Question: Broken Bone Pain?

[Mike Ellis]

Last weekend my wife broke her leg right above the ankle, the fibula was broken cleanly and the tibia was cracked but not displaced. We were out camping, and she slipped on gravel walking through our campsite - badly twisting the ankle and causing the break. Since we were at Cleburne State Park, we were very close to Walls Regional hospital and were able to get her splinted in a temporary cast very quickly (that was last Saturday).



We took her to the regular doc and orthopedic surgeon last week, and on Wednesday they put her into a regular cast (covers leg from right below knee on down). However, she is still in a lot of pain when she has to get up and around. With leg elevated, she is pretty comfortable but it still aches. Standing up or sitting with leg down causes some severe pain, apparently as blood rushes into it or something.



For those of you who have ever broken a bone - is this sort of pain after getting a cast normal? Neither of us has ever broken a bone, so we have no clue. Nurse at doc's office wasn't particularly helpful, told her it was expected to ache but non-committal about the extreme pain.



Any info greatly appreciated... .





PS - Sure am glad we were in the truck camper, we were able to throw our stuff in and get ready to leave in a few minutes that afternoon. If we had been in tents or trailer I would have had to pack up camp with the kids in the middle of 100+ degree heat and it could have easily been a 3-temper-fit afternoon



PPS - That Boy Scout first aid training really does come in handy

 

[Hummin Cummins]

It was normal for me. Took about a few weeks to go away. I broke the little ball shaped bone in my wrist last summer. Spent 12 weeks in a cast from my fingers to my shoulder. I didnt take the pain pills they prescribed, I'm not into taking medicine. I'd say it lasted at least two weeks. I didnt think a bone the size of a marble could hurt so bad.



Chris

 

[C. Harlan]

It is going to be a long recovery with the tib/fib fracture. My grandma broke hers in november last year, had 4 pins (one in tib, one in fib, and 2 in ankle) and the pins are out, but she is getting around via walker, and wheelchair. she just recently (2 weeks ago) took a few steps without her walker, but it was difficult for her. She now resides with us, till she gets better. her injury was work related, as she was working for a catering company, and they were unloading a truck. Someone took it upon themselves to get in and move the truck without doing a 360° walkaround. She was ½ on the truck, ½ on the dock, and when the truck pulled away from the dock, she fell about 4-5 feet. I can relate to what you are going through, having to take care of her... . Its a chore! I have been lucky, as I have only broken my jaw twice, and those were Rodeo related. I thought I cracked a rib this past wednesday night, at a friend's arena, but it was just a bruise!



-Chris-

 

[klenger]

I had a serious fracture to my left shoulder about a year ago from a bicycling accident. A fairly complicated surgery was required to fix it, with a plate an 11 screws. I had pretty bad pain that was better after 6 weeks and finally tapered off after about 3 months. I was on some pretty heavy drugs for a while. I think my break was more serious than your wife's, but her's sounds pretty bad. It will take time on her part and patience and caring on your part for a while. She will do fine in the end.

 

[hanover]

I broke both bones right above the ankle in a motocross crash. This was the worst pain I had

ever experience. It wasn’t until they did a CAT scan that revealed that I needed surgery and some

titanium screws to help keep fractures stable. In the week before my surgery I was taking

Percocet every hour, the day after my surgery I only required Advil. Keep complaining and get

some more help or go to a different doc. I went from the horrible pain I was in for 8 days to a

reasonable level in one day. It might be that the clean break, might not be stable even in the cast.

It sure brings back some nightmares for me, I hope your wife get some more help.

 

[Doc Tinker]

Her pain is normal from my experience with three broken bone incidences throughout my lifetime.



The worst one was my ankle which still contains three screws. That one earned me a ride to the hospital in the back of a Horizon, with my leg hanging out of the rear hatch. The emergency room doctor thought I sprained it and was wiggling my foot around while he checked me out, until he saw the xrays. He said "whoops, let me call the orthopedic surgeon!"



Tell her to take pleasure in the pain If it doesn't hurt, she might be a canidate for an amputation.



Doc

 

[VGiacalone]

I fell off my bicycle once (yes, as a grownup) and broke 11 bones. It will hurt like crazy for a few weeks, and then just be annoying.



By the way, there is a new drug out that actually rebuilds bone. It is basically for osteoporosis, but it rebuilds bone at a tremendous rate. Friend of mine broke his thighbone, took the Forteo, and was skiing 6 weeks later!



Forteo is brand new and is VERY expensive ($550/month), and requires that you give yourself a shot every day, but it cured my osteoporosis in two months, I now have perfect bone density. My kid brother is a podiatric surgeon, and they are starting to prescribe it for bad breaks because it helps in healing so much.



Just a thought, might want to ask your doctor about it.



Valarie

 

[QRTRHRS]

Wait until the cast comes off.

I broke a wrist and like previous replies, it hurt about two weeks. Then it was the calm before the storm. When the cast came off, my forearm looked weenie because the muscle had atophied. I relived that pain all over because I had mobility but no muscle. I remember sitting down before I fell down. That's how bad it hurt.

 

[Mr.Goat]

Mike



If your wife is great discomfort get her back to her doctor ASAP. He can then assertain if there is complication causing the pain or if it's normal for the circumstances. You mention the pain is more severe when she's up and about. Well she shouldn't be up and about unless absolutely necessary eg; bathroom, bed etc. Keep the leg elevated when she's resting to help eleviate the throbbing and aching. Your doctor should have prescribed something for pain make sure it's taken as prescribed. Ususally the first couple of weeks are the worst. Wait until she gets to the itching part. Also keep in mind pain assosciated with bone injuries can be some of the most severe, and people have different tolerance levels of pain.

You don't state whether or not she is allowed to bear weight on the leg. Is the cast a walking cast? Look for a rubber type anti slip pad on the bottom of the cast. If she doesn't have one I suspect she shouldn't be bearing weight on it for for the time being. Again consult your doctor on these issues and any other concerns you may have.

Above all be very supportive to your wife. This is going to be a long ordeal and she's not going to be able to care for the family as she normally does. Besides it may be you with the cast next.

Good luck and have fun, this is only a broken leg. Pete

 

[dpuckett]

From my experiences- broken right and left arms at ages 7 and 9, respectively- the pain is normal. If I took my arm out of the sling it hurt like a motor scooter. Elevating it WILL help. If she is close to passing out from the pain, get to the doc ASAP (or find another one). Otherwise, she'll just have to grin and bear it for a while. Dont quite remember how long the bad pain lasted, but by wek 3 or 4, it was down to a dull constant ache that I learned to ignore. Still have a callous on one bone in my left arm.



Daniel

 

[Mike Ellis]

Thanks for all the info folks!



TDR is great, no matter what question you ask there are always people to answer.



Pete,



She is not supposed to put weight on it, so she has been keeping it elevated and off the floor at all times. Only out of the easy chair to go to bathroom, sponge bath etc. She did a lot better today, took a couple of Advil this morning and it seemed to help with the perceived pressure a lot, she was able to go back and forth to the bathroom and let me wash her hair without the searing pain she had the last couple of days. The hydrocodone stuff doesn't seem to do much but make her fuzzy, still hurts. The Advil worked PDQ, go figure. She has only taken 3 today so she seems to be managing the pain pretty well now. Must have been swelling.



Note to self: Avoid getting injured or sick on a holiday weekend - medical care is not so easily available!

 

[Cowboy Medic]

Typically, with a fracture, the pain comes from muscle spasms, occasionally from nerve damage from the sharp edges of a fracture. In a healthy extremity there is a certain amount of stretch that the muscles have all the time. When you fracture a bone the length of those muscles is lessened, thus allowing spasm to take place. The larger the muscle the more painful it can be. Adding to that is the natural inflammatory response in the body. Any time any type of tissue is injured the area will have some swelling. The amount of swelling is related mostly to the amount of vasculature that is affected. Bones, especially those in the legs are extremely well supplied with blood, as it is the marrow in those bones that is responsible for producing your red blood cells. Your best pain control will be achieved with rest and anti-inflaammatory medication, Advil which is Ibuprofin is an excellent anti-inflammatory. Hydrocodone is a narcotic analgesic (pain reliever), very similar to morphine in its effects. Unfortunately it does very little for inflammation. Ideally with the rest and anti-inflammatory you should find the relief you need. If there is still some pain then the hydrocodone should prove an effective addition. The other thing to remember with the hydrocodone is that pain relievers are significantly more effective in preventing pain than they are in relieving it. If you know you will be moving to go do something a half hour ahead of time it would benefit you to take one then vs. trying to do something and finding it hurts and then trying to relieve the pain. At this point you are past 72 hours since injury, I am assuming, so icing will not do much anymore as far as controlling inflammation, but muscle and sprain type injuries can be significantly impacted by quick application of ice. Hope this helps.



Jon

 

[Mike Ellis]

Thanks Jon! She is definitely doing a bit better each day, the Advil seems to be helping a lot...

 

[DKayser]

Pain

Got whacked by a car on my motorcycle 2 years + ago, broke both bones in my forearm. I broke both Styloids (?) on my left arm, That`s the little knobs on your wrist. They had to put 3 pins in there to hold it together. If she got pins, do not, I repeat, do not stand next to her when they remove them! On my arm, the S. O. B. just grabbed them & yanked! He was lucky and quick! I missed. That was worse than the arm pain. Hope she heals well. Don.

 

[greyghost]

Bingo

Originally posted by hanover

I broke both bones right above the ankle in a motocross crash. This was the worst pain I had

ever experience. It wasn’t until they did a CAT scan that revealed that I needed surgery and some

titanium screws to help keep fractures stable. In the week before my surgery I was taking

Percocet every hour, the day after my surgery I only required Advil. Keep complaining and get

some more help or go to a different doc. I went from the horrible pain I was in for 8 days to a

reasonable level in one day. It might be that the clean break, might not be stable even in the cast.

It sure brings back some nightmares for me, I hope your wife get some more help.

Did mine in about the same way and place. They put a rod down the center of the Fibula? (the larger one anyways) and a screw just be low the knee and two just above the ankle. I was in a cast for only two weeks and it sucked the whole time. After the surgery the pain was much less and easy to deal with. No cast just a brace so showering and everyday stuff was easy. So Mike, if you and your wife have an option of cast or surgery my advice would be surgery. Hope she get better soon, man that make me hurt all over again.







Just my . 02



Garrett