A bimalleolar fracture usually requires someone to keep weight off the affected foot for a few weeks, but in most cases, people return to normal daily activities within 3 to 4 months.
Stretching and strengthening exercises supervised by a doctor or physical therapist can help improve ankle function and mobility during the healing process. Request Medical Records.
Search KidsHealth library. A to Z: Fracture, Bimalleolar. May also be called: Pott's Fracture A bimalleolar bi-MAL-ee-uh-lur fracture is a type of broken ankle that happens when parts of both the tibia and fibula called the malleoli are fractured. From developing new therapies that treat and prevent disease to helping people in need, we are committed to improving health and well-being around the world.
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Image courtesy of Danielle Campagne, MD. A fractured ankle is painful and swollen and usually cannot bear weight. The two bones of the lower leg fibula and tibia. The deltoid ligament is found on the inner part of the ankle and provides the majority of the stability of the ankle.
If the deltoid ligament is torn in association with a fracture, the ankle is generally unstable. In the ankle joint or any joint in the body, two or more bones move relative to one another. There is a cushion or lining between the bones, which is called cartilage. Thinning or damage to this cushion can lead to arthritis or inflammation in the joint. Broken ankles are usually caused by a rotational injury, where the ankle becomes twisted, turned or rolled while walking or running, such as during sports activity.
But they can also be caused by a high-force impact, such as from a fall or automobile collision. Breaks that occur suddenly, during a specific incident or injury, are known as traumatic ankle fractures. But a bone in the ankle can also break due to repetitive stress or impact over time. These are called stress fractures.
An ankle stress fracture usually occurs some time after a person begins a new activity that involves significant impact of the foot, such as hiking, running or field sports. They can also occur in an active person who quickly increases their activity, for example when someone who is accustomed to jogging a few miles a week begins to train for a mile marathon. Stress fractures can occur in any of the three ankle bones, especially the tibia or fibula.
They are also common in the navicular bone, which is separate from the ankle, but lies directly beneath the talus. Because the ankle joint comprises three bones, there are numerous types of ankle fractures. Doctors think of the ankle as having three sides and a "roof," and fractures can occur in each of these areas or in combination.
The lower portion of the tibia forms the roof and medial inside of the ankle, while the lower portion of the fibula forms the lateral outside and posterior back of the ankle. As the number of fracture lines increase, so does the risk of long-term joint damage. Trimalleolar ankle fractures and pilon fractures have the most cartilage injury and, therefore, have a higher risk of arthritis in the future.
Nervous I have damage in my foot as the top of foot is still very painful. My job is physical therapy in a nursing home …. I got knocked over and rolled my ankle ending up with a trimalleolar fracture on Feb 11th. This may only be the beginning of my uphill trek, but at least I now have a realistic perspective from which to start. Guess you can just call me Snappy! Watch out! I have a bimalleolar fracture from a freak accident. This is wonderful informative site, which I have found most helpful.
One plate, thirteen screws, two which bind my syndesmotic joint between tibia and fibula are to be removed 12 weeks post surgery. The ankle swells when my leg is vertical and it gets quite painful, but the swelling goes away after elevating my leg.
The ankle joint is still tender and painful under certain movements. I am inspired by all the posts I have read here and I will battle on to make my recovery.
I had the Tri fracture with a dislocation. I limp in the morning due to stiffness. I was not walking without any aid until post op 5 months! People think you should be up and running after six weeks. It was far too damaged. I feel for others going through this.
I fell and dislocated my leg and had a trimalleolar fracture on December I have two plates and thirteen screws—very painful. I am glad I found this information as my doctor did not prepare me for what to expect.
God bless. I had a trimalleolar fracture the day after Thanksgiving, in my own home. Freak accident. Slip and fall on tile floors. This has the been the longest 5 weeks of my life. On top of this, I have a one year old nursing baby. I want to stress as little as possible to heal as quickly as possible. I thought I would be back to my very active self once I could be weight bearing but based after reading this article, it helped me on what to expect realistically.
I think i feel more depressed now though knowing it might be even longer before things return to normalcy. A year and a half ago I had surgery for a trimalleolar fracture.
To be honest you shoud never stop your physical therapy, always find time to do it at home for the next few years if not for the rest of your life. Stretching and working the mussels is something that Im still doing daily. I broke down and joined a gym at 41 years old knowing that I would never be the same if I didnt. Im still about 10lbs off on my repaired left leg, my right is still stronger. I still have pain, but I deal with it and I also walk all day but I can now run at top speed.
My gait was off so my body and to adjust to a new walk, the way my feet hit the ground when I walked. Because of this I developed plantar fasciitis. Be sure to ask your doctor about inserts for your shoes. You will trust your ankle again for the most part to do its job and hold you up while holding lbs and Ive done it and it held me. Good luck to all of you on your recovery. My the force be with you!! My journey to recovery of trimalluear ankle fracture post op slip n fall has been very difficult and slow recovery process.
Finally To get the strength to do pt after being so confined. And then have courage to start putting weight on now healed bones.. Then weaned to crutches 2 weeks. Then 1 crutch slowly barring more and more weight on affected ankle.. I am getting some range of motion back into foot. Flexion is taking a lot longer to rebound.. Gave up the cane and have quit a noticeable waddle to my fair but things are finally moving forward and progress is being made.
It is nothing you can rush and it will come with time lots of time to he and there will be a lot of bad days eventually good ones will come and you have push thru the pain to gain back mobility. I am able to walk few hundred feet and almost 6 minutes intervals.. I can only wear a shoe for about 4 to t hours and it has to come off…. Heat to get moving on am with ankle pump excerises get range of motion and end the day packing it with ice several times before bed while elevating it.
Good luck if you are facing this injury. I had such a silly fall resulting in a trimalleolar fracture of my left ankle. Surgery After reading up on the condition I am happy to report that I appear to be recovering well. Followed Dr. Without the aides to living life over the past few weeks would have been difficult. Now have a full cast on for the next 4 weeks shocking pink before next appointment when I may be able to commence weight baring.
I have to say have been pleasantly surprised by my recovery so far and hope it continues despite my foot looking a bit like a dogs dinner. I have to praise our emergency services and say God bless the NHS. I am a year and a half post tri fracure and I still swell and hurt so much. I get sharp stabbing pains.
Does anyone else have this? Hi Chris. Very stiff every morning and it takes me a while to get going. I have different pains and they move about, but mainly the pain is around the inner ankle bone. I feel for you and it has been a very difficult road for me too. I slipped on day 2 of my holiday. Put in temporary supporting cast had numerous Xrays my consultant said if after three weeks the bones have not moved they will put my foot in a cast and I will not require surgery?
I have been in and out of hospital with pain and large blood blister on ankle where cast been rubbing. I fell and had a trimalleor fx and to go with it a butterfly fibia fracture with a chip broken under it. I developed the blisters after the surgery and caused pain under the cast.
They removed it 8 days postop and put me in a boot with no,wt bearing for at least 12 weeks. I am now at 11 weeks and it has been miserable. Not being able to do for my self is horrible. Next week we are removing 2 of the screws and hopfully I will start therapy in 2 weeks after that. I will still have 2 pieces of hardware and 12 screws in my leg.
I have a very smooth scar that will face over time who I is good cause it is about 10 inches long on the outside of leg. Hoping to walk by Christmas and hoping the nerve pain will go away soon.
I have a trimalleolar fracture and am 12 weeks non-weight bearing. Currently, I am week 6 and will go in for x-rays next week. The problem is I have intense burning at the Medial Malleolar site the bone on the inside of my foot along with the bank across my ankle, which is exacerbated when I do my ROM exercises and burns and stings almost contantly.
Anyone else experience this intense burning pain? On August 6 I broke both ankles…trimalleolar fracture in my left…a broken right ankle and a fractured foot. I am about 6 weeks post surgery and still no weight bearing. After my post op appt I was put in a CAM boot. My right ankle was already in one, no surgery needed.
I have seen so many different posts with different recovery times n NWB times…. This has been a rough, rough situation and am just ready to get back to some normalcy. I am just tired of sitting day in and day out. I would not wish this on my worst enemy. You definitely have to stay positive. Therapy: I has a physical therapist come to me in the hospital to give me my exercises to do on my own and teach me how to use the walker on one foot.
The boot is was heavy so it was helpful to know how to place my left leg on the ground while holding up the affected right leg. When I went home, I was ordered home therapy. Physical therapy and Occupational therapy. So my doc ordered nursing.
Physical therapy taught me how to get around on all my devices and increased the type of exercises I did. I am a pretty active person but coming home and dealing with all the throbbing and leg elevation, I found myself wanting only to sleep and watch Netflix.
Occupational therapy designed a daily Out Of Bed routine to get me up and rolling. A lifesaver really. When I am able to beat some weight, I will be ordered outpatient physical therapy to ease the joints ligaments tendons and muscles back in business. I hope this has been helpful. Therapy is an integral part if this process.
I fell on May 18, and it resulted in a trimaeleolar fracture. The surgery was done on May The surgeon put in one plate and 8 screws. My Doctor told me to start putting weight on it gradually on my last visit. He said he expects me to walk in with a cane at my next visit…I was in a wheel chair at the time.
Is he crazy? It is almost a month since that visit and I am using a walker and am nowhere near putting my full weight on that leg. The pain is pretty bad when I try although I have slowly been able to put more and more weight on it. Is this pain normal? I just experienced a trimal about two weeks ago.. Fracture blisters lready present and all…i have fallen a half dozen times in he spint already. I do stairs in my cruches. Loaded some tires today in a friends trunk.. Do dishes.. Shower even. Its mind over matter pain wise and matter over mind responsibility wise… Ive been resched for operation another 7 days from injury on account of swelling and blisters.
At 22 years old on the street is no way to be with this injury. But i know ill be fine because i wont allow a lazy attempt at recovery.. Prayers for makng it past surgery…heart to make it thru recovery. My break was a trimalleolar.
It was not numb at the time of the break, not after the reduction, and it was not numb pre-surgery. Anyone else have numbness? Thank you for your comment as it pertains to my concern. I am early on as my accident was March 8, Surgery was performed within 24 hours of accident. The coloeing in my toes is good as long as elevated; however, all my toes and the ball of my foot are numb. I have a trimalleolar fracture from a freak fall accident that resulted in several at least 6 screws and a couple 2 maybe 3 plates.
Thank you for the heads up about physical therapy and how long it will take to restore some semblance of normalcy. I am 8 months on after a bi-malleolar fracture. Its a very long process. I was part weight bearing 6 weeks after surgery.
Was walking with limp after 12 weeks,and then i hit a wall. Progress has been extreamly slow. Im still walking with a limp in the morning until it warms up. Still have really bad ROM and pain when doing physio. Every day seems like starting all over again regarding the stiffness.
I think people need to be realistic about the time needed to recover from these bad injuries. It will get better but it takes a lot longer than a year. I was told 6 months by my doc and physio,which was very misleading. I had a Trimalleolar Fracture which was closed by surgery 5.
After x-rays on 6. I know that flies in the face of the months mentioned in the article, but so far their have been limited pain in the ankle and usually only after full range of motion and strength physical therapy. I go back 7. I had my second open reduction internal fixation surgery in my right ankle last april 15 because my first surgery failed and yesterday my doctor removed the cast, 7 weeks after the surgery and advised me to start in just toe — touch. This is right on the timing for weight bearing.
This article is very thorough. I have tried other sites but not as informed as this site. Thank you for your full detailed synopsis of these type of fractures. I can now say i know what i am up against. I slipped and had the tri break in my left foot while on holiday. But when they put it back in place then I felt the pain. Am 54 and had enough of the pain anyone else like me. I have recently ended up with a trimalleolar fracture that I received from a nasty accident.
Never did I think that this injury would have such a devastating impact on my life. I am so dependant on others and equipment, which causes huge frustrations and can be quite upsetting. Not only is my physical health turned upside down, but so is my mental health. A person that experiences this injury must be supported with as much help and support as possible.
This article does a great job explaining the general recovery from bi- and trimalleolar fractures. This is a long process and physical therapists play a big role in the recovery process. It is important that physical therapists understand the surgery each patient went through, in order to help them through the recovery period and help them feel comfortable easing back into weight bearing on the involved extremity. Schedule Appointment. Tid Bits of Info The most common group to suffer these injuries are women over the age of A period of non-weight bearing that lasts months will be required to allow the bones to heal properly.
Seek the advice of a Physical Therapist for the proper rehabilitation treatment program. Treating Bimalleolar and Trimalleolar Fractures The treatment for a bi or trimalleolar fracture begins immediately. Physical Therapy for Bimalleolar and Trimalleolar Fractures Most surgeons wait weeks to start a formal physical therapy routine but it begin immediately. Request an Appointment. Search for:. Submit a Comment Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.
Dick on September 13, at pm. Michael on June 2, at am. Janet Wiseman on May 16, at am. Christa on May 15, at am. Kath on April 23, at pm. All the posts are very helpful…thank you. Thanks again. This page has really helped. Ann on February 20, at pm. Marcus on February 18, at pm.
Mary on February 17, at pm. Karrie on February 7, at pm. Tammy on January 25, at pm. Deb on December 29, at pm. Tammy Pompey on November 28, at pm. Mabro on November 20, at pm. Dan on October 21, at pm. Linda hanratty on October 16, at pm. Good luck to all Reply. Patty on October 14, at pm. Lily on August 13, at pm. Connie on August 7, at pm. Janet on August 2, at pm. Heather on August 1, at pm. Ann on July 27, at pm. I really get a buzz every time I stand and walk, even if it is a little slower at the moment Reply.
Susan on July 25, at am. Joanne on July 27, at am. If I did it, so can you! Joanne on July 13, at am. Jackie on July 10, at pm. Stephen on July 14, at pm.
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