Weber-C ... Wot no Physio?

Hi All,

I'm recovering from a Weber C Fracture of the right ankle ... I never thought such a little bone could cause so much trouble...

I have an ORIF and I think they did a really good job in Austria where I broke it in early Jan .... seems a shame to have to take it out again :o)

Now I have the aircast off and am hobbling around on crutches trying to avoid too much weightbearing as I have been told - the Fracture clinic tell me they don't think I need any physio "as the walking around is good enough"..

can this be right?

please can someone give me a bit of guidance here?

many thanks

J

Weber C Fracture

The Weber classification is used to determine the severity of tibiofibular ligament injury by the level of fibular fracture. The Weber C fracture consists of a proximal fracture of the fibula and a transverse fracture of the medial malleolus (or an intact malleolus and a ruptured deltoid ligament). This results in complete disruption of the tibiofibular ligament complex and is from pronation-lateral rotation injury.

IN terms of Treatment you should understand that in order to sustain this injury other structures, e.g. ligaments, would have been disrupted as well. This is going to take a lot of rehab to get you bodies positional senses back in tune. If you are a sports person it is a must. If you plan on playing golf, driven via a buggy, for the rest of life then perhaps you don't require the rehab as much :)

I'd get in and see someone asap to get you on track and then a lot of the work you can do on your own.

Thanks very much Physiobob, I suspected as much, but you have really put it in context for me...

I should have known when the NHS consultant laughed at the special semi-adhesive bandage that the Austrians had beautifully wrapped my leg in after the injury and his astonishment at the fact they had done an MRI to evaluate the damage to the soft tissues at all... not to mention the look my Aircast got <G>

It was indeed a pronation-lateral rotation injury although the malleolus is intact, so the deltoid ligament must have ben ruptured - I do Tae Kwon Do, so need to be back to as near normal as possible

really appreciate your help - thanks

all the best

J :)

similar injury my doc said 5 month of physio.

Hi. I had a weber c fracture in march last year. I was walking and slipped on a muddy hillside. I was in plaster for 6-7 weeks. Then on a moon boot after that. I was referred to a physio and given a few exercises to do to regain strength and get a range of movement back in my ankle as well as retrain my leg to be able to regain balance (proprioception) . I haven't done much exercise tho to be honest. I was off work for six month as I have an active manual job where I'm on my feet all day long, climbing ladders. I don't have any pain in day to day use and I've been working now for 6 months. I can do hillwalking etc but when I try running my ankle feels tired and achy so I don't do it much. The exercises I was given were to practice pulling your foot towards you with a belt or towel or and away from you by using a belt tied around a table leg etc, also he said to try standing facing a wall with your toes about an inch from the wall and slowly leaning your knee towards the wall and seeing how close to the wall you can get, whilst trying to keep your foot flat on th floor. Also he said to try side to side movement. He said you can learn to regain your balance again by trying standing on one leg (once able) for a short period of time for instance while waiting for a kettle to boil. It was very slow and gentle progression though and he said you can't rush it.