Anybody Else Break Their Leg? How Long Did It Take To Heal?

[southern california guy]

I had no idea how easy it was to break your leg until I did it....

 

I was absentmindedly walking down a shallow ramp when I accidentally stepped off the edge.  I was wearing work boots with a soft thick rubber sole.  The soft rubber gripped the steep rough asphalt, off the side of the ramp, very well and I rolled my ankle...  Then I fell forward with my ankle rolled under me.  I kind of twisted around the rolled ankle and I heard a sound like breaking glass, and the next thing I knew I was on the ground.  

 

At first I thought that I had sprained my ankle.  But when I raised my leg up, from a sitting position, my foot just flopped over....  I had completely broken both the tibia and the fibula.  Somebody called an ambulance and I was taken to the hospital where I got surgery.  They opened up the tendon at the bottom of the knee and pounded a stainless steel rod down the center of my tibia -- connecting the broken pieces together.  And I spent the next 3 days in the hospital all drugged up on pain killers.

 

The first two weeks, at my parents house, were the worst because I could not sleep, and I had bizarre "dreams" at night -- if you could call them dreams.  They were more like hallucinations.  My doctor prescribed me Valium.  The Valium was great!  With the Valium I finally got sleep.  I heard that it could be addictive so I stopped it after 6 days.  However I continued to fall asleep just as easily once I stopped the Valium.  It was almost like it had reset my biorhythms or something.

 

Now it is going on 7 weeks since I broke my leg and my doctor has only given me the go ahead to use crutches and put fifty percent of my bodyweight on the broken leg.  I have another appointment to see him in 5 weeks.  I guess that the healing is a little slow because I had a spiral break of both my tibia and fibula.

 

Has anybody else had this happen?  Has anybody else gotten an intramedullary rod (nail) put into the bone?  I understand that titanium is stronger than stainless steel, however I also understand that the bone tends to heal to the titanium.  So with a titanium rod you don't have the option of getting the rod removed later -- like you do with a stainless steel.

 

How long did it take you to heal?  How do you feel now that you are healed?

 

 

 

PS  Apparently my work shoes with the soft very thick sole were partly to blame for the injured ankle and the broken leg.  A thinner harder sole would have slipped and I probably wouldn't have rolled my ankle.

[Anastasia13]

When I broke my toe, I did a little reading on broken bones. I read that it can take up to 9 months for a broken femur to heal. (My tail bone was largely healed in a few months, but continued to be sensitive to periods of pressure for several months later-so it was something under a year that it was totally back to normal.) For me, injuries seem to heal in stages and plateaus.

 

Remember to eat healthy. Continue to consume calcium, but more than the daily recommended amount will not help you heal faster. Also, get good rest-you may be tireder than usual for a short bit. You have live bone cells that are growing.

 

If you have tendon damage, you might benefit from collagen supplements. Not a miracle worker and some don't improve much, but some have benefited.

 

Anything else I would have to google, but I hope your recovery is swift and smooth.

[franciscanheart]

That sounds awful. Never done anything to my leg (except for knee injuries) so have no clue. Here's to a speedy recovery!

[PhuturePriest]

That was rather unpleasant to read. I've never broken anything before (Except possibly a toe, but I never went to the doctor for it), but I definitely plan to take good are of my bones from now on.

[southern california guy]

That sounds awful. Never done anything to my leg (except for knee injuries) so have no clue. Here's to a speedy recovery!

 

Thank you.  I don't think that my recovery will be very speedy but at least it is slow and sure.  In a couple of months I should be walking without crutches.  And unlike a knee injury a bone injury can be fully healed and as good as before the injury.  I can even get all of the metal hardware removed if I want to.

[Tufsoles]

It will take a year or more for a full recovery You will have bouts of pain from time to time. I do wish you a speedy recovery.

[CatherineM]

I've always torn things attached to my bones rather than the bone itself except for smaller bones in my hand and face. My brother Dail broke his leg in his late 40's and it took forever to heal. Playing raquet ball of all things. The weird dreams can be from the release of fat from the bone marrow into the bloodstream.

[southern california guy]

I've always torn things attached to my bones rather than the bone itself except for smaller bones in my hand and face. My brother Dail broke his leg in his late 40's and it took forever to heal. Playing raquet ball of all things. The weird dreams can be from the release of fat from the bone marrow into the bloodstream.

 

Maybe that was the cause of the strange "dreams".  They would start around midnight and last until around 4 am when I would finally come to my senses and realize that none of it was real.

 

In any case the Valium actually got rid of them.  I wish that I had taken it sooner.

[Church Militant]

:(

[God the Father]

Kevin Ware can sympathize

[southern california guy]

Kevin Ware can sympathize

I can sympathize with Kevin Ware too.  He should be playing basketball again in October.  

 

It has been about 2 months since I broke my leg and leg is starting to feel more normal again.  At first it seemed like it would be forever before I felt somewhat normal again.  I am not supposed to put full weight on it yet, but I can at least walk around with just one crutch and I can imagine being back to normal again.  Having to wait 3 - 5 months for it to heal seems like an eternity.  But soon it will just be a memory.

.

[dUSt]

Never have broke a leg, but people are always telling me to.

[southern california guy]

I went to the doctor today and he looked at my recent xrays and told me that my leg is healed enough to start walking on it and driving my car again.  Of course my leg is super weak but I am going to get physical therapy for a month then I can go back to work and a regular life! :bananarap:    LIfe is good  :yahoo:

[Spem in alium]

Glad you are making a good recovery! I'm sure that break would have been very painful. I hope you continue to improve.

[southern california guy]

Glad you are making a good recovery! I'm sure that break would have been very painful. I hope you continue to improve.

 

Thank you, I am doing well at this point.  In another 4 weeks I will be back at work.  At least I can walk and drive now.  It took me about 12 weeks to heal to this point.  So it has been a little bit of a slow process.