Displaced lateral malleolus fracture surgery

[pudding_bowl]

Brilliant. Thanks for the reply. Don't you love the big arrows on your ankle so they don't get wrong one :P

[mnob07]

If you have any updated information on your condition, can you please provide it? including information, recovery time, treatment, anything else about your initial injury.

I have recently fractured my lateral mallelous. It was an avulsion fracture (ligament tore piece of the bone off) so it sounds similar to your original injury. It came from a very bad twist of the ankle (running and jumping, landing poorly)

It's hard to keep off it completely because there is little pain and my lifestyle is filled with moving around a lot. The first x-rays (that I've seen) were one week from injury and the bone was just about where it was supposed to be. the next week, it was a bit displaced (I do not know how far but it looked a little lopsided) however "nothing to worry about" according to the doctor. It's been another two weeks since then will not see another xray until I get the cast off next week, then I have the choice of a walking boot (which I desperately want but healing comes first).

It's been 4 weeks since the injury and I've had little pain, just a little soreness at the site of fracture (and in the ligaments around it) but only occasionally do I feel any soreness there and I have full feeling and control of toes/etc.

I'm very concerned about it healing properly though, my doctor said the bone will probably "scar into place" and not cause any problems; he is more concerned about the ligament (although he did not run any tests or anything to see how the ligaments are doing or if they're injured). But what does the piece of bone scar to if not in the original spot? I feel I'll probably have problems 10 years from now and just trying to learn anything I can about this kind of injury (anyone else can chime in too!)

[bigalrobbo]

Hi there,
I originally "broke" my ankle in a very similar way to you by the sounds of it. Landing full weight with my foot not squarely planted on the floor. Ankle rolled and the ligament snapped the tip of the bone off. I couldnt possibly comment on the fact your doctor has said "the bone will probably scar into place" but I can speak of my own experience. My ligaments were intact and still attached to the piece of broken off bone and thats the way it stayed for over 10 years from the time of the original injury. I had a cast on for 6 weeks all those years ago and the bone definately did not "scar" back into position.
My surgeon recommendeed removeing this piece of loose bone due to the fact that it would be too tricky to re-attach. Ligament now held in place with bone anchors (which I can feel under my skin!!)
Its been around 7 months since my surgery. I had 2 physio sessions where I was shown stretching exercises and left to crack-on on my own. Ive been doing the exercises and the ankle was feeling fine - strong - no pain. I've been mountain biking heavily for the last 3 months and I have started to get a little soreness around the ankle but my surgeon said I should allow 6 months for full recovery. I have my last follow up consultation on Thursday, so Ill post again to let you know what is said.

I would definately ask your surgeon to make sure that the bone re-attaches itself - otherwise you will be in exactly the same situation as I was. An ankle injury not properly healed and progressively getting worse over time. Hopefully the cast will have held the bone in a position where it starts to heal itself.

I would use the walking boot. The one I had was not very restrictive and definately gave me confidence back when walking around again worrying if I was going to roll my ankle.

Let me know how you get on.

[mnob07]

It's really great to hear from someone that has been in a similar position! thank you for your reply.

My doctor did say the bone will scar in but not necessarily where it was before (he did say there would be a very low chance of it actually attaching to exactly where it was before). His aspiration for the injury was a little confusing to me because I don't know where else it would scar to... he didn't talk about prior experience seeing the type of injury and he dismissed surgery (which to me sounds inevitable).

It is a bit uncomfortable knowing that this injury is not going to heal properly. And that I will be performing physical activities such as running, weight lifting (e.g. squats), rock climbing, sports, (this list goes on), with an injured ankle. I don't really understand how the mechanics/stability of the foot is compromised but the thought of having a loose piece of bone makes me squeamish. Upon me asking, my doctor tried to explain the mechanics of the ankle relative to this bone/ligament but mostly to convince me to stay off of it (because applying pressure to the foot could shift the bone).

I will definitely update with how my injury heals, next week and when I get out of the walking boot at least. Then if there is any problem or lack there of later. I found this post when searching for my specific fracture and I imagine others will find this in the same way.

So for 10 years you had this loose bone? And you were able to perform at your regular activities such as biking/football? It wasn't until some years later that it was aggravated again... was this due to cruciate reconstruction surgery or the stress from some other activity? Did the bone get further displaced or broke free of whatever connective tissue it healed to (or what else caused pain/discomfort to return)?