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| It looks like three spiral breaks in the tibia with the second segment from the top split longitudinally. It takes a while for bone tissue to regenerate between bone chunks the size of medium sized dog-biscuits. The fibia was also cleanly snapped. Front view on the left and side view on the right. |
I hope to hear that the tibia is sufficiently healed for me to start physical therapy. The accident was 8 weeks ago. I am 63, I don't smoke and am not diabetic. I am looking forward to being allowed to walk around and to start building up muscle.
My clinical self-assessment is that my left calf is as weak as water and that I do not have enough strength to walk in any way that is normal. Some of the muscle tissue was pulverized in the accident and it was debrided in surgery. I think elastic bands might be a good choice to strengthen the remaining muscles.
Both of my calves are also "tight" and would benefit from a program of static stretching.
I also believe that I am sufficiently healed to walk moderate distances while wearing the walking cast/boot with the assistance of a cane. That would allow me to stop the muscle loss everywhere else in my body. I consider a walk of sixty minutes to be "moderate" but opinions vary.
Oddly, the lower leg is still swollen by my ankle even though the imaging does not show any breaks that low.
Stay tuned!
We're rooting and praying for you.
ReplyDeleteI really feel for you Joe. Getting busted up is something we never plan on and it is really hard to deal with. My prayers are with you .---ken
ReplyDeleteIs your Ortho doc having you wear the TED socks?
ReplyDeleteI hated the things at first; until I got the hang of it, just putting them on left me in a sweat.
I found they gave a lot of all around support after knee replacement surgery, so I wore them through PT after I didn't really have to worry about throwing a clot anymore.
That is a nasty fracture.
Best wishes & prayers for a complete recovery!
CC
I had a double compound fracture of my fibula and tibia in a motorcycle accident in the '80s. Both broke very cleanly and took a long time to heal. My ankle area below the breaks looks swollen to this day. I can't forecast the weather, but it sure gets achy if I'm on my feet all day. I also lost some range of motion in my foot, which was something I had to learn to compensate for when taking flying lessons (rudder control). I'm about ½" shorter on one side because of the way the bones healed, which means if I get lost in the woods without a compass, I'll wander around in big, left-hand circles.
ReplyDeleteMarch 2020 I hyperextended my right calf. It's still larger & "tense". Had to go from size 11 to 12 barn boot. I'm going with "age doesn't heal like when we were young".
ReplyDeleteJerry
Continue to get well and I hope your recovery proceeds smoothly on the back of Good News.
ReplyDeleteIt is not uncommon to experience swelling around or even distal to an injury such as this, even weeks and months later, where soft tissue has been traumatized. especially later the same day or the next day after you have stressed the tissue again simply from exercising it.
ReplyDeleteas such, icing it is always appropriate and highly encouraged, even long after you think such therapy should not be necessary anymore. So I have been advised by multiple medical practitioners, including my podiatrist and by my chirooractic neuologist.