Ever been on crutches?

[monkey68]

Not that long ago, I posted a vent about my annoying knee. Well, it was still bothering me today, so I went and saw a doctor. And joy of joys, he thinks I made my former injury worse. He told me to limit the amount of weight I put on my leg, so he gave me some crutches. Told me I can try to use just 1 and put some weight on the bad leg, but it's not easy. It requires a lot of coordination, which I am sorely lacking at this point. And the best part? I have to go back to the hospital tomorrow since I'm still doing my medicine rotation. I am right now a lot slower at getting around, but when we have rounds, it's run run run. And I used to have to constantly run up and down stairs to radiology or the labs, but I somehow doubt that will happen now. Which isn't exactly a bad thing, per se.

Anyway, just kind of bummed, not sure how I'm going to manage tomorrow. Guess I'll just have to do my best, we'll see. I'm almost afraid my attending is going to yell at me for being "talented" enough to hurt my knee to the point that I can't really bear weight on it.

 

[maxiesmom]

I don't know what to tell you. I have been on crutches multiple times, and while I can do a stair or two, I couldn't do a whole set of stairs. Not to mention it would be very dangerous. And you won't be able to run run run on them either.

Is this an injury that will heal itself, or do you need surgery? Either way try your best to not use that leg, or else you will really end up with a problem. Good luck to you.

 

[redlight]

Are you in med school?

I've only been on crutches briefly about 6 years ago for a twisted ankle.

 

[turkeymama]

It can be frustrating until you get used to it. I had corrective surgery on my foot several years ago and I had to use crutches for about 4 weeks. The hardest part was that I had to use them 24/7, so navigating my house with my then-2 year old was interesting. After you use them for a few days, you should be able to move a little faster with them, but be careful for slippery floors. Don't ask me how I know that.

 

[monkey68]

Are you in med school?

I've only been on crutches briefly about 6 years ago for a twisted ankle.

Yea, I'm in med school. You should think I should know better, but nope, just as accident prone as my patients. Oh well, I'm sure I'm not hte first student to injure themselves, and I won't be the last. Back in July, when I had swine flu, the doc I saw at my school's clinic had torn his biceps tendon and had this huge brace over his arm. I just think I might need to come up with a better story than "I fell down the stairs".

maxiesmom, the question of surgery or not, I'm not sure at this point. I'm hoping no surgery. My doc was saying it's worse than it was, but PCL injuries (which is what I had injured years ago) are really difficult to repair, so there isn't too much you can do. He told me if it's not better in a week or so, he'll do an MRI.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Well the good news is--docs have been injured and still work.

I found it easier to get around on 2 crutches rather than 1. So if you have to run, run, run--I would have suggest 2 as it makes it easier to move faster.

 

[bumbershoot]

Just think how much more empathetic you will be for your patients, having to deal with this. It will make you a better caregiver.

Any chance of using a wheelchair instead of the crutches? I will tell you, crutches HURT. They hurt your back (especially using one), they hurt your armpit (I've heard that properly fitted ones won't but I never ran into a doc who would take the time to help with that...hey, another thing you can draw from in the future), they just hurt. For very long shifts, wheeling around might be a million times better than the crutches.

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

I've been on crutches several times because I have one weak ankle. One thing that might help with the armpit pain that bumbershoot mentioned is padding the pads that are already on the crutches with towels. It always helped me. Those pads just aren't soft enough. I don't know about the back pain since crutches have never caused me back pain.

 

[LindaG4458]

Just think how much more empathetic you will be for your patients, having to deal with this. It will make you a better caregiver.

Any chance of using a wheelchair instead of the crutches? I will tell you, crutches HURT. They hurt your back (especially using one), they hurt your armpit (I've heard that properly fitted ones won't but I never ran into a doc who would take the time to help with that...hey, another thing you can draw from in the future), they just hurt. For very long shifts, wheeling around might be a million times better than the crutches.

I agree with the wheelchair suggestion. I have been on crutches many times and the armpits hurt worse than the leg injury. Also, if you have to carry writing materials to take notes, etc., the wheelchair would be easier. Someone might take pity and push your chair, too.

 

[minkydog]

Just think how much more empathetic you will be for your patients, having to deal with this. It will make you a better caregiver.

Any chance of using a wheelchair instead of the crutches? I will tell you, crutches HURT. They hurt your back (especially using one), they hurt your armpit (I've heard that properly fitted ones won't but I never ran into a doc who would take the time to help with that...hey, another thing you can draw from in the future), they just hurt. For very long shifts, wheeling around might be a million times better than the crutches.

That's what I was going to suggest. I broke my ankle a couple years ago and had to go on NO weight bearing for about 6 weeks. It was very hard--I nearly killed myself on those crutches. Everything in my house is upstairs or downstairs. I learned pretty quickly to abandon the crutches on the stairs--scoot on your bottom going up, slide going down. In my house I used a computer chair to roll around in. But at work I used a w/c. I got pretty good at wheeling myself around too.

The hardest thing for me was getting in and out of hte bathtub on one foot. I found that if I put a towel down on the floor of the tub I didn't slip. I also put a lawn chair in the tub and sat in that holding my hand-held shower head so I could sit down and relax, instead of trying to balance on one foot. A fall in the bathroom I did not need.

 

[minkydog]

I agree with the wheelchair suggestion. I have been on crutches many times and the armpits hurt worse than the leg injury.

You know what hurt me the most? Bearing weight on my hands. I have bad arthritis in my thumbs and it got so flared up I couldn't use my hands at all. I'm a nurse. I need my hands. I ended up getting cortisone injections into the base of each thumb and required PT to get some function back.

 

[monkey68]

Just think how much more empathetic you will be for your patients, having to deal with this. It will make you a better caregiver.

Any chance of using a wheelchair instead of the crutches? I will tell you, crutches HURT. They hurt your back (especially using one), they hurt your armpit (I've heard that properly fitted ones won't but I never ran into a doc who would take the time to help with that...hey, another thing you can draw from in the future), they just hurt. For very long shifts, wheeling around might be a million times better than the crutches.

No way can I use a wheelchair. It's just not maneuverable enough. And the nurses stations are small enough as it is, so wheelchair is pretty much out. I'm pretty sure the crutches are fitted properly, he adjusted them a few times to get the right height, and I'm sure if it's not fitted right, the PT at the hospital will jump in and fix them (he's that type of person).

 

[mamajoan]

If you do not feel confident using a crutches consider a walker.. if you really need to limit the weight bearing of the injured leg.

check your pm's
sent you some instructions....

best wishes!

 

[C.Ann]

DD has gone from a wheelchair to two crutches to currently using one crutch - over the course of the past year and a half..

The traditional crutches were very uncomfortable for her - hard to manage - and of course caused the usual arm pit pain.. She was able to get rid of the traditional crutches and replace them with "elbow" crutches (only come up to your elbow, with a hard cuff type thing that wraps around your arm just above the elbow).. The difference is like night and day.. No more unnecessary pain and they're not clumsy at all.. Perhaps you could see if you could find a pair of those.. A good start would be to call around to the medical durable goods suppliers in your area..

Good luck - and I hope you feel better soon..

 

[monkey68]

Just back from the hospital, apparently, it's their policy that you can't use any crutches or walkers or things of that sort and be directly involved in patient care, since it's a liability and you can't full perform all the requirements. So they said I can't go back until I have medical clearance. So now I'm trying to make an appointment with my doctor to give me clearance to walk without crutches because I really don't want to fail the rotation over something like this. I walked on it for a couple days, I can manage. And my intern is nice, he would let me leave early. Wonderful, isn't it?

They told me last year, they had a resident break her leg skiing and she had to be pulled from the program for 3 weeks. Another time, a surgery student broke her ankle and got pulled from the rotation, had to make it up later. Grr....

 

[rw2009@comcast.net]

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