Ankle still broken after 7 months

Hi everyone,

I am brand new here, so I hope I am posting this in the correct place. This may get a little lengthy, so please bare with me and thank you for your patience.

On January 12, 2009, I stepped into a pot hole in a parking lot, fell and twisted my ankle. This is the 3rd time in 3 years I had fallen and injured the same one (left). This time, I had a minimally displaced lateral malleolus fracture. I went to an orthopedist, and he said it wasn't bad enough for a cast, placed a lace-up splint on me and sent me home. I was not able to go back due to no insurance, and no more money to go see him.

Fast forward to now. I had been having pain out of both my ankle, heel and where my Achilles tendon is located. So I went to the ER where I went before to have the X-rays redone. The news wasn't good. My fracture has not healed at all, and the NP who was attending in the ER said that there is nothing anyone can do for me to make it heal. I guess she saw the look on my face when she said that, then said, "Well don't take my word for it, go see a specialist."

So I have obtained both my x-rays from January, and the ones done this past Friday. I just tried to attach the links to where I have the x-ray images stored, but it won't let me because I'm so new here.

Has anyone had similar experience? I can't believe that I will have to endure this annoying pain for the rest of my life. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Hmm, I feel sorry for you. Injuring the same ankle three times must be tough to deal with. All I can recommend is to try different specialists because 7 months is a long period for an ankle to be broken.

there are several reasons why the fracture would not heal - too much weight bearing on the leg, heavy smoker/drinker/or uncontrolled diabetic. if any of these apply you should try to fix them.

how old are you? general health? other problems?

sometimes they give people bone stimulators to place over the area which can promote healing of fractures. there are new pulsed ultrasound devices that are also used. basically they strap it onto the spot and let it send out micro pulses of ultrasound to stimulate healing. research is mixed on some of these techniques. also, if the bone has shifted away from its original spot it may not heal properly regardless of what you do because it is not in place any more. even if it didn't need a cast or surgery before it might now.

furthermore, the lateral malleolus isn't a weight bearing bone and often times its healing is necessary. in fact, if a surgeon needs to take bone for another sight they take it from that bone but they do so higher up.

at this point the pain could be from the actual fracture or other things going on as a result of time passed since the fracture. are the nature and location of the pain the same as when it happened? same sharpness, depth, etc?

where do you live?

steve