Broken Heel

BACKGROUND: I broke my heel about 6 weeks ago by landing on flat ice from 15-20 feet in the air after taking a (very poorly designed) freestyle ski jump. I hobbled on it for 2 weeks, then was in a cast for 2 more, then walking cast until now (I begged the podiatrist to give it to me so I could shower and take it off to sleep). Until about 2 days ago, I tried to stay on the crutches as much as possible, and not until about 2 days ago have I been able to walk without a lot of pain. I still try to use the crutches to give it a break, or one crutch to take some of the weight off of it. I am dying to get back to doing everything I used to do before this happened, but I don’t want to rush it and jeopardize the healing process or create other problems down the road….QUESTIONS: 1.
How does one know what is the appropriate activity level during the healing of a broken heel? For example, when is it sufficiently healed to walk on it (with and w/o walking cast)/ride a bike/play hockey?
Should one just pay attention to the pain signals and refrain from doing anything that hurts too much? Or does pain indicate that the activity is already to much? 2.
What are the risks of becoming too active too quickly?
I am not sure I can trust my own body’s pain signals. After all, I was able to walk on the broken heel for two weeks while waiting for the insurance company to authorize an MRI (the 2 inch long crack didn’t show up on an x-ray). 3.
How effective are ultra-sound bone stimulators in aiding the healing of a broken heal? 4.
What sort of excersizes or dietary supplements may be helpful during the healing and post-healing period?5.
Is numbness and tingling in the toes something to be concerned about? This is mostly absent now, but I still have some mild numbness, especially in the big toe, especially at the end of the day.