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Broken legs and ankles heal better if you walk on them within weeks

(www.scientificamerican.com)
611 points sohkamyung | 1 comments | 19 Feb 25 12:36 UTC | HN request time: 0.222s | source
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ehnto ◴[19 Feb 25 14:04 UTC] No.43102277[source]▶
The pathology for broken collar bones was changing right as I took up mountain biking, and subsequently shattered my collarbone.

It was hotly debated at the hospital, if my specific case should be operated on or not. Each time I had a checkup, one doctor would say "wait and see" while the other was saying "I can't believe we didn't operate on this".

At any rate, the outcome was as good as if they had operated on it, according to the doc anyway. Nice of them to test it out on me!

More related to this though, I have broken both my collarbones, the first time I had little direction and just held my arm still for 2-3 months. It took forever to heal, and my arm atrophied significantly. The second time, similar severity. I was guided through rehab and I was back using my arm within the first month, very little atrophy.

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miketery ◴[19 Feb 25 14:42 UTC] No.43102620[source]▶
I had a clean break on mine. If I had not had surgery I believe my shoulder would have been a centimeter or two lower. So I got a plate and 7 screws.

Am I right to understand that had I not gotten the surgery my shoulder would’ve likely returned to the normal position?

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1. ghufran_syed ◴[19 Feb 25 15:01 UTC] No.43102812[source]▶
usually it shouldn’t affect position or function of the shoulder once healed, and while the clavicle does tend to heal with a “bump” in it at the site of the break, its long been thought that the risk of surgery at that site outweighs the benefit. But it does depend on the specifics of the fracture: https://www.orthobullets.com/trauma/1011/clavicle-fractures-...