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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: 0.251s | 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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noah_buddy ◴[19 Feb 25 18:34 UTC] No.43105603[source]▶
A personal philosophy in medical decisions: - unless there is a severe risk I might die from lack of intervention (on any reasonable timeline besides life), I avoid intervention.

In some cases (my messed up jaw and a whole 9 wisdom teeth), I broke this rule. But generally, it has served me well.

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1. tenzing ◴[20 Feb 25 01:13 UTC] No.43109939[source]▶
I have a similar viewpoint; over a decade ago, I had a nuisance tendon issue and went to a specialist who recommended surgery.

The surgery had a risk of serious, life-long consequence if it went wrong. He said that if I can live with the tendon issue, we can delay surgery indefinitely... so we delayed.

A month later, I stopped doing a certain workout at the gym, which resolved the issue within days. No need for surgery at all.

I do think that some specialists can be so focused on their speciality (i.e. surgery) that they don't think outside of that paradigm (try a different workout at the gym), and it's up to the patient to effectively shop around to get the best advice.