Ankle growth plate fracture

[Gags]

With my youngest daughter, I've been successful in avoiding the dreaded wrist buckle fracture from trampolines and monkey bars. My (well, her) luck ran out yesterday while sledding (for the first time in 2 years), resulting in a fractured growth plate in her ankle. All things considered, it’s probably better, when you and your friends are about to hit a tree, to try to stop yourself with your foot, rather than, say, your face or head.

So after a trip to the pediatrician, and then over to the ortho, we're looking at 3 weeks in a cast. Which is probably the same amount of time she'd be out-of-commission if it was just a bad sprain.

It sounds like this is a common injury - should we expect PT or other rehab to do? Have any of you experienced any long-term setbacks or chronic issues as a result of similar injuries?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[Rolling Hard]

Son had that injury. He had a walking cast. 3 week sounds right. Can still work on upper body and hitting from a chair. She can still play catch. She should be good to go in no time.

 

[docnsx01]

With my youngest daughter, I've been successful in avoiding the dreaded wrist buckle fracture from trampolines and monkey bars. My (well, her) luck ran out yesterday while sledding (for the first time in 2 years), resulting in a fractured growth plate in her ankle. All things considered, it’s probably better, when you and your friends are about to hit a tree, to try to stop yourself with your foot, rather than, say, your face or head.

So after a trip to the pediatrician, and then over to the ortho, we're looking at 3 weeks in a cast. Which is probably the same amount of time she'd be out-of-commission if it was just a bad sprain.

It sounds like this is a common injury - should we expect PT or other rehab to do? Have any of you experienced any long-term setbacks or chronic issues as a result of similar injuries?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

you are quite lucky to have that injury, as long as the fracture is not truly through the epiphyseal plate (growth plate ) and just a little separated your daughter will be absolutely fine. rehab or therapy is usually not needed for the injury specifically but depending on the length of being immobile therapy is just used to get the range of motion back in said ankle more from being immobilized vs the injury itself.. look for a good ankle brace to play with moving forward initially, not a pull on sleeve or air cast but a lace up one with molded plastic and figure 8 straps.. because everyone is so caught up on osseous (bone issues) they forget the soft tissue ligaments that are also injured from injury and those are not supported longer then the three weeks for salter Harris fractures (growth plates) she will have future ankle instability.. best thing in my world is kids all heal, small bump in road and will be fine

 

[Gags]

docnsx01 - thanks so much for the advice. I'll check the dr's notes - it didn't show up on the xray, but I'm assuming that if it was through the plate, she'd be in the cast for longer than 3 weeks (and probably would have been in much more pain from the ortho poking around her ankle bones).

I'll be asking the ortho when we get the cast off, but do you have any opinion on this kind (https://www.ultraankle.com/ankle-braces/) vs. a lace-up one? (Amazon product ASIN B00HDEIK4O)

While there's never a "good" time to break an ankle, the timing of this puts her on the sideline cheering on her flag football teammates just as league playoffs start, and 1-2 weeks before a 3v3 outdoor basketball mini-season starts (regular indoor 5v5 season cancelled). So I get to be HC of a team my daughter may never get to play with. (There's probably easier ways to avoid the "Daddy ball" label!)

 

[docnsx01]

Send me direct message .. I will be more than happy to advise