Please help, I've broken my heel bone!

[Jens]

Does anyone know anything about broken heel bones?

I was bouldering a highball topout yesterday and one of the finishing holds snapped unexpectedly. I fell about 20 feet and landed wrong in the talus below. Thanks so much to the other climbers and others that helped me. X-rays said that I have a broken heel bone. The ER docs put a temporary hard cast on the back of the leg and wrapped it up and told me to see an othropedic specialist when I get back to King County.

*How long do these things take to heel? I'm in a ton of pain right now!

*Since I am told all the orthopedic guys are on holiday, will the bone start to heal wrong if left alone for 4-5 days before I can see anyone?

*Do I have any other options to get this thing treated sooner?

* Anyone else ever break a heel climbing?

* The ER doc said that climbing is probably out for the summer-really?

*Will I have heel sensitivity for much of my life?

*Does anyone know a good orthopedic specialist in the greater Seattle area?

Please help

 

 

[DirtyHarry]

Sorry Jens. That sucks!!! Us old guys have to be careful with that bouldering shiz.

[DPS]

*How long do these things take to heel? I'm in a ton of pain right now!

 

I broke the bottom of my tibia, right above the heel bone. It healed in 6 weeks. (The ligaments and tendons I tore are taking much longer)

 

*Since I am told all the orthopedic guys are on holiday, will the bone start to heal wrong if left alone for 4-5 days before I can see anyone?

 

I walked around for 10 days on my broken leg before getting a correct diagnosis. It healed fine.

 

*Does anyone know a good orthopedic specialist in the greater Seattle area?

 

I was pleased with Dr. Eric Heit at Virginia Mason in Issaquah. He specializes in sports injures of the ankles and feet. He also operated on my wife's foot and achilles tendon with good results.

[Winter]

I broke my heelbone on a boulder problem in college. How did yours break? Your sounds a bit wrose than mine. I had a clean horizontal fracture from front to back through the heel bone. I didn't get a cast, and it took about 6-8 weeks to heal. I spent some time on crutches. Took another month or two before I felt confident on it.

[catbirdseat]

Mr. Layton is still up at Mazama. I expect he'll be back tomorrow to offer some sage advice.

[sk]

did you look at the x-ray? are we talking you broke in in two or you fractured it? I think you are okay as far as it isn't going to heal too much in the few days before you see the doc. just take it easy and stay off of it. do you have some one to care for you?

 

i hope you heal well.

 

man injuries abound this year

[NTM]

*How long do these things take to heel? I'm in a ton of pain right now!

 

 

good pun

sorry to hear you're out at the beginning of the season.

A friend of mine broke his heel and after a few weeks was in the gym TRing easy overhanging stuff using only his good leg, kept the arms in shape.

[Jens]

Wow! cc'ers have always been the most caring folks.

Perhaps I'll throw a top rope on something cavish in the gym in a month.

I hope Layton and others can weigh in when they get back.

----

I'm having a tough time getting around on the crutches as the other heel is pretty banged up also. At first glance at the x-rays they thought the other heel was broken also. Luckily it isn't otherwise they said I'd be in a wheelchair.

----

Didn't this happen to Chris Sharma sometime back?

----

Thanks for all the awesome advice. Keep it coming.

Jens K.

[i_like_sun]

I had a really bad tib - fib fracture about 8 years ago. Completely blasted my growth plate, and tore a bunch of lateral ligaments. It happend in June, had a bunch of srews put in, and by mid summer I was able to hike. Honestly though it took a full year for the inflamation and ligamental injuries to tighten up and feel solid again. The good new is that bones heal completely and beautifully.......

 

*Will I have heel sensitivity for much of my life?

*Does anyone know a good orthopedic specialist in the greater Seattle area?

Please help

 

1) I am guessing no. My fracture was insanely bad, and its strong and perfect now.

 

2) Dr. Bruce Rolfe at the knee, foot and ankle clinic in the Evergreen Medical Center. First of all, he's had insanely good success with knee and ankle injuries, but perhaps even more importantly, he climbs. When I was injured he completely understood that I HAD to be active that summer; so even on the day after my surgery he had me doing weight baring exercises and assited walking.......

 

Good luck Jens:-)

[suckbm]

Bummer to hear that jens. where were you bouldering?

[yesman]

I broke my heel (calcaneus bone) 5 months ago taking a 15-footer. I was hard casted for 3 weeks, then removable cast for 3 weeks. Depending on where your fracture is it's important to be non-weight bearing so that the pull of the achilles tendon (which attaches to the calcaneus) doesn't disrupt healing of the bone - this may mean crutches the whole time. Once off the crutches I felt the bone was fully healed - it was the achilles tendon that was sore and needed to be slowly stretched and strengthened. I was running/climbing at 100% about four months after the fall.

 

Good luck!

[layton]

Hey Jen's relax, you'll be fine...in 6-8 weeks. A fracture is a fracture as far as healing time goes-from a hairline to a complete break. 6-8 weeks.

There's almost nothing anyone can do to help speed up the recovery if the bone doesn't need to be re-set. Luckily, it's not a very movable joint, so it should be very stable. You will need to completely stay off of it for that 6-8 weeks and have it casted. You could do that yourself if the bones are in good approximation. You probably don't need to see an orthopedist, the x-ray should be clear enough. If it is splintered or offset, then yeah, get surgery quick since that will be the day One of your 6-8 weeks,

 

To help speed it up, take lots of calcium, Vit D, and vitamin C.

Weight bearing includes any part of your foot since your toes would full on your calf, and act as a fulcum on your calcaneus (heel bone). Eat lots of food and stay as active as possible.

 

After the 6-8 weeks there will be residual pain and scar tissue that will make it hard to walk and climb. Microtrauma to the soft tissues around the fracture, and upstream and down will make your calf and ankle stiff and sore for a while. The trick is to just push yourself to the limit of pain...then back off. You should be climbing by august. You'll probably be walking differently after the bone heals, so you'll want to make sure you're gait isn't affected badly. Oh, and there should be no concerns about a loss of sensitivity over your heel.

 

Good luck and give me a call if you have any questions. I will help you rehab at my clinic then if you'd like.

[Jens]

Thanks again guys!

 

[sk]

Mikey you RULE!!!

[i_like_sun]

Mikey you RULE!!!

 

 

 

Dido. I really appreciate the knowledge we can all gane from these discussions.

[icegirl]

uh. I'm in dissent. Broken talus or calc can hose you big-time according to the doc's I work with. Get a good orthopedist who specializes in feet to at very least look at the x-ray. The talus is very important for angles and support in the foot. Kind of like the 'cornerstone' in a bridge.

[marylou]

Jens, check your email if you haven't already. This may be a pretty serious injury.

 

AW

[crackers]

I'm in dissent as well. Find the highest quality doc ASAP.

 

As some may know, the foot in the liability page of my company is that of my wife. http://www.cilogear.com/corp/liability.shtml

 

Fractures of the bones in the feet have nothing to do with fractures of tib-fib or any other high blood flow area. Fractures of the talus or calc do not always heal, and can take months to recover. They can die in the meantime, and then you're in for a world of hurt, expensive surgeries and very bad outcomes. You probably aren't so bad, but why even potentially allow yourself to go there if you don't have to. Please don't take this the wrong way everybody, it's just that when you enter into the world of ankle fractures, it's not broken legs and it's not normal medicine.

 

Find a superior orthopedic surgeon who specializes on feet and ankles immediately, doctor shop your heart out and see what you can find. Make sure you find a doc who knows ankles, knows that you intend to do sports and even land on your ankle again. You do NOT want to experience avascular necrosis of anything in your foot.

 

Previous conversations I've had with marylou lead me to think that I remember that she knows some good docs.

[mneagle]

I disagree as well. In my previous life as an ER doc I knew a little about these things. There are a few different kinds of fractures that are all "heel fractures" but are all very different. Some are avulsion fractures where a ligament pulls a piece of bone off. Others involve fractures to various parts of the calcaneus (heel bone), with or without joint involvement. There are a multitude of different scenarios and some of them have some important (often ancient) surgeon's name attached to them. If it involves the joint, that is a very bad thing and almost always requires surgery. Even an extra-articular fracture (not involving the joint) if it heals displaced can cause a lot of problems and require additional surgery. See an foot specialist soon and stay non-weight bearing until you do.

 

On the up-side, there are quite a few possibilities that could still be treated with a cast and no surgery with good recovery potential.

 

It's been a few years since i lived in Seattle, but Harborview used to have a couple of ortho foot specialists that I thought did a good job.

 

Edited to add link to the Harborview Foot and Ankle Clinic:

Harborview Foot and Ankle Clinic

Edited May 29, 2007 by mneagle

[JosephH]

As said above, a break that involves tendon attachement points or joints is an order of magnitude more serious than one that is essentially a "chip". The fact you're in a hard cast versus a soft one or no cast says quite a bit by itself. The latter may well be a 6-8 week job, but the form is definitely more of a 4 month one. I've done a minor heel break and ankle sprain of the 6-8 week variety, but there was absolutely no complcations of any kind. Find out what the real story is and post back up with the details of what else is or is not involved in the break.

[rhyang]

I broke my talus in 1993 (I was 27 then) in a motorcycle accident - that bone gets poor blood supply, and I was told I had a 50% chance of ever walking again. I spent 3 months in a plaster cast, and had to have physical therapy for a while afterwards. It took two years to really heal and it still bothers me after a really long day, but yoga and regular exercise helps a lot.

 

I just broke the calcaneus in my other foot at the end of March, after a bad bouldering fall outside (sounds familiar). The ER doc said the fracture was clean, and that while sometimes these things need surgical reduction it was likely that I would simply need 6 weeks in a cast. They put me in a temporary dressing since the foot was very swollen.

 

I did not see an orthopedist until about 6 days after the accident due to scheduling issues. They took some x-rays, put me in a temporary splint and scheduled a CT scan. The bone had been broken in an unusual place, where it is supposedly strongest. I rested, kept the foot elevated, and kept watch for compartment syndrome.

 

About two weeks after the accident the swelling had gone down, and the doc put me in a fiberglass cast (non-weight-bearing) for five weeks. After looking at the CT results the doc said no surgery was required.

 

Two weeks into that (four weeks after the accident) I found myself extremely bored, and went back to the gym regularly. I did not weight that foot, but worked out on the weight machines, did what stretching I could, and worked on my core.

 

A week ago (seven weeks after the accident) they removed the cast, took another x-ray and put me in a removable walking cast, with an adjustable air pump. It's healing, but I'm 40 years old now, and I guess things don't mend as quickly as they used to. I'm not supposed to hike or climb or ride my bike for three more weeks, at which time I'll go back and they'll look at progress so far.

 

The calf muscle in that leg was pretty shriveled after the fiberglass came off, but I'm working on it ... there's a calf press machine at the gym and they said I could ride the stationary bikes (great to be able to do anything aerobic again). I've also started doing some light bouldering and campusing on V0's & such, but for obvious reasons am very careful about where the landing pad is ...

 

Good luck and quick healing !

[marylou]

I broke my talus as well at one point in my life. One thing I learned is that it can be difficult to spot a talus fracture, and the first two docs missed it in xrays. I cracked my calc at the same time as the talus. Calc healed fine with no surgery, talus required surgery and no weight bearing for what seemed like ages.

 

Long term=calc no problems, talus still bugs me today.

[sirwoofalot]

I am not a Doctor, and I don't play one on TV either. My non professional medical advice to you is to seek quality professional medical advice.

 

I do not mean to dis the caring shown by so many on cc, but well, I really think you need to seek professional medical advice first.

 

 

[layton]

I broke my talus as well at one point in my life. One thing I learned is that it can be difficult to spot a talus fracture, and the first two docs missed it in xrays. I cracked my calc at the same time as the talus. Calc healed fine with no surgery, talus required surgery and no weight bearing for what seemed like ages.

 

Long term=calc no problems, talus still bugs me today.

 

 

 

He said heel bone, not ankle bone.

[marylou]

He said heel bone, not ankle bone.

 

And I was making the assumption from his posts that he'd not had the X-Rays looked over by an orthpedic surgeon. It's my understanding, and been my experience, that certain bone breaks are more difficult to diagnose than others.