How much pain am I in for, ortho surgery

[softpoint]

I had my wrist screwed back together years ago. Doctor said the screw was likely to bother me indefinitely unless I had it removed later. He was right. I had it taken out about a year later.

[ThisLadyHunts]

I’ve heard it said and It’s been my experience that trauma (whether from injury or surgery) to hard bone is far less painful than trauma to soft tissue (muscle, cartilage, ligament/tendon). I hope you find this to be true as well.

[RifleBowPistol]

I’ve heard it said and It’s been my experience that trauma (whether from injury or surgery) to hard bone is far less painful than trauma to soft tissue (muscle, cartilage, ligament/tendon). I hope you find this to be true as well.

Yes and no. I have broken bones multiple times, the initial break, does hurt a bit, but fades to a tolerable pain, within minutes, other times. Multiple of the times I have broken a bone, I did not know it initially, I felt pain, but had no idea, I broke a bone, until I started looking at the area where I know something happened. Then it was usually pretty obvious, that there was a broken bone. If the broken ends are jammed together or ground together, that can produce some serious pain.
One of my dirt bike accidents, I snapped my right leg, half way between my ankle and knee. I felt pain from my leg, the bike came down on my leg and I dropped on top of the bike. My right foot was flat on the ground under the bike, when the bike and myself came down on my leg. I felt pain, but did not seem bad. Then I tried to stand up and did not know why I was leaning to the right so badly. Then looked down and saw my right leg was folded about half way between my knee and ankle. That's when I knew I broke my leg on that occasion. I set the break and rode the bike the rest of the way up the hill, then down the hill and back to the truck. By the time I got to the truck, my right leg was swollen up a lot and changing colors, and I was feeling a good bit more pain. The reason I was feeling so much pain, was I was riding with my right foot on the peg, I had to, to keep the bike up. So the whole ride back to the truck, the two ends of the break were getting jammed together. That caused quite a bit of pain. It was a fun ride back to the truck.

On the last accident, where I shattered my leg, I don't know why, but when they put my leg back together, with those screws and plates, the level of pain I felt for about three days afterwards, was well beyond anything I had ever felt before. I have been through a lot over the years.
I have sprained both ankles multiple times, I actually have a sprained right ankle currently. I sprained it on our trip to Tennessee, we just got back from. I don't feel much pain from the sprained ankle. I have sprained it twice in the last two months. When I initially sprained it two months ago, instantly, the pain was very high, but faded, within ten minutes. My ankle was swollen for a while. The swelling was almost gone, then I sprained it again on a trail in the Smoky Mountains, over the weekend. The pain this time around was never bad at all, it is swollen up, but not much pain at all. The first two times I sprained my ankles back when I was a teenager, it was painful for a good while. I don't know why my sprained ankle does not hurt much now, it looks like it should hurt a lot.
I have had both knees injured multiple times, that has caused many years of pain, my first knee injuries were very painful, for many weeks. Joint injuries, hurt or ache longer because of the damaged cartilage and then the fact the bones that make up the joint are moving very often. From what I have been told cartilage damage does not ever heal. So you can have bone rubbing on bone, with no insulator between them.
Then tendon damage can also be painful, for quite a while. I have ripped many tendons over the years. Three years ago, I popped a tendon in the back of my right leg, it hurt for months. Finally after about four months it quit hurting. Then I reinjured it, moving some heavy furniture, about six months ago. I am sure, it never healed properly.

I have multiple joint injuries, I can tell you those will cause you a lot of pain for years. Breaks heal and the pain goes away quickly typically, because the two pieces are not impacting each other anymore, once the break heals. Running screws, pins or rods, into bones, is a whole new deal. That creates odd pains, that can last a long time. I still have all of the screws and plates in my left leg, they have not caused me any pain, in probably nine to ten years. For the first three years, there were various odd pains. The longest lasting pain, was the one screw, that is poking into a muscle, if it was not for that one screw, I would have had a lot less pain, related to the screws in my leg. I would say only about two years of pain, coming from the bone, as a result of the screws.

Anyone who tells you, there are no nerves in bones, so bone damage does not hurt, is completely full of crap. I always get the desire to let them experience what a serious bone injury can feel like. I am sure all of their babbling about no nerves in bones would stop instantly.

[ThisLadyHunts]

Yes and no. I have broken bones multiple times, the initial break, does hurt a bit, but fades to a tolerable pain, within minutes, other times. Multiple of the times I have broken a bone, I did not know it initially, I felt pain, but had no idea, I broke a bone, until I started looking at the area where I know something happened. Then it was usually pretty obvious, that there was a broken bone. If the broken ends are jammed together or ground together, that can produce some serious pain.
One of my dirt bike accidents, I snapped my right leg, half way between my ankle and knee. I felt pain from my leg, the bike came down on my leg and I dropped on top of the bike. My right foot was flat on the ground under the bike, when the bike and myself came down on my leg. I felt pain, but did not seem bad. Then I tried to stand up and did not know why I was leaning to the right so badly. Then looked down and saw my right leg was folded about half way between my knee and ankle. That's when I knew I broke my leg on that occasion. I set the break and rode the bike the rest of the way up the hill, then down the hill and back to the truck. By the time I got to the truck, my right leg was swollen up a lot and changing colors, and I was feeling a good bit more pain. The reason I was feeling so much pain, was I was riding with my right foot on the peg, I had to, to keep the bike up. So the whole ride back to the truck, the two ends of the break were getting jammed together. That caused quite a bit of pain. It was a fun ride back to the truck.

On the last accident, where I shattered my leg, I don't know why, but when they put my leg back together, with those screws and plates, the level of pain I felt for about three days afterwards, was well beyond anything I had ever felt before. I have been through a lot over the years.
I have sprained both ankles multiple times, I actually have a sprained right ankle currently. I sprained it on our trip to Tennessee, we just got back from. I don't feel much pain from the sprained ankle. I have sprained it twice in the last two months. When I initially sprained it two months ago, instantly, the pain was very high, but faded, within ten minutes. My ankle was swollen for a while. The swelling was almost gone, then I sprained it again on a trail in the Smoky Mountains, over the weekend. The pain this time around was never bad at all, it is swollen up, but not much pain at all. The first two times I sprained my ankles back when I was a teenager, it was painful for a good while. I don't know why my sprained ankle does not hurt much now, it looks like it should hurt a lot.
I have had both knees injured multiple times, that has caused many years of pain, my first knee injuries were very painful, for many weeks. Joint injuries, hurt or ache longer because of the damaged cartilage and then the fact the bones that make up the joint are moving very often. From what I have been told cartilage damage does not ever heal. So you can have bone rubbing on bone, with no insulator between them.
Then tendon damage can also be painful, for quite a while. I have ripped many tendons over the years. Three years ago, I popped a tendon in the back of my right leg, it hurt for months. Finally after about four months it quit hurting. Then I reinjured it, moving some heavy furniture, about six months ago. I am sure, it never healed properly.

I have multiple joint injuries, I can tell you those will cause you a lot of pain for years. Breaks heal and the pain goes away quickly typically, because the two pieces are not impacting each other anymore, once the break heals. Running screws, pins or rods, into bones, is a whole new deal. That creates odd pains, that can last a long time. I still have all of the screws and plates in my left leg, they have not caused me any pain, in probably nine to ten years. For the first three years, there were various odd pains. The longest lasting pain, was the one screw, that is poking into a muscle, if it was not for that one screw, I would have had a lot less pain, related to the screws in my leg. I would say only about two years of pain, coming from the bone, as a result of the screws.

Anyone who tells you, there are no nerves in bones, so bone damage does not hurt, is completely full of crap. I always get the desire to let them experience what a serious bone injury can feel like. I am sure all of their babbling about no nerves in bones would stop instantly.

Good heavens, Mr. Knievel!

You should consider donating your body to a medical school for when they cover the chapter on bone remodeling!

[RifleBowPistol]

My suggestions on your situation, would be just take some time off of work. You should not get fired, you should have no problem getting a note from your doctor.

Take time off, prop up your leg, get the swelling down. Doing so, they can do the surgery sooner. Doing it this way, should result in you doing more damage and then by getting the surgery done sooner, you can be back up and walking normal sooner.

I know the orthopedic surgeon who put my leg back together, was not happy about the swelling in my leg taking so long to go down. He did not want to wait that long to do the surgery.
Part of the reason it took so long for the swelling to go down in my leg, was the doctors that worked for the surgeon, who fixed my leg, did not tell me my leg had to be higher than my heart. They just said prop it up. So I propped it up, while sitting up.

I got informed of that about three days before he did the surgery. So I started proofing up my leg while laying down, a few days before the surgery.

[RifleBowPistol]

Good heavens, Mr. Knievel!

You should consider donating your body to a medical school for when they cover the chapter on bone remodeling!

I used to have a serious addiction to adrenaline, and a complete lack of fear. I was always doing crazy stuff.

[miket]

Well, they put a plate in yesterday. Hurt pretty good for the 30-45 min after waking up before they did the nerve block. Feels like its wearing off now. Still had to work a few hours today and feeling the consequences now.

[ThisLadyHunts]

My advice:

1) Stay off of it for a couple of days (i.e., no working) or for at least as long as you’re on pain meds, and

2) take the pain meds.

[grishw1]

Broke my leg/ankle in 3 places a bit over a week ago. Apparently also tore the ligaments that connect the 2 leg bones at the ankle. Dr wants to basically drill holes in both leg bones and tie them together with wire.

Hoping Im over thinking it, but have a feeling its going to be pretty bad for a while. How bad can I expect it to be? The pain when it happened was pretty intense, then pretty much constant ever since. Getting pretty tired of it already

I'm happy you still have your leg.

[BayouCat]

I have 8 screws and a plate in my right leg/ankle. I'm not going lie to you. It's going to hurt a lot for a long time. If your doctor will let you use an ice therapy machine, get one NOW! You will love the relief it gives if your doctor allows it. Do your therapy exactly as they say! Take your pain meds on schedule. Do not wait until it starts to hurt. Take your pains meds BEFORE therapist visit. I hope I don't discourage you. But, I have been there. Do not hesitate on getting ice therapy machine( I got mine off Amazon) if Dr will ok it. I can't stress this enough.

This!

[Texas Grown]

I be praying for ya Mike.