How painful is breaking a leg?

Francis McM

We all probably know a few people who broke their leg at one stage or another, and they say it was extremely painful. In the Irish News newspaper the other day it was reported that a MP (from a well known party) broke their leg when she fell down a stairs in Leinster house,Dublin, but was able to drive home and walk on it, but who got €10,000 in compensation.

Anyone I know who had a broken leg said it was severely painful and could not walk on it, so how painful is it?

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/sinn-fein-mep-hopeful-michelle-gildernew-got-10000-payout-from-houses-of-the-oireachtas-after-breaking-her-leg-in-fall/a1562540107.html

Eoinbmw

Depends on type and where it is a "broken leg" is very vague!

ELM327

I broke my arm when I was younger and sprained my ankle. The arm was not painful but the sprain was awful. Generally bone breaks are not as bad as other injuries. With some notable exceptions, I'm lead to believe breaking a collarbone is awful.

zell12

I'm lead to believe breaking a collarbone is awful.

Yes, yes it is.

MarkR

You can have an open fracture, where the bone is protruding through the skin, or maybe a hairline fracture. Seen the first one at a blood donation clinic. Gross. 🤢

Francis McM

I googled it up and it said "A broken leg (leg fracture) will be severely painful and may be swollen or bruised. You usually will not be able to walk on it."  I suppose €10,000 compensation is not too bad if there were handrails a person could or should have been holding on to going down the stairs, but maybe she was and still tripped.

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058335207/how-painful-is-breaking-a-leg

??Spam story?? Why was there an MP in Leinster House? Were they visiting from across the Irish Sea or from up north?

Why would they get €10K, if true maybe just a twisted ankle?

Francis McM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121738341#Comment_121738341

No, not spam story, other newspapers have it besides the Irish News eg

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/sinn-fein-mep-hopeful-michelle-gildernew-got-10000-payout-from-houses-of-the-oireachtas-after-breaking-her-leg-in-fall/a1562540107.html

Ray Palmer

I broke my wrist and never knew. Went to get my hand xrayed for a hand issue I was having. When speaking to the doctor they ask when I broke my wrist and I told them I didn't. He showed me the x-ray and said I certainly did a few years ago. Had to think back and I remember falling and hurting my wrist but it never felt that bad so I never went to a doctor. No issues with my wrist at all but a friend broke his wrist and went to the hospital and still gives him issues 15 years later.

Really depends on how bad the break is as hairline fractures are breaks as well

rob316

Tore my MCL and ACL 5 years ago, I couldn't breathe the pain was so bad. You can actually hear the pop when it happens.

Fell off my bike when I was a teenager, broke arm in 3 places. I got back on my bike and cycled home, the shock settled and then the pain came.

pgj2015

I broke my fibula years ago during a Gaelic football match, played on for 10 minutes because I thought I had just sprained something, it wasnt really that sore, and it was around 2 days later that a physio told me she thought it was broke.

pgj2015

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121738237#Comment_121738237

I broke mine twice, once as a kid of around 6 and later as an adult around 21, not that bad at all.

PARlance

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121738237#Comment_121738237

Second that! I broke my collarbone will visiting my cousin in Dublin as a kid. Spent a day and night in agony before they decided to throw me on the train home. It's not fun carrying a suitcase on a train with a broken collarbone. Spent another day and night in agony before my parents decided a trip to A&E might be worthwhile.

Different times these days!

Snapped my achilles tendon a few years ago! That was even more painfull. Blacked out from that pain of that, thought someone had landed on my leg (playing football) and broken it. Turns out that I had just jumped and landed without anyone making any contact with me.

I would take breaking a bone over ligament damage any day.

dulpit

I broke my collarbone in 5th class playing football. Went back to class and it was only a while later that someone alerted the teacher that I was crying 😐️

I don't remember the pain being too bad once I was in a sling, just really awkward.

I sprained/fractured my wrist failing to catch a basketball in secondary school, now that was pain.

FrancieBrady

You can break your neck without noticing it.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/jun/16/health.society

It's a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' OP.

Francis McM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121738852#Comment_121738852

That person you refer to with the broken neck (as a result of parachuting out of a burning plane) was a different type of injury, as it says in the article "broken necks can be hard to spot because often they are so subtle". And the article did say his " spine must have partially healed itself while he was in a German prison, locked in a tiny cell and unable to move for long periods."

I suppose in this case, if someone trips or loses their balance and the break is small or it's just a crack, they may not feel much pain or even realise that they've broken a bone, and so were able to drive home. A colleague broke a leg once and they could not put any weight on it at all, never mind dream of driving a car, so every injury is different. Anyway, always be careful on stairs. Nobody is suggesting that there should be instructions on stairs on how to use them, but you can never be too careful.

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121738981#Comment_121738981

And the person in your OP's injuries were severe enough to require strapping when she went to get medical help.

People have different pain thresholds and people experience bone breaks in different ways.

I.E. There is no simple answer.

artanevilla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121738242#Comment_121738242

Could they not find a vein?

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058335207/how-painful-is-breaking-a-leg

It entirely depends on the type of the break and of course adrenaline.

I knew a 65 year old that climbed Lugnaquilla with a broken leg and then walked on to Donard where he caught the 65 bus back to Dublin. By then the adrenaline was running thin and they had to call an ambulance to take him to the hospital, it took about two months before he was out and about again.

cj maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121738341#Comment_121738341

I missed that

iwillhtfu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121738217#Comment_121738217

I broke my collarbone in two places and I've had more painful bruises. Other than the bones crunching about I'd say I could've went home and not to A&E. In saying that I've dislocated the shoulder on that side a dozen times so could be the nerves are just fecked on that side.

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121738415#Comment_121738415

OK, would have been useful to name the person in the OP. Frankly I'm disgusted, where does personal responsibility come into this? I can't see any reason why the Houses of the Oireachtas here would be liable for her carelessness?

And the example given to the public by claiming compensation for ones own carelessness, is she fit to be a public representative?

glen123

A friend of mine broke her ankle during a company xmas party. It was painful all right but she was able to stand and walk (which made it worse, I would imagine) so stayed at the party until the very end and probably even danced a bit considering the fact that when she woke up in the morning at home and tried to get out of bed, she fainted - such was the pain at that stage.

The end result was surgery and two months in a cast.

I think when one gets injured, one gets adrenaline rush which raises pain tolerance significantly for a period of time.

Francis McM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121739302#Comment_121739302

OK, point taken I have gone back and edited the OP.

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121739302#Comment_121739302

Who decides that Furze?

SEPT 23 1989

Any of the leg breaks I have witnessed you certainly wouldn’t be driving after it

lying on the ground screaming until the ambulance arrives would be more the style

SouthWesterly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121738237#Comment_121738237

Try a collar bone and a few ribs on the same side for pain 😁

endacl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121738242#Comment_121738242

Is that how they get the donated blood out?!?

TinyMuffin

Broke my leg and ankle on same leg when something fell on me 20 years ago. Didn’t know what happened and stood up to walk and leg went 90 degrees and tripped me. Lay there till help came. Leg swelled up and boot had to be cut off me. Got pin put in, 17 days in hospital and 6 weeks of a holiday. Happy days. Never claimed anything. Was fairly sore.

canihelp

I broke my leg in two places just above the ankle 6 months ago; the foot was facing one way and my leg another; I guarantee I could not walk on it. 3 hours of surgery, 14 pins and 2 plates, in a cast for 3 months. It depends on how bad the break is. It was absolute agony for 3 weeks, I still have flashbacks

banie01

A "break" can be anything from a hairline fracture to an open compound fracture. On the topic of how painful a broken leg, no personal experience of a leg break (yet). I have broken my left foot twice and both times I treated it as a sprain for a few days before seeking medical assistance. Sore, but bearable.

I have broken my shoulder, painful. Fractured my thumb, along with torn ligaments and a fractured volar plate, very painful, but? I thought it was just quite a bad sprain with a dislocation. I'd relocated it myself and spent 5 weeks hoping it would improve before seeing my GP. He sent me to hospital, they thought bad sprain too until they x-rayed it.

12 weeks in plaster, no improvement then had to get surgery to fuse the thumb MCP joint. Thanks to my thinking the original industry wasn't too sore? It took over 6 months to get sorted and thanks to thumb fusion surgery? I can now only give 1½ thumbs up🤷‍♂️