Hello. Today I want to share the recovery progress of my broken ankle in 11 days
after being partial weight bearing. I broke my ankle while bouldering eight
weeks ago and had an open reduction internal fixation surgery. This is what
my ankle looked like after the surgery. I have been 100% no weight
bearing for six weeks, then I was told that I could walk with partial weight
bearing. Please note that this video should not be used for education and
instruction purposes, and you should always seek medical advice from your
doctor. Okay, let's start! On day 1, walking was weird I was taking it really slowly
because everything felt so unstable.
I was told by the physio in the hospital that I should be walking on bare feet at
home, just to practice my walking without the moon boot. So I have been doing that
at home, but every time when I took a step, my heel hurt.
I got used to my moon boot pretty quickly so I was walking much better on day 2.
The only annoying thing was the height difference caused by the moon boot.
Although the physio said I should be walking with two crutches,
I tried walking with one crutch because I knew that eventually I would need to
anyway, and I was being very ambitious.
Again when I walked on bare feet, my heel hurt.
On day three I went to work with one crutch and it was great. I got used
to it and I could walk around in my moon boot.
I walked on bare feet a lot when I was at home, just to make sure I was not
relying too much on the moon boot.
Day 3 was also the first day I tried walking by myself,
and it was like the first time in seven weeks.
By day 4 I already got used to just walking with one crutch,
however as you can see, my posture was not great. I was lending a lot to my left
side and that actually caused a fair bit of pain to my upper right body.
I'm actually seeing a physio to fix that right now
Day 4 was also the first day I tried walking by myself without a moon boot.
It was fairly unstable so I was just doing it for a short period of time.
By day 5, I no longer needed my crutch
when I have my moon boot on. I was walking fairly quickly.
However, when I didn't have my moon boot, I still need my crutch for support and balance.
On day 6. I was walking better without a moon boot, and I was not relying on
the crutch as much as I did.
Also it became easier to walk without any assistance. However since my ankle
was so stiff, it was a bit difficult to keep my balance.
I didn't make much progress on day 7 and day 8. I think the only difference
was the speed of walking. I was able to walk a bit quicker every day.
As you can see, when I was using my crutch,
my body was leaning a lot to the left side, and that was pretty uncomfortable.
On day 9, I went to the physio and I told them about the pain in my heel,
they said it was due to the muscle loss in my right leg and right foot.
They recommended me to start practice walking in sneakers.
It was actually a really helpful advice because when I was walking in sneakers,
I no longer felt the pain in my heel and I could walk in a normal way.
Since I practiced walking a lot on day 9, I could walk much better on day 10.
I could walk really quickly, and I did not feel like I was going to fall.
On day 11 I'd say I could walk like a normal person. I could walk upstairs
without any assistance, but not when I was going downstairs.
After practicing walking in shoes for two days. I actually didn't feel the pain
in my heel as much as I used to.
And these were the 11 days after me being partial and full weight bearing.
I hope this video will help someone who is going to or just had an ankle surgery,
knowing that you are not alone in this recovery journey. Please feel free to
leave your comments if you have any questions about my recovery progress or
if you want to get an update on how my ankle is doing. See ya!