

Depending on the extent of the fracture or break, surgery may be the most appropriate option to fully recover from a break in your fibula. If you sustain a complete break, you will need to wear a medical boot for at least two months to help stabilize and protect the leg. Don’t wait to have your leg examined if you believe you have broken your fibula. Our clinic has the resources, staff, and experience necessary to diagnose and treat a broken fibula, allowing our patients to return to their routines as soon as possible. Patients have the greatest opportunity to experience a quick, complete, and healthy recovery when they are able to connect with one of the Atlanta Orthopedic Doctors at AICA Orthopedics soon after an accident occurs. Even if you’ve had a cast put on and cannot put ice directly on the break, you still need to rest as much as possible and elevate your leg. This helps to reduce the inflammation around the break and the amount of pain you’re in. It’s important to remember the acronym RICE: Rest, Ice, Elevate, especially right after the break. You are likely to find it very difficult to walk and stand for long periods of time with a broken fibula, so it’s not a condition you can easily ignore. The chances of prolonging the recovery process, experiencing a relapse, or developing particular impairments as a result of not healing properly increases without immediate attention. All fibula breaks are serious and can leave you unable to fully walk, or perform standard daily activities without help, for weeks or months.Īlthough a broken fibula may not continuously create intense levels of pain, it is important that you seek medical treatment as soon as possible after an injury occurs. For example, with lateral malleolus break, the ankle joint isn’t damaged in any way, but with a bimalleolar ankle break, the fibula and ankle are both damaged. The type of break depends on a number of factors. Many athletes break their fibula, although it can happen from slipping, stepping into a hole, or many other common issues. The break may occur anywhere from your ankle to your knee. There are a number of different ways you can fracture or break your fibula.
#Tibia and fibula fracture how to
It’s important that you understand how to help your fibula heal and what you should avoid to prevent further damage or necessary healing time. Because of this and unlike other types of injuries and conditions, a broken fibula usually requires six weeks to three months before patients are able to return to their normal routine. It and the tibia, the larger bone, therefore, support all of your weight when standing. The fibula is the smaller of two bones found in the lower part of the leg. We did not observe any significant improvement using fibular fixation in the treatment outcomes of tibia distal fractures.įibula fracture fibula union nonunion of fibula nonunion of tibia tibia fracture tibia union.If you sustain a broken fibula, it’s important to set appropriate expectations when it comes to the amount of effort and time it takes to completely heal. The frequency of nonunion of tibia and fibula, infection and nerve injury in studied groups were not statistically significant ( P ≥ 0.05). The frequency of tibial and fibula union after 1, 3, 6 and 9 months in case and controls groups were not statistically significant ( P ≥ 0.05). Varus/valgus and anterior-posterior angulation were not statistically significant between two groups ( P ≥ 0.05). Plate and screw were used in 16 patients in the case and 14 patients in the control group. Intramedullary nailing was used in 8 patients of case and 11 patients of control group. We recruited 24 and 25 patients in the case and control group, respectively. Follow-up visit and radiographs were taken 2 and 4 weeks as well as 3, 6 and 9 months after surgery.ĭuring the follow-up, 11 out of 60 patients in case and control groups were excluded. Primary outcomes were varus-valgus angulation, anterior-posterior angulation, union and side effects. In the control group, tibia was fixed without fibular fixation. In the case group, fibula was fixed prior to the fixation of tibia. Sixty patients with distal tibial and fibular fractures were randomly divided in two groups of case and controls. This randomized, parallel-group, non-blinded study was designed to determine the role of fibular fixation in the treatment outcomes of combined distal tibia and fibula fractures.
