Advice about recently broken ankles

Oh man, that sounds like such a rough ride. I broke one ankle a couple years back slipping on ice and even that had me off my feet for months—can’t imagine both at once. After the cast came off, I had swelling and constant aching too, especially if I walked too much. Ended up seeing someone like Christopher Sakowski, a foot and ankle specialist in Dallas, and it honestly made a huge difference just having someone dig deeper than the usual “rest and ice” advice. 

I broke my ankle a while back and found keeping a small backpack helpful for carrying stuff hands-free. Also, elevating my foot with pillows made a big difference with swelling.

I see it's been a while since you posted, but I just wanted to ask how your recovery is going now? I broke my ankle last year and still feel unsure on stairs sometimes, especially in busy places. Did anyone else feel more anxious or thrown off balance after healing, even though the bone itself was fine? I'm wondering how long that part takes to fade.

I had this with a broken leg also & everything was well once the healing did happen. Every break are all unique presumably, and there is no telling what the body needs to do in order the clear the area. If there are artefacts left over, the body literally dissolves them & that takes some time.

Hi, thanks for your reply. 

I’m definitely going to book with a GP. I’ve been looking all over for information on breaks but it only refers to one break. I’ve not come across any other information about having both ankles broken at the same time. I feel like the one that was a slightly better break than the other, is over compensating for the badly broken one, and this is possibly one of the reasons I’m having such difficulty. It’s getting to a point now where I’m not even able to go shopping for food items because I can’t stand long enough to get around the shop. I know my mam and Nana will get things for me but it’s not the same as going and making sure I get all the right things that I need at the same time. 

I’ll see what the doctor suggests but I think they’ll probably refer me for physio as some people have mentioned on here and online. I’m just hoping it’ll get sorted out soon. 

I had some trouble after breaking my leg. It took longer for me to be able to walk unaided than the doctors were expecting and I needed physio therapy. I also had pain and swelling, though for me this was inconvenient rather than debilitating - but this could have been because I was dealing with one damaged leg not both. I don't know how long this lasted because it was the doctor at the fracture clinic that referred me to physio so I got treatment pretty quickly. 

In the short term I would suggest elevating your feet when they become swollen, and not pushing yourself to do more than is comfortable. But I do think you should see a doctor about it, just be sure there isn't an issue with circulation for example. It could be that you will need physio therapy to help rebuild muscle tone to better support the bones or some other sort of intervention. I know its difficult to get an appointment with the GP but its worth doing.

Thanks for your advice. I will try some of these suggestions. It’s just been a while now since they broke, and it seems like it’s not getting any better. I’m also going to see doctor about them soon see if they can do anything. 

I think that for fractures of the bone, anything to help rebuild that bone would be helpful. Bones are living, and they can rebuild themselves to an extent, if given the right building supplies (nutrients) and time to rebuild.

I know that people commonly know about calcium, which is the hard parts of the bone, but "collagen" is really important as well. It makes up the majority of the bone, and if there's not enough of it, bones become brittle and fractures can occur. But collagen is also good for the entire body, like muscles, organs, joints, tissues, and it helps skin retain it's elasticity, so people enjoy the youthful appearance that collagen can provide them with. 

There's a lot of collagen products out there now, like collagen powder to stir a spoonful into coffee or tea, which is what I have.

But people can also make "bone broth" with a slow cooker, which takes a long time to make, but it's packed with nutrients for the body. It's just usually a mix of vegetables and bones boiled over a 12 hour period to extract the nutrition, and then all the physical bits are strained (all the vegetables and the bones), and the result is a rich and hearty broth that helps keep the body healthy.  

Massaging could help the swelling, and maybe a gel pack as well.

Maybe try walking around for half of that time, like instead of walking around until your ankles are all swollen and in pain, which is 20 minutes, try to walk around briefly, like for 10 minutes, and then have a break. And then build up the time from there, like maybe after a day or two you can increase that time by a minute, so that your bones and muscles have enough time to build up and deal with the additional strain on it. I mean your feet take up the weight of your entire body, so don't be so hard on it. It'll take time to heal.