Healing a fractured heel.
Many have asked what are you doing to help your foot heal?
I have done this before and didn’t know the first time that foot bones take almost twice as long to heal as other obnes This is because they are more dense on the edges because they have to support your whole body weight. So, with this in mind, I got on it right away.
Day 1 I started taking these supplements:
Calcium/magnesium
Vitamin C, D
Collagen
NAC (antioxidant)
I used Ibuprofen only to sleep as it hurt quite a bit. Also pulsed electromagnetic field therapy for pain. And I stopped using Ibuprofen after 2 nights because the anti-inflammatory effect inhibits of Ibuprofen and aspirin slows healing. "Inflammation is healing". Remember that.
Some have asked if I went to the ER or orthopedist. Well, I may have but the series of events trying to figure out the extent of the damage didn’t necessitate it. The injury happened late Friday night. I knew it was fractured and going to urgent care or ER would have not moved anything forward. One of two things was true, imaging would reveal displacement requiring surgical correction or not and surgical correction wouldn’t be happening at midnight Friday, or likely all weekend, so that’s why I did not present to urgent care.
I had a meeting Saturday morning in White Bear so I stopped by the office on the way to the meeting and got images of the heel. You could see a couple fracture lines but not clearly visible for more than a 1/4 inch. Nothing looked displaced. But still, I wanted a CT of the foot to be sure. So, went to the meeting and then stopped at TCO in Stillwater thinking their urgent care would have a CT. Turns out, they don’t. Later in the day I attended a graduation for high school twins who’ve been in our practice since before they were born. Their father is a doctor friend of ours. He owns a CT for imaging problems. We chatted on Saturday and he suggested we get the CT the next day at his office, which we did.
Sunday morning I remembered I had some thermoplastic splinting material in my garage I bought for my dog’s leg last year that I didn’t use for him. Knowing what a trip to the ortho or urgent care for a splint entailed in time (and money) I thought I’d give it a go. I cut out a stencil of paper and shaped it around my foot and calf, traced it on the thermoplastic, cut it out and put the thermoplastic in the oven (pros use a hot water bath) on warm. I had some thin foam from a keyboard case laying around also that I cut to fit the shape, put that inside the thermoplastic and had my wife and son form it around my foot in a flexed down position to keep pressure off the achilles ( I knew this from the last time). The thing fit perfectly around the heel to protect it and hold the fragments together. Having experienced a few splints, this one fit perfectly and wasn't going to be improved by a tech at the orthopedist's office. So, later that day I did get a CT image of this and the heel looked like it was all pretty much together but fracture lines again, difficult to see. The main purpose of the advanced imaging was to make sure there were no fragments that need to be fixated with a pin or screw (like my other foot). So, that was good news.
One thing about x-rays and fractures is if the pieces are not displaced, you can’t see the fracture lines very well until the body resorbs the tissue on the edges of the fracture and starts to “knit” new bone in. Sometimes it’s easier to see about 5 or 7 days later. I took some more images at my office to further clarify where the fracture was because my whole foot hurt. Still, the lines in the heel were not clear.
As many of you know, I was here the Monday after the injury, adjusting as usual. That presented an additional stress to my spine because I was walking with a heavy “peg leg” appliance on one leg. This was stressing my pelvis and lumbar spine and creating imbalance, so critical to the plan is making sure I was not losing any healing time due to subluxation and nerve interference. I started getting adjusted 3-4 times per week during this time instead of baseline once per week.
I gave it another week and then got an MRI because that technology will tell you whether the bones are knitting properly. And, it turns out the heel was fractured into at least 4 if not 5 pieces. It was very difficult to follow the fracture lines as none were straight. The good news was, no bone fragments were displaced and there was knitting going on along all fracture lines. Now, to get the thing to heal up as quickly as possible.
The body heals itself. The body heals itself. You’ve heard me say this many times. It’s true. I could just wait and it would heal itself… in time. I’m impatient though. And, it’s summer and I can’t walk or climb a ladder. It’s a very frustrating situation.
In addition to the supplements, I have implemented some energy transfer tools: cold laser therapy, pulsed electromagnetic field therapy and recently, red light therapy. These technologies use light and electromagnetic waves to transfer energy directly into the cells so the cells can do what the cells do, faster. Yes, they will do it regardless using glucose as is the design. Breaking those molecules to energy to fuel the mitochondria and creates new tissue. But, my hope is that adding this technology would speed this process by adding more energy locally. Even synthetically and unnaturally. There’s nothing natural about exposing to a magnetic field or red light waves.
That reminds me, it’s kind of off topic but the “natural” thing that is marketed to people… it sounds like that’s better. But, “natural” also includes things like coca leaves, where you get cocaine from. Marijuana is natural as well. Many would argue it’s not good for you. I’m not taking sides, just noting that “natural” designation doesn’t mean good or bad. The question is, does the substance or treatment help your body or interfere with it?
Many have asked if I have used ice or heat. It’s a new injury, so never heat. There’s enough swelling already. I did use ice on it for pain the first two days. But again, ice is going to interfere with the healing and slow down the swelling and swelling is the healing process. I want this to occur as quickly as possible. So, no ice after the major pain subsided. Even though, ice is natural.
Today is day 32 of this project. I’ve been putting pressure on the broken foot on a bathroom scale to see how long it’s going to be before I can put all my 170 pounds on it. 2 weeks ago it was 30 pounds. Last week, 75. Today is 120 pounds. I’m using a walking boot today. Not pretty, but that’s about as fast as it can get there and I don’t want to go backwards.
Here's why I’m pushing the envelope. One of the findings on the MRI at day 19 was “mild disuse osteoporosis of the tarsal bones”. Which means, the OTHER bones in my foot are loosing bone density because they are not being stressed from not walking on them for almost 3 weeks. So, here’s the bottleneck in healing. Why is the body going to place bone in my heal while it’s resorbing bone in my tarsals just in front of it?
It's not. You’ve heard me say, health is the body adapting to the stressors of the environment. What I’ve got to do now is stress the bones. I’ve started wearing a shoe and placing my foot on the floor and kind of walking some weight on it. Also, walking in a lake and our pool last week with little to no weight bearing. In addition, the vibe plate in the office stimulates bone deposition and can be used to ward off osteoporosis, so I’m using that. All of this while continuing applying the energy technologies every night.
The thing swells up every day while on my feet and by morning it’s near normal. I believe this is the quickest path out. Normally, foot fractures are 12 weeks to walking on them. I’m aiming for the end of 6 weeks. I’m at 4 and a half weeks today. I have a walking boot that I can put some pressure on it but can’t quite walk normally on so I’m probably a week away from walking reasonably with no aids. I’m still using one crutch today.
Because many have asked me questions about what I’m doing to help the process I’ve written this to demonstrate the amazing healing power of the body and how to work with it, instead of against it. I don’t think of any of these things are beyond anyone else’s ability. In other words, you don’t have to be a doctor to know or do these things. Probably most people don’t own an X-ray, but everyone’s got the ability to do all the things I’m doing after the diagnosis somewhere, to speed up the healing process from what is typical.
I’m hopeful that this helps you should you ever break a bone. More importantly, that it inspires you and gives you confidence that the body does the right thing, always. As long as it’s not interfered with. I’m hoping you can use this example in your life to help your body adapt to the stresses in YOUR life. Everyone’s got stressors. Try to maximize and optimize your body’s ability to respond. THAT’s healthy.
Blessings,
Dr. B.
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