Fibula ORIF, Ligament damage?

After having a Fibula ORIF on October 4th 2009, I am now into week 6 of my recovery. I was given a walking sandle after week 2 but was told to only partially weight bear using crutches. The problem thats worrying me is that when trying to bend my foot back towards myself, I feel some pain in my ankle ligament. If you imagine your right foot and bend it backwards, it is first ligament on the front of the ankle on the left.

When I broke my fibula, my ankle did feel really unstable and really really week. flopsy is a good word for it. I had to have it realigned before I went in for the orif. Is this normal to have some pain on week 6 or am i just worrying over nothing?

I have attatched my xray post surgery. Thanks

When you bend the foot backwards yourself do you mean using your a hand to do the movement or just using your muscles without any assistance?

I am still in a fibre glass cast with 5 days till it comes off hopefully. I am trying to pull my foot back without any force just by using the muscle. Obviously my cast is stopping my foot being pulled back all the way but I can still feels some pain in that ligament. It does worry me as I was an active football player before the injury. When the injury occurred, My ankle just felt so weak and just flopped about like it was loose making me think that I had snapped my ligaments. There was some immediate bruising aswell after about 1hr around the injury. I just hope that it is healing ok and that the pain in that particular ligament is normal after 5 1/2 weeks.

hi friend
as per you description they might have been some lig damage .once your lg is out of cast,you will be able to really appreciate the movement quality and associated pain more clearly.then based on what you feel,you can talk with your doc.hope it makes some sense

Hi, Thanks for both your replies. Having done a bit of research, I feel as though it may not be ligament pain and instead pain from the tibialis anterior tendon or one close by to that particular tendon. Hope it helps. Thanks once again

Yes You are probably right. It sounds like the tibialis anterior tendon or the extensor digitorum tendon ( the muscle the pullse your toes back and also pulls the ankle back along with the tib ant muscle). or both may have got bound down near the fracture site, or is rubbing against the fracture site or possible a bit of metal. there are sheaths that lubricate these tendons as tehy cross the ankle joint. sometimes they can get irritated or bound down for much the same reason. If it is one of these problems the physio can help mobilise the tendon once you have the cast off.

The other much less likely possibility is that if the fracture site hasn't united and you are moving the fracture site when you contract your muscles. This is much less likely but can't be ruled out as it is a much more serious problem. I suggest you talk it over with your physio or surgeon when you get the cast off.

All the best with your rehab

It's not uncommon for you to have these kinds of pain while your still in your cast. People will often get similar pains once their cast is off and they have to start using the ankle again. I agree with gcoe that you should wait till your cast is off and take it as it comes with advice from physio and surgeon