I dislocated my ankle and fractured my tibia, fibula and posterior malleolus (weber C) mid August 2017. The syndesmosis and deltoid were ruptured in the process. I had ORIF with plates and screws incl syndesmotic screws (2, I think).

I was fully non weight baring for the first 9 weeks, had to swing myself around on a walker and had a bad infection during that time which required a week of IV antibiotics followed by a few more weeks of oral (luckily a severe stitch abscess and nothing more sinister). Despite this all, pain was relatively low (except in the right knee and hip from taking all the weight for so long) and healing seemed to be going well.

I then went on to a moon boot for the next 3 or 4 weeks and in mid November was told to start weaning out of it. That's where all my trouble started. My ankle swells very quickly and I can't walk for long at all due to pain. Despite icing it frequently and elevating, the swelling is so bad I often can't even fit a sneaker or the moon boot on.

The pain is also excruciating. I've been taking 1600mg brufen and about 8000mg paracetamol daily for the last week or so at the physio's recommendation and it doesn't even touch sides. The pain is mainly in my left heel area, around the lower part of the inside of my left ankle and at the back of the ankle extending up the side of my fibula where a plate is. I also have a lot of pain in my right knee and hip for taking the weight for so long that just isn't improving and burning pain in my lower back.

I feel so deflated that this is happening. Is there anything I can do to improve my healing and ease the pain? What is the usual recovery time to full fitness for this sort of injury? I was hoping to be back at work and Taekwondo by now.

Similar Threads: