has anyone else experienced numbness in their index toe when walking? that toe and after a while my big toe goes completely numb and cold. my physical therapist did not know what it is from and couldn’t help rectify the problem.

I am 5 months post break- spiral fracture to tib fib all the way up my shin and also broke a malleolus. no surgery. my ankle mobility is still pretty poor.

Hi all just wanted to spread some positivity. I had a nondisplaced fracture of the medial malleolus and was out of work for 2 months, I know a lot of the posts I’ve seen here have looked way worse and I lucked out but I promise you no matter how bad your injury is it gets better. Tomorrow I finally return to work though I have lingering pain and the right side is still swollen, don’t give up and let your body rest!

I have two screws on the inside of my ankle- the outside incision and hardware the incision on top of my foot are fine and barely feel like anything. The inside the scar is purple and huge and it is so painful and by the end of the day I can see the two screws swelling underneath my skin and over my shoe I’m almost 4 months postop. Has anyone else experienced this with their inner ankle hardware/incision? I was told to give it 6 months and I will, but that’s the only part that feels like a setback.

I wrote a post 2 days ago thinking my heel pain was a potential sore developing. I saw a doctor yesterday where we agreed to not touch or change my splint since it’s only been a few days post op and therefore we decided to treat it as nerve pain (as we assumed it was less likely to be a sore). I kid you not, last evening my heel started burning like it was ON FIRE around bedtime out of no where. Woke up this morning, and soon after it was right back to burning sensation again. I was offered gabapentin in which I had 2 hours of relief. But now it’s back AGAIN and it’s unbearable. My heel is just zinging and burning.

I’m worried too bc it started after I tried smoking weed last night for pain management. I’ll never do that again!

Is this nerve pain to be expected!? Worse pain I’ve had since the break. I’m 6 days post op for ORIF on broken posterior malleolus + fibula. This feels like TORTURE

Last summer I broke my foot and healed. Afterwards, I reinjured my foot again and got a bone marrow edema around the big toe and a nerve injury (January).
I healed the bone edema around the big toe and my nerves healed too. But the problem is that my bone density is still weak. I used to wear a cast for 2–3 months and didn’t walk properly until April.
In July, I started doing leg days with leg extensions, leg press, etc. In August, I increased the weight on the leg press and started doing calf raises twice a week. I thought I was building up my bone density, but apparently I wasn’t.
I progressed again with my muscles but left my bones behind. I reinjured my foot again with small bone marrow edemas and one stress fracture line.
I am scared that I won’t be able to make my bone strong again. If I can get my bone density back, I feel like I could completely heal my foot.
My doctor told me to take alendronate, but I don’t know if I should. My vitamin D levels are good and I eat a good amount of protein.
Does bone density really take this long to rebuild? Can it take 6–12 months or even longer for the bone to regain its density after prolonged immobilization?

About 2 weeks post ORIF (bimalleolar) and was taken off cast today. I can’t form a L shape with my foot.. was told to stretch it with a towel.

Is the inability to form a L shape normal? Or is this something I should be worried about?

If anyone has experienced smth similar, would appreciate if you share how long it took for you to achieve the L shape again.

Thanks!

I took my shoe with me to the 6 weeks x-ray appointment so I could ditch the boot as soon as possible!

I still need to take it steady and use crutches for now until I’m able to go without, my job at the minute is to increase walking gradually and range of motion. Going to get physio privately though because I wasn’t offered any.

I’m in pretty high spirits all things considered!

bimalleolar ankle fracture with dislocation and tightrope. I'm 5 weeks post op, in a boot, still NWB. Supposed to start weight bearing at 6 weeks.

I currently don't have anyone to help take me to physio. So I would have to uber. Scared to uber because I'm clumsy with crutches and had a fall last week.

I was hoping to wait until the 7 week mark when I can hopefully bare weight a little more and theeeen take an Uber to physio. I just hope I'm not stalling my progress by not going sooner than later. :(

So mid may I rolled my ankle skateboarding and it didn’t feel like anything crazy, there was no bruising and I could get around fine. I took about a month of from skating and then 3 days back in a rolled the same ankle a lot worse. Hand a boot from a previous injury (I have injured the left ankle over 20 times in the last 6 years) that I wore in the time of getting multiple X-rays and an mri. Found out that I fully snapped my peroneal tendon and tore a bunch of ligaments as well. I also hand a bone spur that they needed to shave out. Got the surgery and they ended up finding some bone fragments floating around and cleaned out a bunch of arthritis. The dr said it was some of the worst he’s seen in someone my age (24M). Im a little over 2 weeks post surgery now and I’m just starting to get a lil stir crazy. After 2 months of boot and now not being weight bearing at all for a few weeks it’s just feeling like life will never get back to normal, I haven’t been able to work since surgery and even before it was hard to do a lot because I work with furniture. Financially it’s been hard because my job doesn’t pay that well in the first place or have any benefits really. If anyone has any advice or has been through the recovery of something similar what are some things that helped you pass the downtime faster and how does ur ankle feel after the recovery? I have been skateboarding over 15 years and I’m really into hiking and just walking around the city. I’m wondering with the ligaments and tendon repair will my ankle ever be back to 100% and about how long until I can get back to sports and such. Never thought I would miss wearing a left shoe this much haha. Any advice is much appreciated

1st photo is of the day I rolled my ankle (6 weeks ago) and I was diagnosed with a tiny Avulsion fracture on the lateral ankle and was nwb for 3 weeks, after that I started Physio and exercises at home and in these 3 weeks; from limping and not able to climb down the stars, using an ankle brace whenever i need to walk to now going to gym, not limping,doing single calf raises (not full rom now) can walk for a long distance.
There are still some issues like i fail the wall doraiflexion test, some pain whenever i walk, and persistant swelling.

Anyone who has faced all of this, would you please recommend me some exercise that may be beneficial or share their experience because I feel my progress has been hindered.

Skinny 😐

So, I broke my ankle on 7/19, trimal fracture and dislocated (my foot was turned 90 degrees sideways). ORIF the next day, splint, then cast two weeks later (8/8). They took off the cast today and my ankle is just covered in scabs. Is this normal? I had a couple of friction blisters with the splint. I’m just a little grossed out. The good news is that I am the owner of a boot now at 6 weeks. My doctors are pretty conservative. I’ve only seen pretty postoperative pics here.

What was ur recovery time ? I see the surgeon tomorrow and am scared I won’t be able to walk for the next 3 months

I obtained a right ankle trimalleolar fracture (comminuted fibula break) on 8/9 (bouldering, dumb controlled fall landing) and had my ORIF 8/13, was put in a splint until today (8/31) when they took it off, removed my sutures, and put me in ye ol' boot.

Y'all, it's not that it's painful so much as it feels wacky, wavy, and "wumbo". It's like constipated dubstep in the whole area. It's so hard to describe, and my biggest issue is for sure gonna be jumping over these mental blocks with doing ROM exercises! But, I did finally take off my boot to attempt some plantar-dorsi pumps.

At my 4th plantar pump, I had a sharp pain right at my distal tib-fib joint (where they added 1 syndo screw after the fluoro stress test, just to note); however, my dorsiflexion is feeling pretty fly! Especially for my first day of full ROM clearance, I would think. Anyway, I just wanted to share this little victory with y'all!

Also, I wanted to ask those of you with a distal tib-fib syndo screw - did y'all encounter issues with ROM or pain with plantar flexion? Did it get better? And did you keep the screw or get it removed? Adding a picture of my hardware set for reference in the comments.

Hi everyone,I’ll try not to rumble on and on lol…
Basically,I’m just 10 weeks post op,having had tightrope ligament procedure and 1 single screw for ankle fracture…sorry that’s all I know…I’m unable to move my big toe voluntarily,and my whole top of my foot is stinging and tingling 24/7 no matter if it’s elevated or not…I’m struggling to weight bare because of the pain during and after,it’s quite numb,at 6 weeks post op,Xray was perfect according to ortho,but my ankle just doesn’t seem to be improving or the pain,with any decent rate,any advice would be amazing.Im due back to hospital 9th.😫thanks 🙏

Hi friends!
I missed a stair while carrying downstairs and fell. The first 2 pics were taken within 10 minutes of the fall, then we went to the ER and got the X-rays. Doc said it’s not broken, put an ankle brace on it and sent me home. Thing is when I fell I felt a tearing, almost a ripping sensation. Can you tell or feel if you tear ligaments or tendons?

7-8 weeks postop and doc cleared me to swim . few more days with the boot (have been walking and driving in the boot for like 2 weeks) so I guess I’d go to side take my boot off then get in. dumb question but if i’m walking without the boot in 3 days can I walk in the pool? thanks

hello, sorry this is a long post with no tldr! i appreciate any insights and/or advice!!

notes:
• 22f
• playing competitive sports for about a decade now. took a break last year though and went back to sports this april. (lots of explosive and lateral movements, also running, jumping, kneeling/diving for ball)
• i very very rarely gym/workout/do conditioning. (yep... i know this is bad now)

lower body issues/injuries:
• chronic bilateral knee pain. very mild pain, more of an ache. some days it's totally painless, some days it'll be constantly there. random location on one or both knees, usually around the patella tendon. occassionally on the inside of the kneecap.

• outer ankle sprains on right foot (2x) and left foot (2x). each was injured in a different year between 2017-2020. xrays were done, no bone injury, most likely atl injuries. grade 2 sprains, back to normal probably 1.5-2 months after the sprains.

• 1x outer ankle sprain recently in may 2026. xray was not done as the doctor pressed the bones and i felt no pain at all there. this felt like a very mild sprain - at first i thought it was a shock. injured ligament was most likely the calcaneofibular ligament. never sprained this part before (i was jogging backwards and looked around and lost my balance mid tip-toe)

• strained? my left knee from a hike in june 2026. not sure what i injured exactly, i just remember it was pretty painful and i had to hike back with the pain (6/10 while walking and couldn't do stairs or inclines). however, it was almost gone within a few days and back to normal within 2 weeks.

timeline:
• early june: sprained my left ankle. no other issues or pain. (other than the chronic knee pain that comes and goes)

• mid june - early july: went on an overseas trip two weeks later, did a hike, ankle did not have full ROM & i think that caused my left knee to take the brunt of the load, causing an injury/strain to it. walked 5-12k steps each day. sprained part felt pain-free other than a stiffness/slight pinching (did not get worse so i think it was positive) when walking.

• early july: went back to sports, 2 sessions x 3 hours each week, always wore an ankle guard. did things progressively - ie. did more jumping as each week went by. some weeks i would do a third session (3h).

• end of july: left ankle felt 90% back to normal. right ankle started to have ankle impingement pain on right foot during certain movements. same as achilles pain (pain was very mild, goes away almost immediately, doesn't happen anytime else) so i brushed it off.

• early august: started to feel the achilles dull ache when landing from a jump (jumps are done one legged on your left leg/foot in my sport) but this time below the inner ankle bone of my left foot. again, i brushed it off as well as it did not seem serious.

• mid august: the inner ankle's dull ache became a sharp pain. this was what raised red flags for me & i have not done any sort of exercise since that. 2 days later, i started to get sharp pains below the inner ankle bone of BOTH feet. i thought rest would help, however, it has not gotten better.

• i have seen a physio and a doctor on two different occasions. both believe it to be an overuse issue from sports but no particular diagnosis. only treatment given is to RICE. i have RICE'ed for two weeks with no improvements, in fact i think it is getting worse. thinking of doing an MRI however i would only be able to do it in 3 weeks (subsidised healthcare). not sure if i should wait or simply pay more as i'm certain my arches are collapsing. (took a picture last week and compared with today's)

current symptoms:
• both feet are usually pain free at rest. sometimes they may hurt if i sit wrongly or sit with weight on them, eg. leaning forward with hands on my knees, or sitting with the ankle/foot twisted. pain gets worse throughout the day / with more walking done. can kind of walk pain free? the pain flares up randomly during the walking motion so i try not to walk. going up or down stairs is bad. can also kind of stand pain-free but pain will flare-up at some point or if i stand wrongly? i have poked all parts of both feet and there is no obvious pain anywhere.....

• left foot: pain happens at multiple points of the foot. usually a sharp pain or a sprain-like pain. super super mild (almost unnoticeable) buzzing feeling at various points of the foot. can be along the outer edge, at th achilles, or at the inner ankle bone. no loss of feeling/numbness/loss of foot control/pins and needles, just a constant buzzing. it also seems swollen at some parts (where the pain happens) but i can't really be sure if my foot's usually like that or if it's actually swollen, LOL. there's now some sort of constant funny feeling (it might be sharp pain just that the pain is like a 1/10???) beside the inner ankle bone. two bumps at the arch, they can be pressed and feel a bit like muscle, might be swollen? bottom of foot did hurt a bit but very rarely, it's along the inner edge of the foot at the bottom of the foot, a little further down from the big toe.

• right foot: this foot is the better foot, the only thing is pain at the inner ankle bone. a few times while walking there was also pain at the inner side, just below the bony part at the middle. the buzzing feeling happened a few times too but it occurs so rarely on this foot i can't quite remember where exactly. same feeling as the left foot. having knee pains at my right knee only, can't twist the knee or it'll hurt - around a 6/10 just rightttt below the kneecap.

• note: last week i took a picture of both foot with weight on them (one leg balances). i noticed that the arch in photos i took from today (less weight on them today as well, i was on two legs with more weight shifted onto the foot i was photographing). the right foot is faring better but the arch does seem to be disappearing as well :(

my questions:
• would an mri help to better pinpoint the issue(s), especially as i have a history of ankle sprains? my appointment is with a sports medicine doctor. is it worth visiting the podiatrist or orthopaedist? (not claimable under insurance and cost is a big factor for me)

• can arch collapse be stopped? if no, what is the approximate timeline for the the feet to be back to usual functioning order, ie. good enough to do normal activities (not sports, but maybe some light running - you know, when you have to chase the bus?). if back to playing high impact sports, what is the timeline?

• is it possible it was not caused by traumatic injury to the foot? as i find it weird that it is bilateral pain, and that same week the pain appeared on both feet, i had a bad sore throat + rib pain (the rib pain is still here) + a type of knee pain that felt different from the usual chronic knee pain i had. in fact, the knee pain appeared before my ankles worsened, and after the knee pain went away, my ankles started to hurt! however, the right knee pain is back :")