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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: 0s | 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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jamiedumont ◴[19 Feb 25 16:56 UTC] No.43104336[source]▶
I shattered my collarbone - and I do mean shattered, ~8 pieces - in a mountain bike crash September 2023. I went over the bars after the back wheel of my hardtail caught a berm. Landed on my head and shoulder and compressed it laterally inwards by about 2 inches.

Even with this mess, it was hotly debated for around two weeks whether I needed surgery. A good chunk of my collarbone was trying to push through my skin and the other half was fusing to my scapular and was starting to compromise nerve function. Even then, because the non-surgical route is now considered the standard, I was meeting resistance to have an ORIF. It seems that the about turn from surgical intervention has been so strong that getting ANY surgical intervention is a battle.

I eventually came across a surgeon who took one look at me (never mind the imaging) and scheduled me for surgery. ~18 months later I’m now on a waiting list to have the plate removed, and strangely have gone off cycling… Surfing has happily taken its place.

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1. ddoolin ◴[20 Feb 25 16:12 UTC] No.43116457[source]▶
Interesting. I shattered mine similarly while snowboarding, but back in maybe 2018. There was definitely no debate on the matter, surgery via ORIF was the recommended option. Then again, my doc was a sports medicine surgeon so perhaps that played into it. Either way, I was never too light with it and it healed very quickly. I was back at 100% about 2 months later.