Shattered Heel - Foot Problems Message Board

mike2007 · 03-18-2007, 04:36 PM

Hi,
I shattered my heal 5 months ago.
They said they didnt think it would need pins, which I am grateful for but I'ts not in such great shape yet?
Has anyone had this Same injury and know roughly how long it might take to completely heal? They said the bones where in the right place but still broken off and would heal ok.
I'm having trouble getting full motion back.. my ankle is still bruising bad and hurting.
Thanks for any replies in advance.
Mike

grumpyme · 03-19-2007, 09:47 AM

hi,
i did the same thing. i fell off a ladder at work in feb. of '06 and ended up with the heel fractured in 4 places. lots and lots of swelling, pain and just general suffering. the 4 different docs i have seen to date all said the same thing. no weight bearing at least 12 weeks and usually 12-18 months until totally healed. dont want to scare you but i believe in laying it on the line. you have suffered a severe injury that takes an enormous amount of time to heal. get yourself the best foot and ankle guy in your area and see what he says. if you're in the chicago area i used dr. george holmes jr. out of rush univ. he is the 4th doc. the others did nothing wrong, just wanted a change. my wife is a nurse and found this guy by calling the ama and getting his credentials and an opinion of him. i cannot say enough about the man.
i did end up having the ankle fused though because of persistant pain and the way the fracture lines went up into the ankle bone. i also did not need surgery initially, but a year later did. you just never know.
good luck and stay off the foot!
ken

mikem1974 · 03-19-2007, 05:06 PM

I fractured my heel bone in Nov. 2005. Like you, no surgery. At 5 months I too had significant pain and swelling and was walking with a limp. At that point there was hardly any bruising though. It takes a looong time to recover from this type of injury. To speed up your recovery, keep exercising despite the pain.

Today I consider the foot at 90%. I think this is the best it's ever going to get. I'm able to run, although short distances, something I never imagined I could do at 5 months after injury.

Different people have different recovery times, but like the other poster said, 12-18 months is the most realistic.

Good luck.

mike2007 · 03-20-2007, 06:28 AM

ooohhh
(sigh) 12-18 months...
Thanks for the replies, really helped alot, I thoguht something was Really wrong.
I am currently looking on the web for "specific " excersizes to get those bad spots a little better.
I have been doing excersizes to get my calf and toe muscles etc back.
Thanks for sharing your stories. I'm sorry anyone else had to go through this.
Mike

steven16 · 03-21-2007, 03:24 PM

Hi all, I smashed both my heels in august 06, about a 25 foot fall. I had surgery, now i have pins, wire, glue, plates. I couldn't weight bare for 3 months, then i had no muscles left so it took longer.i started walking with a walker after 5 full months.i am at 8 months now and can get around on my own for about half of the day. long enough to go to the gym and some erands.I have a custom orthotic that i have to wear, or i really cant walk at all. I highly recomend this. it is the only reason i can walk, (with minimal pain) I hobled in with my walker put in my othotic and literly walked out not using the walker. it is the best $350 i ever spent. Along with taping my ankles to help the tendon between tib and fib tighten(takes at least 6 weeks) i also wear an ankle brace made by G2-spelled GII- the sts, subtailer something? I have limited range of motion and there is a possibility of fusing my left sub-tailer joint. I was wondering Ken, how this effects your walking, and did it help your pain? I'm told that after 24 months of recovery that is as good as it gets. all the metal is coming out this june and i'm hoping this will ease some of the pain and alow more flexability.like most im sure the problem now is all the scar tissue across the top of my ankes. Is there any 1 or 2 things that you guys would recomend for treatment that you found to be the most effective. This injury has ruined every aspect of my life, and i am willing to try anything i can to recover. thanks Steven.