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

    (www.scientificamerican.com)
    611 points sohkamyung | 11 comments | 19 Feb 25 12:36 UTC | HN request time: 0.449s | source | bottom
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    rodary ◴[20 Feb 25 02:29 UTC] No.43110391[source]▶
    Anecdotal but...

    Broke my femur neck on a mountain bike. Surgery, plates and screws. Surgeon said no weight on the broken bone for 8 weeks and no walking on it for 12. And then we'll see he said.

    In 4 weeks I was on a trainer (fork fixed to the trainer). Started easy with 30min sessions and then increased time and force applied to the pedals.

    After 2 weeks of "riding", started putting weight on the bone with short walks around the house.

    8 weeks after the surgery rocked up to a road race, still on crutches because walking was still a bit uncomfy but being on the bike was fine. Raced to a 3rd place (Masters A) with hard breakaways and all.

    12 weeks after the surgery go to see the surgeon to check if I can start walking (already walking by this stage as normal). He X-rays me and says your bone is fully healed. Strange but good he said.

    I told him the story. Still don't know if he believed me.

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    1. spacemark ◴[20 Feb 25 03:40 UTC] No.43110838[source]▶
    I definitely believe you. I know from a few injuries that with tendons you want to be moving and applying resistance as soon as you are able to prevent the formation of scar tissue and encourage blood flow. It's not a huge leap of logic that bones, too, benefit from movement and resistance when healing.

    Honest question, how did you know to disregard the doctor 's instructions and start home exercises on the bone at 4 weeks? How did you limit yourself during your riding and other resistance work? How long was the recovery period after every session?

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    2. rodary ◴[20 Feb 25 04:01 UTC] No.43110949[source]▶
    > how did you know to disregard the doctor 's instructions

    My background (Russian). Don't trust western approach to solve problems with pills etc. End up talking to (usually) Soviet-trained doctors who can't practice here in the west. The advice makes sense so I follow it believing they know what they're talking about. It's always about the cause, not the symptom. This sort of thing.

    > How did you limit yourself during your riding and other resistance work

    By feel. Biking is a second nature to me. Femur neck wasn't the only bone I broke. More plates too.

    > How long was the recovery period after every session?

    First few, felt a bit fucked but I think it was both being out of shape and one leg's muscles sleeping for 4 weeks. So the usual, sit for 5-10 min, back on the crutches, off to the shower and the life goes on.

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    3. steve_adams_86 ◴[20 Feb 25 04:08 UTC] No.43110990[source]▶
    > with tendons

    I think this is commonly accepted now (maybe?), but tendons, ligaments, and cartilage don't heal well without movement to increase fluid exchange. When I was a kid it was a big deal to avoid any pressure on these tissues after an injury, but it seems imperative for recovery.

    When my kids hurt themselves in sports, it's straight to easy yoga, light calisthenics, and lecturing them for not cross training and treating their tissues better when they aren't competing. I sound like a dumb old man to them now, but I think in 10 or 15 years they'll be spending a lot more time focused on building that kind of resilience.

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    4. potamic ◴[20 Feb 25 05:17 UTC] No.43111367[source]▶
    Does anyone know sources that talk about muscles, tendons and cartilage healing too? This article specifically talks about bone healing.
    5. lnsru ◴[20 Feb 25 06:15 UTC] No.43111676[source]▶
    Best Soviet doctors! Poor guys working without any equipment to get perfect results. Sure good way for easy cases, bud hard cases are cripples afterwards. Or badly healed bones are separated with chisel and then comes next try… been there, saw that. Thanks but no, I’ll take a western medicine with all the screws and plates. Despite screws and plates being much easier to work with, every sane doctor will try without them at first even for moderately hard cases.
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    6. lloeki ◴[20 Feb 25 08:00 UTC] No.43112200[source]▶
    > I think this is commonly accepted now (maybe?), but tendons, ligaments, and cartilage don't heal well without movement to increase fluid exchange.

    It's getting better. RICE protocol after a sprain is still too unknown to/overlooked by many physicians, although I'd rate it to 50-80% these days.

    Many would recommend a 4-6 week rest after an ankle sprain, with a prescription of 10 sessions at a physiotherapist 2 weeks in, and crutches til then.

    Luckily physiotherapists are better trained and usually tell you to come yesterday, start with massaging to reduce the swelling and promote lymphatic and blood flow, and movements to break down scar tissue as it forms, and walk as much as you can, with crutches not as walking aids but as "seatbelts" so that you have something to immediately lean on instead of the injured foot should you trip over.

    Once tissue has healed enough the next step is relearning and recovering strength and movement (general motion, hence why in french physiotherapist is "kinésithérapeute" from greek kinesis a.k.a motion) towards normal levels. Problem is halfway through the allotted 10 sessions are up :/ so you're either down for a trip back to the physician and convince them you need more or you're on your own.

    7. Fnoord ◴[20 Feb 25 09:52 UTC] No.43112904{3}[source]▶
    Is this survivorship bias?
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    8. sim7c00 ◴[20 Feb 25 10:22 UTC] No.43113088[source]▶
    you are not wrong, shattered leg, waited too long, can't do shit now. never healed properly. should have listened to my body rather than my doctors. fucking sucks.
    9. grumpy-de-sre ◴[20 Feb 25 11:31 UTC] No.43113498[source]▶
    The story of Valentin Dikul is a great read for anyone interested in the importance of physical rehab, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentin_Dikul
    10. j-krieger ◴[20 Feb 25 13:28 UTC] No.43114389{4}[source]▶
    Yes.
    11. lnsru ◴[20 Feb 25 14:42 UTC] No.43115239{4}[source]▶
    I just searched around and it’s accurate and worthy reading by user called Minardi-Man: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/73aiiu/what_...

    The chisel part happened to my classmate. I rather take western medical titanium screws than second attempt to fix the hand old school.