Anyone else told to weight bear 2 days after surgery for tibia fibula fracture?

Question:

Moto accident 3 mos.ago.Surgery with rod in tibia, screws at knee & ankle.Fibula fx left alone. Doc had me wt. bear as tolerated just 2 days after surgery! Given a walker to use in rehab. After 10-14 days, lots of popping started. At my first follow up, I was changed to non wt. bear for 6 weeks and given crutches. After 6 weeks, told by different doc to fully wt bear, swim, bike and walk as much as possible. Yeah! No more "boot", crutches and hopping on one leg! At that point,I was happy just to be limping and swelling up. 4 weeks later, I am popping again with shooting pain in my ankle, sore calf. Went to a recommended chiropractor who feels my fibula is not healing properly (non union and misaligned) due to premature wt bearing. He now advised me to non wt bear and use crutches... again! I'm confused, worried and frustrated.Don't want a permanent limp & popping,etc. In 2 days, going back to the doc who put me full wt. bear 1 mo.ago. HELP! I don't trust any of these docs anymore

Answers:
No offense but the chiro doesn't really know what he/she is talking about with this particular injury. The fibula is a mostly non-weight bearing bone and weight bearing should have NO effect on the healing. What would have an effect on the healing would be not having your ankle immobilized to allow the fibula to heal. If the fib is not aligned properly then its not gonna heal. The reason you were told to weight bear 2 days after was b/c the rod in the tibia stabilizes the weight bearing bone and the weight bearing would stimulate bone growth. Hopefully you were given a boot to wear at that point to immobilize the ankle. I think you should go back to the surgeon who did the initial surgery to take an x-ray taken and looked at by him/her to see where your healing stands and find out what the best course of action is. It sounds to me from a distance that the fibula needs to be aligned and then the ankle has to be immobilized (with the walking boot) to allow it to heal, all the while you can be full weight-bearing.

my nan was told to weight bear straight after that and she couldnt stand pain they told her if she didnt she would nt walk again and she wouldnt and she didnt walk again ask for second opinion

If the chiropractor who feels your fibula is not healing properly due to premature weight bearing then you may have a malpractice case against the first doctor. You may want to contact a lawyer.

I wouldn't blame the fibula. You see the fibula has very little to do with weight bearing along its length. However, it becomes very important around the ankle when it becomes the lateral malleolus which contributes to ankle stability. It is very hard to comment on your surgery from what you say but I can only surmise your fracture must have been comminuted(many pieces) necessitating the amount of hardware the doctor put in. I wouldn't lose confidence in the first doctor immediately. Lots of things to consider. He probably thought the rod inside the tibia was strong enough to have you weight bearing immediately. I hope you will leave the chiropractor out of your treatment. See how confused you are? You are better off with the doctors.

Anyone else told to weight bear 2 days after surgery for tibia fibula fracture?

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