I broke my Tibia and Fibula bones and had surgery last week...my foot is very swollen and my fibula bone has come apart again at the break...it's been a month since i've broken these 2 bones in a car accident...my doctor tells me that the fibula bone will heal itself no matter what...even when its come apart AGAIN? cause in the X-Ray after surgery he put it together where it connected. And now my foot is VERY swollen...he said thats normal too. Any Orthepedics got any idea if this is right?
Sounds like you're laid up and frustrated. Sorry for your plight.
Couple things:
1) No medical advice here. If you want to be evaluated, you need to go see an orthopaedic surgeon.
2) I have no way of knowing anything about you, your fracture or your management without seeing your pre-op films, your post-op films or evaluating you now.
3) I will say the following things about tib-fib fractures IN GENERAL. This is NOT relevant to ankle fractures:
The tibia is the weight-bearing bone of the lower leg. The weight-bearing load of the fibula is 0-16%, depending on who you ask and how you measure. Thus, proper alignment, fixation, and union of the tibia are the goals of treatment. Fibular alignment is not a priority as union rates are high without treatment and malunion is rarely symptomatic. We take the proximal part of the fibula out of people all the time for bone grafting and they do just fine. The only part that you really need is the distal component which makes up the mortise of the ankle joint.
4) Swelling following fractures is common and expected. There is usually a large amount of bruising/discoloration as well. Following some fractures, some people have low-level, but persistent edema in the extremity, sometimes for life. The reason for this is that the injury that leads to a fracture is not solely a boney injury, but also an injury to the soft tissues, including the lymphatics. These do not always fully recover function and can result in chronic low level edema. Again, you CANNOT be evaluated over the internet and if you have concerns you ought to see your surgeon and have them evaluate you.
5) What I said above in NOT an invitation to give more information about your injury in hopes of a more detailed opinion.
Hope this helps,
