Who has experience with a broken leg?

[Tinks]

My 7 year old son had a bike accident Saturday morning and has broken his lower leg (tibia) in 2 places. He was put under and the leg set in a cast from thigh to foot.

Saturday was brutal, obviously. Sunday he did pretty well unless he got an itch under the cast. Today (Monday here already--48 hours post break) he still is refusing to try and stand on his good leg. We think it's fear of pain at this point.

How soon can we expect him to feel better?? Did your child master crutches okay? How soon after the break were you able to do crutches? He'll have his cast 6 weeks and we see the ortho on Friday.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[honugirl]

You can get cast blast at BrokenBeauties.com. I forget what's in it, but it's specially formulated to blow under the cast and stop the itching, but you CAN NOT use it if he has any sort of incision due to risk of infection. They also have totally cool little foot stocking things if his toes get cold. They have a velcro strap on them. Very comfy.

As for the crutches, they don't take much to master on the flat ground. Make sure he gets used to that before trying other surfaces. Don't bother with them on stairs if you have any, have him go up/down on his rear. It's way easier.

You need to get him up and moving. A casted person's worst nightmare is a DVT from being still. I'm not sure how often it happens in kids, but it happened to me when I was in a lower leg cast 2 years ago.

Good luck!

 

[Miz Diz]

Poor thing! Hugs to him.

I broke my leg (tibia and fibula) when I was 8 or 9. My cast was also from thigh down. I was able to walk on crutches that night. I remember the crutches hurt my underarms and lots of itching inside the cast. Of course, we didn't know of any products like the previous post mentioned, so the itching was not fun. I can't remember how long I had the full cast on, but after several weeks, they put me in a walking cast.

My gym teacher made me jump rope in class. I told him I couldn't do it and he insisted that I could because I had 1 good leg and he was right.

One thing my gym teacher told my mom to make sure is that the break was not in a part of the leg that effects your growth. Not sure what it is called. Anyway, my mom asked the doctor and was told my break was 1/2 an inch from the growth line. Might want to find out about that.

 

[browneyes106]

I have experiences with a broken foot. My cast was only from the knee down. It takes a few days to get the hang of the crutches. When I was 10 one of my friends had a knee injury and she did well on crutches. I hope your son recovers well.