broken fib. and painful ankle.

[Gallypro]

Hi doc. thanks for the reply, much apprciated. first  i should tell you that  me and another person slipped on ice and my friend fell on my leg causing the fracture, not sure but i may have rolled my ankle at the same time . You mentioned radiographs, not exactly sure what that is but Ive had my sergion look at few X-rays, he was looking at the space between the bones in tha ankle, his concern was wether or not to put a screw in, cause apparently my fractured fibula can cause swelling in the the ankle and thus spreding the bones out of posistion causing instability but he thinks the x-rays look alright, so he sent me home after 6 weeks and asked me to come back in 3 weeks, should i be pushing for a sooner date.

[Gallypro]

the clicking I was refering to , I think might be coming from the fracture to my fib. that is half way up my leg, It was broken straite through with one or two fragments as well. The clicking is not frequent and quite faint. Might there be a non union or maybe it is just a frament that didn't bond, none the less , could this be a symptom of non union or would there be much harsher sypmtoms to indicate non union?

[JainMD]

Hi,
I am not sure whether the clicking sound is coming from knee or not as it is not clear from your post.
But yes any clicking or popping sound suggests that there could be some ligament injury or ligament weakness.
You need to get it checked physically by some orthopaedician.

[Gallypro]

My fibula isn't flopping around like it did for the first few days after injury ,but it is tender if I apply pressure from the side with my hand or against another object, sometimes when im shifting around like in bed for example I think i might be sensing some sort of faint clicking, could be reinating from my knee, i'm not to sure. If there is a non union would I feel more than what I've described?

[JainMD]

Hi,
Yes, if you have ligament instability and you have fracture too and on top of that if you do weight bearing without getting ligament stability then it would be difficult for fracture union.
Even if it does heal, we have to monitor the progress.
Bye.

[Gallypro]

Do you mean to say that if I have ligament damadge( which im sure i do) then bearing weight can cause fracture instability?

[JainMD]

Hi Gally,
I am sorry that I am not able to respond you on time. But I feel you are online at this hour.
If you are comfortable with your exercise of your ankle, then it should not be stopped on mild pain, but you can reduce the repetition of each exercise to minimum tolerable level.
If while doing that underwater exercise you have any ligament, tendon or nerve damage, the first sign would be feeling of giving away at ankle joint.
Theoretically it should not delay your recovery if you have accompanied ligament injury, but yes this injury might cause fracture instability and hence mal-union or non-union can occur.
Keep me informed if you have any queries.
Bye.