Health & Wellness

Acupuncture for broken ankle recovery

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Jul 29, 2005
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Acupuncture for broken ankle recovery

Wondering if anyone has ever had acupuncture for broken ankle treatment? Please let me know your experiences. This was a suggested treatment during a physiotherapy session today.Thanks.
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Oct 3, 2013
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How long has it been since the break? How long have you been out of a cast?

What symptoms are you having?
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The injury occurred approx. two months ago. I wore a boot for almost a month and took it off almost three weeks ago.
The symptoms I'm still experiencing are sensitivity at the fracture point, tightness around the area and limping.

Today was my first physio session and the type of acupuncture offered is called neurofunctional acupuncture.
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Jun 15, 2015
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I shtongly recommend you to try acupuncture for you ankle. If you meet a good doctor, it's very efficient and low cost. My dad is a traditional doctor, he did acupunture, massage, herbal.... for people. Usually this is to cooperate with herbal medicine or external medicine sticker. In China it's dirt cheap, but I don't know in Canada. Generally new doc, from $5 -10 one time to many years expert $10-20 one time. For some famous doc, they charge by one acupunture points, but still not expensive though. Bascially, one week 2-3times for a month.
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Thanks for the input, I'm seriously considering it. Even tho it's quite pricey here as part of physio session, I have insurance coverage. Would love to hear some results from others who had it in their treatment.
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Speedy recovery @Raggie. Haven't seen your post a while... still remembered you used to be mod here.
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Raggie wrote: The injury occurred approx. two months ago. I wore a boot for almost a month and took it off almost three weeks ago.
The symptoms I'm still experiencing are sensitivity at the fracture point, tightness around the area and limping.

Today was my first physio session and the type of acupuncture offered is called neurofunctional acupuncture.
Acupuncture can help with the tightness/pain, and can be use as an adjunctive treatment, but your most important goal after a fracture is to gain back your range of motion and ability to balance/joint control. Pain will naturally subside as time passes. Bone healing takes 8-12+ weeks, though may remain symptomatic for 16-24+ weeks as it adjusts to you putting weight on it and getting back to your normal activities. Don't be too concerned with pain at your current stage - this is irrelevant to your long-term function.

Joints are plastic, meaning if you don't use it, you lose it. Being immobilized in a boot will lead to your joint tissues becoming stiff, and if left there too long, your body will essentially lose the ability to move properly - you can more than likely observe this yourself already (i.e. visually, or with difficulty going down stairs without turning your foot, for example). While you will naturally gain some movement back with day to day activities, this loss can become semi-permanent, or at least, very hard to correct if left too long. Many of us will have family members who have had broken joints, never attended rehab (as it didn't exist back in the day), and now can show off how little their wrist moves compared to their unaffected side. Don't become one of these people.

Further, given you broke your ankle, your ankle was probably pushed into a position it wasn't meant to be in (i.e. rolled it). All that leads to stretching of the tissues that normally keep your joint together, and that is something that can never be restored; thus, you have to train your muscles to control your joint with the increased motion that will be present, otherwise you predispose yourself to rolling it again in the future.

Make sure not to lose track of these goals, as this is really more important for your long-term function. Essentially, make sure the physio is also trying to restore movement in the joint with physical hands on therapy, and exercises to help you gain balance, gradual weight-bearing activity, and range of motion. The latter two will be by far the most important for helping you to get rid of the limp. As an added bonus, movement will also help pump all the swelling out from your ankle as well, which can help with pain.

If they're just sticking needles in you without doing the rest, they are an incompetent (or lazy) physio, and you should go see someone else very promptly (sorry to be blunt). Oh, and no machine things either.
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Jul 29, 2005
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Awesome. Thank you! Yes, this physio seems on the ball, he's given me some stretches to do at home and I am pretty sure he also doesn't offer those machine things such as laser, etc. Acupuncture was one of the treatments to compliment the other exercises. My goal is to keep my muscles limber, return to a normal gait and try to prevent any lasting effects.

Thank you so much all. Lol, I don't remember being a mod on here. Slightly Smiling Face
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Feb 7, 2017
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Hey @Raggie

Sorry to hear you’ve been down & out with an ankle injury
I wish you a speedy & full recovery
Phonophoresis wrote: Acupuncture can help with the tightness/pain, and can be use as an adjunctive treatment, but your most important goal after a fracture is to gain back your range of motion and ability to balance/joint control. Pain will naturally subside as time passes. Bone healing takes 8-12+ weeks, though may remain symptomatic for 16-24+ weeks as it adjusts to you putting weight on it and getting back to your normal activities. Don't be too concerned with pain at your current stage - this is irrelevant to your long-term function.

Joints are plastic, meaning if you don't use it, you lose it. Being immobilized in a boot will lead to your joint tissues becoming stiff, and if left there too long, your body will essentially lose the ability to move properly - you can more than likely observe this yourself already (i.e. visually, or with difficulty going down stairs without turning your foot, for example). While you will naturally gain some movement back with day to day activities, this loss can become semi-permanent, or at least, very hard to correct if left too long. Many of us will have family members who have had broken joints, never attended rehab (as it didn't exist back in the day), and now can show off how little their wrist moves compared to their unaffected side. Don't become one of these people.

Further, given you broke your ankle, your ankle was probably pushed into a position it wasn't meant to be in (i.e. rolled it). All that leads to stretching of the tissues that normally keep your joint together, and that is something that can never be restored; thus, you have to train your muscles to control your joint with the increased motion that will be present, otherwise you predispose yourself to rolling it again in the future.

Make sure not to lose track of these goals, as this is really more important for your long-term function. Essentially, make sure the physio is also trying to restore movement in the joint with physical hands on therapy, and exercises to help you gain balance, gradual weight-bearing activity, and range of motion. The latter two will be by far the most important for helping you to get rid of the limp. As an added bonus, movement will also help pump all the swelling out from your ankle as well, which can help with pain.

If they're just sticking needles in you without doing the rest, they are an incompetent (or lazy) physio, and you should go see someone else very promptly (sorry to be blunt). Oh, and no machine things either.
Good post

Know too that after being side lined it can take some time to get back your full range of motion / capability etc
Physio then can take awhile … not usual for the regiment to span 6, 8, or 12 weeks as a baseline
But concluded when milestones are met / exceeded

Keep at it … do your homework
For best long term results

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