Any doctors here?

I broke my ankle last month--stable spiral fracture of the distal fibula. After six weeks, during four of which I wore an Aircast, there's pain throughout my ankle and foot area every time I step, and both still get swollen during the day when I'm upright. Today's X-ray showed that the fracture is not aligned, as I've sketched in the image below (exaggerated; the actual misalignment is about 20%). I couldn't tell if it has actually fused, though a couple weeks ago the doctor told me it would have (without an X-ray at that time), and to take the cast off and start putting some weight on the leg and exercising it a bit.

When I saw the doctor after the X-ray (it would take several days for the radiology lab to get them to him), and mentioned that I saw this misalignment, he said it doesn't matter and would over time be fine, but that doesn't sound right to me. If it fully heals that way, it would seem weaker at this point, and the bone sticking out more likely to cause damage of the soft tissue above it if I get hit around that area, especially sine I'm very thin. Wouldn't it be best if they surgically break it again and affix with a pin or something like that it so it's aligned properly? And I'm still concerned about walking around without the cast since the X-ray didn't convince me it had actually fused. Pushing with my finger on the spot of the fracture is definitely painful. I really don't know what to do here...


[Edited on 15-5-2007 by Nixie]

This is not uncommon with broken bones. I broke my wrist a few years ago and was quite down about it. At the hospital over here it is now common practice for the doctors to get you to fill out a 'suicide assessment form' if you have broken a bone. The form asks questions like 'are you single/married' 'are you unemployed' 'do you suffer from depression' 'do you have any hobbies' 'will the injury stop you from enjoying your hobbies' 'have you ever tried to kill yourself' 'have you ever been to canada' ... etc.. This is to assess the risk of you doing yourself in from being so depressed about breaking yourself - apparently it happens alot - breaking a bone can be quite depressing.

Cheer up - you'll be allright in the end. I'm sure you'll get plenty of volenteers to rebreak you leg if you need it in the future!

[Edited on 27-7-2007 by Nixie]

Yes, be thankful that you only broke your fibula. About 11 years ago I had an odd slip and fall in which I suffered a complete spiral fracture of my lower left tibia about four inches above the ankle/tibia socket. The fibula remained perfectly fine. I was in a cast and on crutches for a good few months, and even when the cast came off and I started putting weight on the leg there was still a dull ache for quite a while. Whenever you break a bone, you do severe damage to the soft tissue in and around the bone area. Bone itself has zero nerve cells in it so the pain you feel is simply from all the surrounding tissue that gets severely screwed up. This tissue takes a while to heal and can cause you discomfort and stiffness for quite a long time.

Now, more then ever, is the best time to make sure that you have all the nutrients and building materials that your body needs. Ingest plenty of protein, vitamins, calcium, etc. to make sure that the raw materials you need to repair the damage are available to you.

While it sounds like you would have liked to have had surgery to repair the break, surgery isn't a walk in the park. When a doctor decides to surgically repair a broken bone, that is only done because the risks associated with the surgery are not as severe as the risks associated with no surgery. In this case, it sounds as if your doctor does not want to risk the severe bodily trauma that surgery entails. Yes, it might sound like a minor surgery, but surgery of any type requires incisions to the skin, damage to soft tissue, anasthesia, and the risk of infection.

Can you get a photo of the last x-ray?

That sounds like a good sized stress fracture