Anyone have a broken leg?

[Pepper Kittie]

Hey all! So I was thinking... in my manga Advocate, Shiro has a broken leg, and keeps it for quite a while, but I have absolutely no idea what having one is like. My shoulder was dislocated when I was 8 (funny story xD I'll tell if you wanna know) but I've never broken any limbs. Can anyone tell me anything about the experience, like how long it takes to heal, what you wear, how you walk or move, anything? It'd probably help me a LOT! ^__^

[CrimsonRyu17]

don't make me make a list of seriouse injurys to me please but i did have a broken little finger once with a chip of bone out of place. It hurt and i barely could write.
P.S.please don't do it just to get out of school trust me. its not worth it i've had a lot of friends who thought of that.

[shooraijin]

Broken legs can take months to heal, typically two or three. Initially you'd be splinted (never cast immediately -- the swelling from the fracture takes a few days to go away and in the process you could get a compartment syndrome in a bad cast and cut off the circulation to the leg!!). A week or so later, they'd take you out of the splint, X-ray it, and then put you into some sort of long leg cast, typically above the knee (not all the way up to the thigh, though ... ouch). You can wear shorts with it. The long leg cast, depending on the injury, may be made into a walking cast so that you can put weight on it, and possibly have a strap-on shoe sole on the bottom. Repeat X-rays may be taken in or out of plaster depending on how much of a stickler your orthopedist or family doctor is. Finally, one day you get it off!

Note that this only applies for shaft fractures of the foreleg (below the knee), not the thigh (femur), and not the ankle. Ankle fractures require pinning and usually are NOT allowed to weight-bear (i.e., crutches). Femur fractures are seriously bad news and need pinning, and depending on the technique, an intramedullary rod or Nancy nails (or traction, sometimes) to stabilize it. You'd be in bed for a long time with one of these.

Hope that helped.

[Pepper Kittie]

Thanks you two. It helps a lot ^_^ You know so much about broken legs Shooraijin, I'm impressed! May I ask you some questions? Shiro does break his foreleg but in the least severe way. (Do you know what that would be called?) I was hoping that he could walk on it to an extent, but be taught by someone to still fight while having it, just in a way that he'd be supporting his weight on the other leg and a staff. Does this sound at all possible? I was writing it out and I got to thinking that maybe this is totally impractical and people would call me on it XD In his world there's little technology, so no X-rays or machines to help. How soon after breaking it would it have to be set in place, or would it have to be at all?

All I know about breaks comes from first aid class, so I only know how to make a simple splint. After a while should he have some sort of cast?

[shooraijin]

A few years of medical school and anyone will know something about fractures.

All fractures must be immobilized. A splint is a temporary measure only -- standard of care in today's medical world is to cast all fractures wherever possible to maintain maximum immobility. Like I said, the reason they don't slap one on immediately is because of swelling. As soon as the risk of this goes away, into the cast you go.

If there's "no technology," however, then some sort of immobilizing aid other than a cast might be okay, including a splint, but it would need to be extremely rigid. Maybe something with a metal backplate, with padding on it, and then straps and front metal reinforcement with inner padding. (The inner padding is needed because metal on skin = pressure sores = bad idea. Ask me if whatever design you come up with is practical and makes sense, and I'll review it for you.)

A closed (i.e. not open, no bone showing) fibular shaft (i.e. not involving the knee or ankle) fracture would be the mildest. For a fibular fracture (your shin is the tibia, so that's the other smaller bone), he wouldn't necessarily need a long leg cast and could bend his knee. For a tibial (shin) fracture, a long leg cast is usually required. If you decided that a splint works in better with your design and story, then the splint must go above the knee like a long leg cast would. For a fibular fracture, below the knee is okay. All of these involve the ankle, and the ankle must be fixed at 90 degrees. The knee is immobilized out straight (except for ankle fractures, where it is set at an angle, often 45-60).

[Pepper Kittie]

I think a fibular fracture sounds the best. I was thinking earlier that he'd just sprain his ankle, but I think breaking his leg would work better. Being able to bend his knee is good... otherwise he wouldn't be able to move much. But he can't bend his ankle at all then, huh? That'll be interesting XD With a break like that, after it's broken does it need to be set back into place, or is it okay on its own?

I'll do some sketches soon and post them here. Thank you so much for offering to help! This'll make it a lot more realistic. I'm glad ^_^

[shooraijin]

It needs to be reduced back to its original anatomic form immediately at or as soon after the time of fracture as possible, before he's put in the splint. An open fracture (i.e., the bones are sticking out) needs to be reduced and fixated in the operating room.

In either case, he can't move his ankle, or he'll destabilize the splint. For a fibular fracture, he could get away with a short leg cast (knee not restricted) and he could walk on it with a shoe -- or in your case, a special rigid splint, if you like.

I'll watch for your sketches.

[Kiba-kun]

I fractured my ankle this summer and had to get a cast with crutches. I went to the hospital and they said nothing was broken (probably didn't show cause of the swelling) but when i went to see the family practitioner (sp?) she said that it probably was broken and that i should go see this other doctor and we learned that it was fractured (And i was walking on it for like a week with it fractured). so they put a cast on and had weekly X-ray's for about three months. even thought i wasn't supposed to walk on it alot i did anyway and freaked my cousin out when she saw me doing it so i'd say it takes about three to four months to heal fully (with exceptions)

as for anything about broken limbs i couldn't tell you since this was the closest to a break i've ever been too.

Also..
Crutchs and stairs don't mix! so i'd advise you don't try it if you aren't looking for a broken neck.

[animegirl1]

wow i broke my anckle last year getting off the bus (i didnt fall down the stairs or anything i just broke it taking the last big step off)rofl i know im a clutz
actually that was the first bone ive ever broken i havnt even been stung by anything yet lol
owe and if it helps ya when they take the cast off you walk funny (it took me a whole day or two to get walking normal lol)

[Pepper Kittie]

Crutchs and stairs don't mix! so i'd advise you don't try it if you aren't looking for a broken neck.

Aww, too bad there's no stairs in Matar's house. In a comic, that sounds like it could be a funny scene XD Though he falls over quite enough for his leg. Poor guy. I'm glad you're leg is better Kiba-kun, that sounds like a real pain! But knowing that you were able to walk on it some helps. I wasn't sure if it was unrealistic to have Shiro do so.

Ouch. Just stepping made it break? I don't think that makes you a clutz, Animegirl. Just unfortunate. Aiee. I'm glad I've never broken anything. But thanks for sharing, it helps. And about how it affects the way that you walk.

Hey Shooraijin, in order to keep his ankle in place the splint will have to go down past his ankle like a boot, right? Origionally I just had a splint from his ankle up just below the knee, but I might have to change that now. This is what it used to be in the manga, and a sketch of what he looks like standing up:




It was really simple. Maybe too simple XD No padding or anything. So will it need to be on his skin and not over his pants or does that matter? What do I need to change?

[shooraijin]

Well, it has to be on *all* the time -- i.e., he shouldn't be taking it off. So unless he's not changing his pants (!), it should probably go on the skin, and he *will* need padding. If you want to show the splint, I'd just make that pants leg into "cutoffs."

Yes, it must extend over the ankle and keep it at 90 degrees, immobile.

[Pepper Kittie]

LOL! Good point about the pants... he'll look kinda funny with only one pant leg XD Maybe he'll just have his pants over the splint. I have absolutely no idea how to draw a splint that goes over the ankle, though... do you have any suggestions/descriptions/pictures, Shooraijin? Then I can sketch something out and you can tell me if it looks practical ^__^ Is it a whole boot, can it be hidden by his shoes or will it go over, ect. I have absolutely no idea in the world.

... is it totally impractical to have him occasionally putting his weight on it in fights? While his leg is broken he's still being trained to fight by another character who's trying to undo some of the training that he's recieved as a Rebel. I can't just have him take it easy for a few months, then get into it. That'd just be too strange XD And there just isn't the time to allow him to wait according to the storyline. Eventually he'll be healed of it, but not in the months it normally takes... I was planning on God working a miracle and healing it overnight a couple weeks after it's broken. But stepping onto the leg even with a splint will still cause him pain, right?

[shooraijin]

No, he can put weight on it, if it's one of the simple fractures I talked about -- people get walking casts for that all the time. He just has to stay in the splint at all times. With real splints, there's just a backing that stretches over the heel -- the "crossbeams," if you will, only occur over the top of the foot and over the Achilles tendon, not actually over the heel itself.

It doesn't need to be a whole boot, but if it is, it needs to be a) rigid b) padded c) with openings for air.