How long after a bone is broken does it start to re-mend itself?

Off the top of my head and I am by no means a doctor but I would think the body starts healing immediately and in stages. doctors correct me if I’m wrong

On the “woulda, coulda, shoulda” scale: you should have sought medical advice when you saw your foot had swelled up as much as it had.

I really hope it heals well :-)

The healing begins immediately, but it takes a long, long time to finish.

I have never broken anything badly and I am not a doctor, but it seems to me people typically have casts on for 6 weeks if that helps at all. But, the healing begins immediately. Just like if you cut yourself and bleed, the body sends out cells to stop the bleeding immediately. Here’s the thing, as long as there is any sort of fracture, when you use your foot you risk it fracturing more, because there is a weak spot. But, since you went to the doc, I would guess you are in some sort of a cast?

Depends on the break, @JLeslie. I have a little stress fracture in my foot, and I’ve been wearing a cast for 6 months now, with maybe the same to go. Some things heal faster than others.

It starts healing immediately. That’s why even if it’s only been a few hours sometimes they have to re-break it to reset it properly.

@Jeruba That sounds like real drag. A friend of ours was working on a compound that would speed the healing of large breaks, like when there is literally a piece of bone missing, seems three companies are researching it right now, I would guess it might help with your type of break also. I would never have imagined it takes that long.

i am most scared of having to have it rebroken. because its really not lined up at all and its a loooong diagonal break. UGH.

yes @JLeslie i should have mentioned i am in a boot, which is helping a lot.

I’m not sure exactly how long it should take but I’m also currently trying to mend two broken jaw bones and have been told to increase my Vitamin D and calcium to help it go faster.

I also take symphytum, a naturopathic supplement that’s supposed to promote healing of bone trauma.

I hope it goes quickly for you!

I think it starts to heal straight away and the length of time it takes varies depending on the break. When my daughter fractured her wrist it was healed in six weeks. When my partner broke his leg it was more like six months.

@deni Wondered where you went to. Glad your back. The worst part is the foot bears a lot of stress, so it takes longer to heal. I shattered the inside three inches of my collarbone. It starts to heal immediately, but the pain isn’t going to go away soon. It hurt like hell for about two weeks, hurt if I moved it for another month, started to only hurt a little for another two weeks, and finally didn’t really bother me much after a full eight weeks from the time I broke it. The other bad news: I can still feel it a little, and that was six years ago. If there is any question, let them rebreak it to fix it right. You’ll not regret getting it fixed right in the future.

so as a follow up, i had surgery this morning. they put in a plate and screws. so it does not need rebroken and she said with how much it had slid and how misaligned and screwed up it was it would grow back together horribly wrong if i just got a cast. so. blargh.

So are the plates and screws realigning the bones?

I hope everything heals up well.

Sorry you hurt yourself! You are already healing!
I’m glad the surgery went well!

@deni If it’ll make you feel luckier, unset bones can kill you.
But everyone falls apart in the course of their life and most people still laugh their ass off every day so I think/hope you’ll be fine.

@Zyx i am really glad i had a run in with the motel owner where i was staying at that time. he suggested i see a doctor immediately. if he hadn’t i probably wouldn’t have seen a doctor for, at the VERY least, another week or two. who knows what would have happened by then! now all is well :)