My Fractured Fibula
Dear Sir/Madam, I fractured my Fibula in my left leg in a football incident back on the 26/4 (6 weeks ago), when an opponent tackled be from behind and fell right across the calf effectively fracturing the Fibula bone in what my doctor called a “Butterfly Fracture”.At the time, the injured area was immediately iced up and elevated and I experienced virtually no swelling at all. The pain was fairly bad when I did it, but I was able to limp off the ground. At the time I did not seek x-rays, however my GP advised me to rest it for a couple of weeks and go from there. The pain subsided within 2-3 weeks to where I was walking on it quite easily with only slight pain, but I found I was not able to exert pressure on the leg (by sprinting or leaping off it) without experiencing sharp pain. As a result (4 weeks later) I had an ultrasound revealing no damage to the muscle or tissue around the calf. A few days later I had an X-Ray revealing the fracture which explained why I could not exert serious pressure on the leg. I have now had a cast on the leg for about a week, and will have it on for the next 5 weeks but I am in no pain at all, and I am easily able to walk, sleep and shower etc. My 3 questions are:1. Could I have done serious or permanent damage to the fracture in those first 4 weeks by walking and running on it before I realised it was actually fractured?2. When the cast comes off, 11 weeks will have lapsed since the day it was injured. If it feels great, I plan to get into intense training for 2 weeks before playing footy again. In your experience is this permissible for my kind of fracture? I really don’t want to go back and stuff it up again to be in another cast for another 6 weeks unless I know it can sustain the chance of another blow in a game.3. I have heard from various sources that a single fracture to the Fibula is not that serious. Is this valid?Your advice is greatly appreciated,Best RegardsSteve
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: I fractured my Fibula in my left leg in a football incident back on the 26/4 (6 weeks ago), when an opponent tackled be from behind and fell right across the calf effectively fracturing the Fibula bone in what my doctor called a “Butterfly Fracture”.: At the time, the injured area was immediately iced up and elevated and I experienced virtually no swelling at all. The pain was fairly bad when I did it, but I was able to limp off the ground. At the time I did not seek x-rays, however my GP advised me to rest it for a couple of weeks and go from there. The pain subsided within 2-3 weeks to where I was walking on it quite easily with only slight pain, but I found I was not able to exert pressure on the leg (by sprinting or leaping off it) without experiencing sharp pain. As a result (4 weeks later) I had an ultrasound revealing no damage to the muscle or tissue around the calf. A few days later I had an X-Ray revealing the fracture which explained why I could not exert serious pressure on the leg.: I have now had a cast on the leg for about a week, and will have it on for the next 5 weeks but I am in no pain at all, and I am easily able to walk, sleep and shower etc. My 3 questions are:: 1. Could I have done serious or permanent damage to the fracture in those first 4 weeks by walking and running on it before I realised it was actually fractured?: 2. When the cast comes off, 11 weeks will have lapsed since the day it was injured. If it feels great, I plan to get into intense training for 2 weeks before playing footy again. In your experience is this permissible for my kind of fracture? I really don’t want to go back and stuff it up again to be in another cast for another 6 weeks unless I know it can sustain the chance of another blow in a game.: 3. I have heard from various sources that a single fracture to the Fibula is not that serious. Is this valid?: Your advice is greatly appreciated,: Best Regards: Steve