How long for a broken ankle to completely heal?
Feb 16, 2022 · In general, physical therapy for a broken ankle lasts about 6 to 8 weeks. Your personal experience with PT may be shorter or longer depending on your specific injury. Continuing your home exercise program is a component of your rehabilitation.
When can I Drive after recovering from a broken ankle?
It generally takes six to 10 weeks for a broken ankle to heal. Conditions like diabetes and nicotine use can slow the healing time significantly, potentially even doubling the amount of time it takes to heal from a broken ankle.
How long before you can drive after a broken ankle?
The typical broken or fractured ankle recovery time can be entirely dependent on how serious the break is, but in most cases this can last between 6 to 12 weeks. What type of fracture is suffered is separated according to which bone is damaged in the injury.
What is the healing process for a broken ankle?
How do you know if you have a sprained ankle or a fracture? Symptoms of a broken ankle include: Immediate and intense pain. Swelling. Bruises. Tenderness to touch. Inability to put weight on the injured foot. Deformity, especially if there is a dislocation as well as a fracture. How long does it take to recover from a sprained thumb?
How long does it take for a broken ankle to heal?
It can take a few more weeks before you’re walking around normally again. It generally takes 6-10 weeks for a broken ankle to heal. Conditions like diabetes and nicotine use can slow the healing time significantly, potentially even doubling the amount of time it takes to heal from a broken ankle.
How to recover from a broken ankle?
Broken Ankle Recovery Tips. During your recovery, remember to rest and elevate your ankle whenever possible. Gently move your toes and bend your knee regularly to prevent your muscles from getting stiff. As tempting as it is, try not to put anything down your cast to scratch an itch.
What is a broken ankle?
A broken ankle, also known as an ankle fracture, is one of the most common lower leg injuries. It can be very painful and needs to be seen by a medical professional as soon as possible because it may need treatment to heal properly. Walking on a broken ankle can make the injury worse so if in doubt, get it checked out.
What is the most common fracture of the ankle?
Any one of these bones can break. However, the most common ankle fracture is known as lateral malleolus, which occurs in the fibula, just above the ankle joint. This accounts for around 55% of all ankle fractures (2). Any one of these bones can break.
How to tell if your ankle is broken?
The most common symptom of a broken ankle is pain, which is usually immediate and intense. The pain may radiate up and down your leg and even down into your foot. Other symptoms of an ankle fracture or break are: Swelling at the ankle joint. Bruising, redness, or discoloration of any part of your lower leg.
Which bone is the thickest?
The tibia and fibula are the two long bones that run from your knee down to your ankle. The tibia, also known as the shinbone, is the weight-bearing bone and is the thicker and larger of the two. The fibula, or calf-bone, runs parallel and helps to stabilize the tibia.
Can you use crutches after ankle surgery?
Traditional crutches are easy to get hold of and relatively inexpensive. Many people use crutches after ankle surgery or while recovering from an ankle fracture. However, they are tiring to use and can cause pain in other parts of your body, particularly your arms and hands.
How long does it take to recover from a broken ankle?
How Long Is The Recovery Time For A Broken Ankle? The typical broken or fractured ankle recovery time can be entirely dependent on how serious the break is, but in most cases this can last between 6 to 12 weeks. What type of fracture is suffered is separated according to which bone is damaged in the injury.
How long does it take to heal a broken fibula?
A fractured or broken fibula of this type is referred to as a Lateral Malleolus Fracture and is the most common type of break. This break can take up to 6 weeks to recover without surgery, however the broken ankle recovery time after surgery can be up to 12 weeks in certain cases.
How to strengthen ankle joint?
After some time, and your ankle is load bearing, you could begin to implement exercises that introduce more weight and more specific movements to continue to build the strength of the joint as it heals. Some example exercises at this point include: 1 Sitting on a chair, with both feet on the ground, place your uninjured foot on top of the recovering foot, and try to lift the foot underneath. Use your top foot to prevent the lower foot from moving and provide something to push against. Repeat the movement by lifting up and down gently. 2 While sitting on the floor, attach a rubber exercise band to something solid, and hook it onto the toes of your injured foot. Move back far enough to create enough tension and begin to bend and straighten your ankle. 3 Sitting in a chair, cross you feet to press the outside of both feet together. Then press your feet together tightly and hold for 10 seconds.
What are the bones of the ankle?
The ankle joint is built of three main bones: the tibia, fibula and talus, and any fracture to these bones is considered a broken ankle. The symptoms of a fractured ankle a person may experience include pain in the ankle, swelling, and/or bruising to the area. In addition to this, the joint could be stiff and hard to move, ...
Can you get free medical care for a broken ankle?
If you have suffered from a fractured ankle, you could qualify for free medical care in you area with one of our experts. This could be confirmed within a matter of minutes by an expert from our team of advisors. For more information, contact The Health Experts today by clicking here or call us on 020 3870 4868.
What causes a broken ankle?
Among these are heavy impacts, such as jumping from a height, which could put high levels of strain on the tibia, fibula and talus bones and lead to a fracture.
How long does it take for a tibial fracture to heal?
This injury usually results in the bone being displaced and is usually treated with surgery. Depending on the success of the surgery, healing could take from 6 to 12 weeks.
How to heal a fractured ankle?
Exercises for ankle fracture rehabilitation may include: 1 Exercises for ankle range of motion 2 Ankle strengthening exercises 3 Hip and knee exercises (to help improve walking ability) 4 Balance and proprioception exercises 5 Exercise to improve functional mobility and walking ability
How to tell if you have a broken ankle?
If you suspect you have a broken bone in your ankle, your first step should be to seek medical attention immediately. Failure to do so may result in a significant loss of function.
What bone is the ankle?
Your ankle is a joint where the talus bone of the foot and the tibia (shin bone) and fibula of the leg connect and move. Trauma here can cause a break in any or all of these bones and significant pain usually results immediately after the injury. Ankle fractures almost always occur during a traumatic event to the body.
What is fracture reduction?
Fracture reduction is the term used to describe how a bone is fixed or set after it's broken. The pieces of bone must be put in close proximity to one another so that healing can occur. Fracture reduction is essential to ensure that the bone heals properly and that permanent functional loss or deformity is avoided.
What is Wolff's law?
Wolff's law states that bone grows and remodels in response to the stress that is placed upon it. Your physical therapist can help prescribe exercises that apply the right stress in the correct direction to ensure that maximal bone healing occurs and that your fractured ankle will function properly. 1 .
What is the best treatment for ankle fracture?
An ankle fracture can lead to significant loss of function and limit your ability to walk, run, or participate fully in work and recreational activities. Physical therapy after an ankle fracture can help you improve mobility and help you safely return to normal activity and function.
Can a broken ankle cause pain?
A broken ankle can severely limit your ability to perform basic functional tasks like running and walking. This painful injury can cause loss of lower extremity strength, range of motion, and pain. These impairments can make performing your normal everyday activities difficult or impossible.
What is the best way to treat a broken ankle?
A CT scan may help your doctor determine the best treatment for your broken ankle. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRI uses radio waves and a strong magnetic field to create very detailed images of the ligaments that help hold your ankle together. This imaging helps to show ligaments and bones and can identify fractures not seen on X-rays.
Where to get treatment for broken ankle?
You will likely initially seek treatment for a broken ankle in an emergency room or urgent care clinic. If the pieces of broken bone aren't lined up properly for healing, you may be referred to a doctor specializing in orthopedic surgery.
How to reduce swelling in ankle?
Apply ice for 15 to 20 minutes at a time, every three to four hours to bring down the swelling. Keep your ankle elevated. Don't put any weight on your injured ankle. Lightly wrap the injury in a soft bandage that provides slight compression. By Mayo Clinic Staff.
What to do if you have a displaced fracture?
Reduction . If you have a displaced fracture, meaning the two ends of the fracture are not aligned well, your doctor may need to manipulate the pieces back into their proper positions. This process is called reduction. Depending on the amount of pain and swelling you have, you may need a muscle relaxant, a sedative or a local anesthetic to numb the area before this procedure.
What to do after bone healing?
After your bone has healed, you'll probably need to loosen up stiff muscles and ligaments in your ankles and feet. A physical therapist can teach you exercises to improve your flexibility, balance and strength.
What to do if you break a bone?
A broken bone must be immobilized so that it can heal. In most cases, this requires a special boot or a cast. Surgery. In some cases, an orthopedic surgeon may need to use pins, plates or screws to maintain proper position of your bones during healing.
What is the best way to diagnose fractures?
Bone scan. A bone scan can help your doctor diagnose fractures that don't show up on X-rays. A technician will inject a small amount of radioactive material into a vein. The radioactive material is attracted to your bones, especially the parts of your bones that have been damaged.
How long after ankle surgery can you move?
Swelling can be controlled using compression stockings, ice and elevation, and you can expect physical therapy to begin 2–3 weeks post-op.
How long does it take to recover from a foot surgery?
It’s important to remember that whatever surgery you’ve had, it can take as long as a year to make a full recovery, though you will be back on your feet much earlier than that. It’s not unusual to have swelling as well as intermittent aches and pains during that time.
How to heal from a traumatic brain injury?
Be tenacious when it comes to your recovery, and do everything as much as you can: 1 Rest, elevate and ice in the early weeks. 2 Allow yourself mood swings and watch for signs of depression. 3 Stay involved and entertained to alleviate boredom. 4 Eat mindfully. 5 Do your daily physical therapy exercises faithfully. 6 Be patient with the healing process.
How to recover from podiatric surgery?
Preparation extends beyond getting your house ready and setting up a support system; a pre-surgery diet and exercise program will aid in your recovery, making it less difficult and perhaps quicker than rehabilitation ...
Why is vitamin C important for men?
There are several reasons you want to get all of your daily recommended vitamin C, which is 90 mg for adult men and 75 mg for adult women: It acts as an antioxidant, helping to protect cells from the damage caused by free radicals. The body needs it to make collagen, a protein required to help wounds heal.
What is the best vitamin for bone health?
It helps the immune system work properly to protect the body from disease. Then there’s calcium and vitamin D . Calcium is crucial for bone health, among other things, so you’ll want to include calcium-rich foods in your diet. The mineral is found in nuts, fruits and dark leafy greens.
How long should you smoke after a fracture?
For that reason, Dr. Oyston recommends an even longer postoperative smoke-free period, between 6 to 8 weeks to allow “most of the initial healing of a fracture or repair of a surgical incision through bone.”.
How to recover from a broken ankle?
Remember to start slow and go slow. Stressing the bone too soon can cause problems. And if you feel pain with an activity, it’s time to rest. Your doctor will check your progress as your ankle heals. 7 Tips for Recovering from a Broken or Dislocated Ankle. Foot and Ankle Injury .
How to restore ankle function?
1. Work with your doctor on goals for restoring pain-free ankle function. Your recovery goal is to treat your symptoms and restore pain-free, pre-injury ankle function. This can take time and be quite challenging for some types of ankle fractures. In some cases, ankle function and walking gait may never return to pre-injury levels.
What bone is the end of the shinbone?
The end of the shinbone (tibia), the end of the other lower leg bone (fibula), and the talus bone make up your ankle joint. Ankle fractures and dislocations can be either simple—involving just one bone—or complex—involving multiple bones. Recovery depends on the type, location, complexity and treatment.
Who is Sarah Lewis?
Sarah Lewis is a pharmacist and a medical writer with over 25 years of experience in various areas of pharmacy practice. Sarah holds a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy degree from West Virginia University and a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy.
What to do if your ankle hurts?
Doing too much too fast can cause problems, such as having the bone move out of position. It’s time to rest if your ankle starts to hurt. Ask your doctor when you can safely return to daily activities, work, and sports or other leisure activities. 5. Do your recommended exercises to build strength.
How to know if your ankle is broken?
Ask your doctor about the best strategies to reach these goals and what you can expect. 2. Manage most of your symptoms with rest and pain meds. Common ankle fracture symptoms include pain, tenderness, bruising and swelling.
Can you move your ankle after surgery?
Your doctor may encourage you to move your ankle soon after the injury. If you have surgery, your doctor may recommend waiting longer. You’ll add activities and intensity gradually. Follow your doctor’s instructions for activities and movement. Doing too much too fast can cause problems, such as having the bone move out of position. It’s time to rest if your ankle starts to hurt. Ask your doctor when you can safely return to daily activities, work, and sports or other leisure activities.
