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

(www.scientificamerican.com)
611 points sohkamyung | 4 comments | 19 Feb 25 12:36 UTC | HN request time: 0.21s | 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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mindcrime ◴[19 Feb 25 15:48 UTC] No.43103353[source]▶
Apropos of nothing in particular, when I first started mountain biking, a guy I was riding with told me: "You can divide all mountain bikers into two groups: the ones who have broken their collarbone, and the ones who are about to break their collarbone."

Knock on wood, 20 years later I still haven't broken a collarbone, but I've had plenty of scrapes, bruises, cuts, etc, a couple of concussions, a torn rotator cuff, and quite probably a broken neck (never went to the doctor to have it diagnosed, but I landed on my head hard enough to crack my helmet and knock me unconscious for a few minutes and my neck hurt for like 6 months afterwards).

Still, wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Nothing like being out in the woods, on a bike.

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1. hnburnsy ◴[19 Feb 25 23:41 UTC] No.43109274[source]▶
Is there padding or gear sold that can reduce the likelihood?
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2. mindcrime ◴[20 Feb 25 00:01 UTC] No.43109437[source]▶
For collarbones specifically? Nothing I'm aware of. At least if the explanation that was given to me for the high prevalence of collarbone injuries is correct, that makes sense. Someone explained it to me as "when you start to fall, you instinctive tend to reach our towards the ground to try to break your fall. So your hand is the first thing that hits the ground, and all the energy of the fall goes up your arm and into your shoulder / upper chest area. And the collarbone just happens to be the "weak link" there and so tends to break."

Now maybe that's just folk wisdom that isn't really true, but it sounds plausible to me. And if we reason by analogy a little, it's not too far off what my surgeon told me when I tore my rotator cuff. I fell and came down on my elbow, and he explained that the energy from the fall pushed my humerus up into my shoulder, and pinched my rotator cuff between two bone heads, which is what caused the tear.

So yeah, not much padding can do about stuff like that I guess.

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3. albinowax_ ◴[20 Feb 25 07:28 UTC] No.43112038[source]▶
Strength training can help reduce injuries from crashes up to a point.

Experience helps too but that’s harder to get safely!

4. webmaven ◴[20 Feb 25 15:28 UTC] No.43115849[source]▶
Hmm. Every time I've been in a similar scenario (breaking a fall, warding off an incoming projectile) it has been my wrists that broke.