One for either the hive mind or the medics in our pack…

My wife has got a “classic” spiral fracture of both bones in her left lower leg and, since Monday, a nice shiny piece of titanium going from the knee to the ankle to hold the tibia together.

She’s already not keen on this whole staying at home and taking it easy thing, and I was wondering if anyone had experience of how long:

a) she’ll be in a cast
b) she can’t drive for
c) before she’ll be back to full strength

Doc has quoted 4-6 months before fully healed, but if anyone has any experience of said injury, I’d really appreciate the benefit of that.

Cheers all.

A friend of mine had similar a few years ago.

From what I remember the titanium rod will take the weight meaning that she can use her legs much sooner than if she had a lesser break and didn’t have the rod.

My friend was up and about on crutches almost immediatley after the operation. I cant remember how long he had a cast on for though.

Not exactly the same, but I broke my Tib and Fib in October of last year. I had a spiral fracture of the Fib and transverse compound fracture of the Tib. I was in a non load bearing cast for 6 weeks (with hindsight I should’ve taken the advice for it to remain on for another 2 weeks) and was in agony for about 2 more weeks after that, but was walking completely unaided by 8-9 weeks. Full mobility to the point of riding was achieved at 12-14 weeks.

[EDIT] – I drove as soon as the cast was removed. I tried driving in it but, it was a no go. I commuted about 4 miles per day on crutches.