Have I made my broken heel worse by stepping on it?
Discussion
I had a crash about 6 weeks ago and broke my heel (bad leg), and hurt my knee ligaments (good leg). I just tried to transfer into my wheelchair and the knee in my good leg decided to buckle, and I ended up stepping on my foot with the fractured heel rather heavily to avoid falling head first into stuff.
The heel doesn't hurt (but then it didn't really when I broke it) but the ankle feels a bit funny (I guess the muscles are a bit atrophied). Any ideas how much risk of re-breaking the bone there is?
The heel doesn't hurt (but then it didn't really when I broke it) but the ankle feels a bit funny (I guess the muscles are a bit atrophied). Any ideas how much risk of re-breaking the bone there is?
tting a brick when it happens though. 
I know how you feel I badly broke my Fibia and Tibia earlier this year and now have a metal rod from my ankle to my knee.
Prepare to feel paranoid about damaging it for a very long time.
Have they given you a removable cast so that you could exercise your ankle joint? I found gaining flexibility in my ankle and building up my confidence to put weight down the two biggest barriers to recovery.
Prepare to feel paranoid about damaging it for a very long time.
Have they given you a removable cast so that you could exercise your ankle joint? I found gaining flexibility in my ankle and building up my confidence to put weight down the two biggest barriers to recovery.
If you've broken the Calcaneous bone then I'm surprised they have restricted your movement. I split mine down the centre 10 years ago, had it plastered for four days and then had the plaster removed because of the immense swelling.
The general census on these breaks is that the more your move the ankle and foot and keep it mobile the better it will heal. I had daily physio on my ankle and heel after day four for several weeks and was able to walk with aid from week seven.
I'm surprised you say it didn't hurt when you broke it? I was in horrendous pain when I broke mine and my foot swelled more than double and was totally black.
10 years on - still ALOT of problems with the heel, can only stand on it for very short periods of time, swells regularly and goes black on its own accord. About to start another course of deep joint injections to ease the pain, and if that doesn't work / stop working then I will have to have the heel joint fused. Have fun, I'm under one of the top foot surgeons in the UK and he says's it one of the worse bones to break and swines to heel properly.
The general census on these breaks is that the more your move the ankle and foot and keep it mobile the better it will heal. I had daily physio on my ankle and heel after day four for several weeks and was able to walk with aid from week seven.
I'm surprised you say it didn't hurt when you broke it? I was in horrendous pain when I broke mine and my foot swelled more than double and was totally black.
10 years on - still ALOT of problems with the heel, can only stand on it for very short periods of time, swells regularly and goes black on its own accord. About to start another course of deep joint injections to ease the pain, and if that doesn't work / stop working then I will have to have the heel joint fused. Have fun, I'm under one of the top foot surgeons in the UK and he says's it one of the worse bones to break and swines to heel properly.
if it didn't hurt when you put weight on it you hopefully will be okay.
everyones breaks are different though - my wife shattered her heel(calcaneus) a few years ago and is just getting back to normal now (ie wearing heels etc) but she still has soreness and swelling on occasion , and she'll never be able to run a marathon......
but hers was a particularly bad break (just little bits of bone left really) she has a titanium plate and 8 or 9 screws holding everything together..
fell off step ladders a height of about 5 foot .
to the poster above tho' I believe it is usual to immobilise the break by drilling/pinning foot and shin with a brace to stop any movement of the heel
everyones breaks are different though - my wife shattered her heel(calcaneus) a few years ago and is just getting back to normal now (ie wearing heels etc) but she still has soreness and swelling on occasion , and she'll never be able to run a marathon......
but hers was a particularly bad break (just little bits of bone left really) she has a titanium plate and 8 or 9 screws holding everything together..
fell off step ladders a height of about 5 foot .
to the poster above tho' I believe it is usual to immobilise the break by drilling/pinning foot and shin with a brace to stop any movement of the heel
Granville said:
If you've broken the Calcaneous bone then I'm surprised they have restricted your movement. I split mine down the centre 10 years ago, had it plastered for four days and then had the plaster removed because of the immense swelling.
The general census on these breaks is that the more your move the ankle and foot and keep it mobile the better it will heal. I had daily physio on my ankle and heel after day four for several weeks and was able to walk with aid from week seven.
I'm surprised you say it didn't hurt when you broke it? I was in horrendous pain when I broke mine and my foot swelled more than double and was totally black.
10 years on - still ALOT of problems with the heel, can only stand on it for very short periods of time, swells regularly and goes black on its own accord. About to start another course of deep joint injections to ease the pain, and if that doesn't work / stop working then I will have to have the heel joint fused. Have fun, I'm under one of the top foot surgeons in the UK and he says's it one of the worse bones to break and swines to heel properly.
Tbh I'm more surprised they didn't immobilise yours as fractures need stability to heel, so unless it's pinned or very stable you'd expect a spell in plaster.The general census on these breaks is that the more your move the ankle and foot and keep it mobile the better it will heal. I had daily physio on my ankle and heel after day four for several weeks and was able to walk with aid from week seven.
I'm surprised you say it didn't hurt when you broke it? I was in horrendous pain when I broke mine and my foot swelled more than double and was totally black.
10 years on - still ALOT of problems with the heel, can only stand on it for very short periods of time, swells regularly and goes black on its own accord. About to start another course of deep joint injections to ease the pain, and if that doesn't work / stop working then I will have to have the heel joint fused. Have fun, I'm under one of the top foot surgeons in the UK and he says's it one of the worse bones to break and swines to heel properly.
They are buggers for swelling though. I had 2 days in hospital to let the swelling subside (and iirc they were concerned about clots) and 6 weeks in plaster. Thankfully it wasn't bad enough to need pinning and, although a couple of fractures involved joint lines so I can expect some arthritis, it's 20 odd years ago now and so far it's fine.
Granville said:
If you've broken the Calcaneous bone then I'm surprised they have restricted your movement. I split mine down the centre 10 years ago, had it plastered for four days and then had the plaster removed because of the immense swelling.
The general census on these breaks is that the more your move the ankle and foot and keep it mobile the better it will heal. I had daily physio on my ankle and heel after day four for several weeks and was able to walk with aid from week seven.
I'm surprised you say it didn't hurt when you broke it? I was in horrendous pain when I broke mine and my foot swelled more than double and was totally black.
10 years on - still ALOT of problems with the heel, can only stand on it for very short periods of time, swells regularly and goes black on its own accord. About to start another course of deep joint injections to ease the pain, and if that doesn't work / stop working then I will have to have the heel joint fused. Have fun, I'm under one of the top foot surgeons in the UK and he says's it one of the worse bones to break and swines to heel properly.
Possibly the advice on it changed in the intervening period. I also was surprised that it's not hurt much; as one does, I read around the internet about it and most people said they were in utter agony. I guess I was just lucky. It did swell up a lot around the break but started to go down quite quickly - Even after a couple of days of being in plaster the cast was really loose. The general census on these breaks is that the more your move the ankle and foot and keep it mobile the better it will heal. I had daily physio on my ankle and heel after day four for several weeks and was able to walk with aid from week seven.
I'm surprised you say it didn't hurt when you broke it? I was in horrendous pain when I broke mine and my foot swelled more than double and was totally black.
10 years on - still ALOT of problems with the heel, can only stand on it for very short periods of time, swells regularly and goes black on its own accord. About to start another course of deep joint injections to ease the pain, and if that doesn't work / stop working then I will have to have the heel joint fused. Have fun, I'm under one of the top foot surgeons in the UK and he says's it one of the worse bones to break and swines to heel properly.
What's really hurting is the medial ligament in the knee of my other leg, but that's a whole other story.
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