u/amiti3

broke my ankle ice skating early this year and honestly Reddit helped me a lot when I was panicking BUT also made me panic a lot, so here’s my timeline / some niche advice for anyone going through the same thing.

Everyones experience / progress is different - i had one of the “simplest” fractures possible - only one bone and it’s the fibula

stats: 21/22 year old female, bmi and body fat in healthy range (underrated factor in your healing process)

ORIF surgery (plate + screws + lag screw fixing distal fibula)

• First 2/3 weeks – plaster/cast, non-weight bearing, leg up ALL DAY! had HORRIBLE nerve / zap sensations this which i thought would last forever (saw so many scary reddit posts)

• cast removed after 2w6d, moved to boot, told partial weight bearing (but didn’t since i was scared). nerve pain almost immediately dissipated and completely stopped after 24h - my nerve pain was entirely from the pressure of the cast

FAW

• Around 4 weeks post-op – surgeon said repair looked excellent, alignment was good, scar healing well, and I needed proper physio + to start progressing to full weight bearing in boot ASAP - for simpler injuries, there r 0 concerns about any sort of further damage / risk of early weight bearing at all

• i don’t remember the exact timeline but from 4.5 weeks post-op to 9 weeks post-op, i progressed from 2 crutches in a CAM /air boot to no crutches FWB
• i started pushing myself by standing up barefoot and shifting weight side to side from week 5.5 which i think really helped me progress quicker
• my physio took me immediately from boot with crutches to barefoot - NOT sneakers with crutches - was painful and scary at first but i think it forced by foot to wake up again much quicker - lots of reddit threads scared me about this but it’s okay to go barefoot early!
• i got a second opinion, and she said sleeping with the boot was not necessary. pls ask your surgeon about this specifically - it depends on how plantar flexed your foot is after surgery. 
• for 8 weeks after surgery, i had to sleep with a special heel cushion because the pressure on my heel was very uncomfortable at night  - aside from that sleeping was fine 
• i began to sleep on my side at 7 weeks (not the side of the fracture) - i think i could’ve started earlier, but pls err on the side of caution
• within week 9 alone, i went from still heavily needing one crutch to being able to take stairs without crutches, turn with no issues, and begin to function as normal. things happen MUCH quicker than you may think - lot of reddit threads scared me about my ability to take the stairs being hampered for months, but it was solved within 3 days of practice 
• another thing i saw a lot that worried me but never happened is struggling to put on shoes or socks - the first 3-5 days in the boot socks were a major struggle to put on, and normal ankle socks caused serious swelling. the main solution to this is a) using tubular bandages - the ones for knees so it’s looser and b) being patient. after max 5 days of doing this, socks became a non-issue
• similar to above, i heard that with a lateral malleolus fracture, shoes can be uncomfortable after - but so far i have experienced minimal discomfort wearing my running shoes - but i can’t say it’s 0. prob 2-3/10 discomfort MAX but usually 1/10
• my foot clicked every time i stepped when i started FWB - it solved itself over time and was nothing to worry about at all
• i still limp, yet to understand the cause of this 
• running: i’m cleared to run at 12 weeks, but i have no plans to - you don’t always have to wait 6 months
• appointments - i see a lot of people on reddit have appointments at 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year - my doctors all said that as of now, 2.5 months after, they don’t see any need for me to have to follow up about this injury again unless i seriously mess things up - i would like to but i probably won’t 
• by week 9.5, swelling is already very minimal, especially in the mornings. most of my foot looks identical now apart from around my ligaments and the ankle joint 
• weight gain / muscle loss: my weight has stayed almost constant, i think it changed by 0.5kg overall - BUT my left leg is much softer than my right, so overall my body fat % has definitely gone up. 
• diet and regimen: i avoided sugar during this time since it causes inflammation (but i still had donuts and cookies from time to time) - also ate extremely high protein - casein and whey multiple times a day, low fat ground beef 3x a day etc. took collagen powder (applied nutrition), vitamin d 2000 iu, calcium 1000mg, iron etc - get good quality supplements that are formulated well
• exercise - i was told to start cycling on a stationary bike from week 5.5 by the physio. and by week 8, i was doing home workouts on youtube. 
• my surgeon told me that i can use the smith machine at the gym from now - static load doesn’t matter at all

What helped:

• Physio once a week - really good for pushing yourself beyond what you think is possible. But most progress does happen at home - i don’t think twice is needed

• Daily ankle mobility (especially dorsiflexion + side to side)

• Scar massage - again, be careful with timing but this helps soften the tissue - at first i was so scared because i didn’t want to dislodge the metal, or even feel it 

broke my ankle ice skating early this year and honestly Reddit helped me a lot when I was panicking BUT also made me panic a lot, so here’s my timeline / some niche advice for anyone going through the same thing.

Everyones experience / progress is different - i had one of the “simplest” fractures possible - only one bone and it’s the fibula

stats: 21/22 year old female, bmi and body fat in healthy range (underrated factor in your healing process)

ORIF surgery (plate + screws + lag screw fixing distal fibula)

• First 2/3 weeks – plaster/cast, non-weight bearing, leg up ALL DAY! had HORRIBLE nerve / zap sensations this which i thought would last forever (saw so many scary reddit posts)

• cast removed after 2w6d, moved to boot, told partial weight bearing (but didn’t since i was scared). nerve pain almost immediately dissipated and completely stopped after 24h - my nerve pain was entirely from the pressure of the cast

FAW

• Around 4 weeks post-op – surgeon said repair looked excellent, alignment was good, scar healing well, and I needed proper physio + to start progressing to full weight bearing in boot ASAP - for simpler injuries, there r 0 concerns about any sort of further damage / risk of early weight bearing at all

• i don’t remember the exact timeline but from 4.5 weeks post-op to 9 weeks post-op, i progressed from 2 crutches in a CAM /air boot to no crutches FWB
• i started pushing myself by standing up barefoot and shifting weight side to side from week 5.5 which i think really helped me progress quicker
• my physio took me immediately from boot with crutches to barefoot - NOT sneakers with crutches - was painful and scary at first but i think it forced by foot to wake up again much quicker - lots of reddit threads scared me about this but it’s okay to go barefoot early!
• i got a second opinion, and she said sleeping with the boot was not necessary. pls ask your surgeon about this specifically - it depends on how plantar flexed your foot is after surgery. 
• for 8 weeks after surgery, i had to sleep with a special heel cushion because the pressure on my heel was very uncomfortable at night  - aside from that sleeping was fine 
• i began to sleep on my side at 7 weeks (not the side of the fracture) - i think i could’ve started earlier, but pls err on the side of caution
• within week 9 alone, i went from still heavily needing one crutch to being able to take stairs without crutches, turn with no issues, and begin to function as normal. things happen MUCH quicker than you may think - lot of reddit threads scared me about my ability to take the stairs being hampered for months, but it was solved within 3 days of practice 
• another thing i saw a lot that worried me but never happened is struggling to put on shoes or socks - the first 3-5 days in the boot socks were a major struggle to put on, and normal ankle socks caused serious swelling. the main solution to this is a) using tubular bandages - the ones for knees so it’s looser and b) being patient. after max 5 days of doing this, socks became a non-issue
• similar to above, i heard that with a lateral malleolus fracture, shoes can be uncomfortable after - but so far i have experienced minimal discomfort wearing my running shoes - but i can’t say it’s 0. prob 2-3/10 discomfort MAX but usually 1/10
• my foot clicked every time i stepped when i started FWB - it solved itself over time and was nothing to worry about at all
• i still limp, yet to understand the cause of this 
• running: i’m cleared to run at 12 weeks, but i have no plans to - you don’t always have to wait 6 months
• appointments - i see a lot of people on reddit have appointments at 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year - my doctors all said that as of now, 2.5 months after, they don’t see any need for me to have to follow up about this injury again unless i seriously mess things up - i would like to but i probably won’t 
• by week 9.5, swelling is already very minimal, especially in the mornings. most of my foot looks identical now apart from around my ligaments and the ankle joint 
• weight gain / muscle loss: my weight has stayed almost constant, i think it changed by 0.5kg overall - BUT my left leg is much softer than my right, so overall my body fat % has definitely gone up. 
• diet and regimen: i avoided sugar during this time since it causes inflammation (but i still had donuts and cookies from time to time) - also ate extremely high protein - casein and whey multiple times a day, low fat ground beef 3x a day etc. took collagen powder (applied nutrition), vitamin d 2000 iu, calcium 1000mg, iron etc - get good quality supplements that are formulated well
• exercise - i was told to start cycling on a stationary bike from week 5.5 by the physio. and by week 8, i was doing home workouts on youtube. 
• my surgeon told me that i can use the smith machine at the gym from now - static load doesn’t matter at all

What helped:

• Physio once a week - really good for pushing yourself beyond what you think is possible. But most progress does happen at home - i don’t think twice is needed

• Daily ankle mobility (especially dorsiflexion + side to side)

• Scar massage - again, be careful with timing but this helps soften the tissue - at first i was so scared because i didn’t want to dislodge the metal, or even feel it