicodin makes me feel so I just stuck with the motrin and was fine. Once it was stabilized and the cast was on it, it hurt but not that bad. When the cast wasn't it on it hurt like crazy every time I moved it or even had the covers drape wrong over my foot that first night.

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I was diagnosed with a stress fracture, and ended up in a boot cast and used one of these to get around. Knee Walkers are the best thing ever invented, and I don't know what I would have done without it. It's much easier to maneuver than a wheelchair, and I was able to get it in and out of my trunk by myself without putting my foot down. Insurance covered the rental, though I found out that the policy has changed and they probably wouldn't cover it now.

Of course, it turned out that I have a benign bone tumor in my ankle and there was never a fracture, but that's neither here nor there.

Look for an older thread with this same question that has a lot of answers, too.