Ankle fractures immediate weight bearing. Have you suffered an ankle fracture and have been told you need to be off your foot and ankle for the next eight to twelve weeks. Have you been told you will need surgery with plates and screws. Make sure to ask your surgeon if you are a candidate for the minimally invasive method for fixing ankle fractures that allow you to fully weight bear on that ankle within a week. Here at the Advanced Foot and Ankle Center of San Diego we use the most innovative techniques that allow you to get back to full activity as soon as possible. using the mini intramedulary rodding technique via 3 poke hole incisions we insert the mini rod that you see in the picture above and stabilize the fracture. This method gives a stable construct that allows you to walk on your ankle within five days of the surgery. Also as opposed to plating and multiple screws which require four to seven inch incisions our method can be done with three to four poke hole incisions and you have 3 stitches instead of twenty.

Where this really makes a big difference is by diabetics, smokers and the elderly especially with osteoporosis. This is a group of patients that pose high risks to either big incisions, delayed bone healing and not being safe to be off their feet for long periods of time. Diabetics who are at high risk for infections and breakdown of their incisions benefit highly because this reduces those risks. The worse thing is treating a diabetic ankle fracture and ending up with an open wound and seeing the plate and screw two weeks later. This procedure greatly minimizes that possibility. Also there is a lower rate of non unions of the ankle fracture when using this technique in smokers. Lastly if you know an elderly relative with an ankle fracture you know how difficult it is to be off their ankle for an extended period of time , then this is the best treatment for them.

Feel free to contact me with any questions. The above pictures are x rays from surgeries performed by Dr Wrotslavsky