I just recently broke my foot and was looking up how long it takes to heal. Everything I’m reading is saying 6-8 weeks. I have crutches and they’re gonna take some getting used to, that’s for sure. And getting ‘the boot’. This is only day five and it already feels like weeks! It feels like a chore just getting around the house. I’m hoping it won’t have lasting affects on my mobility as I age!
Welcome to the Straight Dope. 
The thread that you posted in is what we call a ‘zombie’.
Just a friendly suggestion, if you haven’t already, please read thru the Rules for posting.
And as for your post… the posts (replies) in this thread are all very valid and IMHO, good advice.
Again, welcome to the SDMB! 
Welcome to the SDMB, Crippledcracker!
Since the thread you posted to was more than 10 years old, and involved several participants who are no longer active here, I split off your post and a reply to it to a new thread. I’m sure folks will be along soon to welcome you and commiserate.
twickster, MPSIMS moderator
Well, as I aged, every single break I have had hurts when the barometer drops, and exposure to cold can make them ache. 
Wish I had better news for you other than some people don’t get affected by weather changes or cold, but a majority of people I know when they got older developed aches and pains around their injuries.
I use forearm or ‘canadian’ crutches, I find them more stable that axillary or ‘armpit’ crutches, and the cheap variants are available at a regular pharmacy and cost me about $35US [though I do have a set of very customized folding ones that ran $250 that have very nice ice spikes as a winter option:p] You might go and check out a set, you might like them better. And they have less chance of pinching an underarm nerve and doing damage [which is frequently what happens when you hang yourself by your armpits on the crutches.]
never mind (stupid comment deleted)
(bolding mine)
If you ‘hang yourself by your armpits’ then you need to adjust the crutches. You’re supposed to put most of your weight on your hands (just like when you use ‘canadian’ crutches). At least, that’s what I learned, ‘the hard way’. 
YMMV
Thanks, twickster!
Crippledcracker, couldn’t you just ask your doctor for the prognosis?
Just askin’
LOL
Yes I know, but most people get handed a set of crutches that are more or less the right length, and nobody bothers to teach them how to actually use them properly. I think the first 4 or 5 times I got them nobody mentioned anything about how to use them. It wasn’t until my second broken ankle that someone rolled me down to PT to be taught how to use crutches instead of just getting them handed to me and rolled out to Mom’s [or someone’s] car to go home.
Though I do confess that I have an old axillary pair around that if I need to do something for 10 minutes or so in the kitchen, like make a couple omelets or wash up a couple dishes I will hang myself with instead of grabbing my wheelchair if it is a good body day. For the relatively small amount of time I will be using them it is fine. [It is rather difficult to use canadians and work with your hands…]
You going to get paid?
Dr. Oz treated you in NYC the other day?
oppps that was amputation…
(bolding mine)
I have to agree on the first part. Like I said, I learned ‘the hard way’.
“First 4 or 5 times” and “second broken ankle”?! :eek:
Pardon me for being ‘nosey’, but why have you suffered so many injuries that require the use of crutches? 
(If due to something genetic or inherited, please accept my sincere apologies for being so inquisitive.)
ROFL - lots of athletic activity in my misspent youth 
First broken ankle was falling out of a tree at the age of 6, second one was being unhorsed while steeplechasing. Currently I split my time between a wheelchair and crutches thanks to various forms of arthritis and bone impingements and calcium deposits in places where bone isn’t supposed to be.
When they tell you being athletic and active is good for a growing kid, they lied 
My sympathies!
I broke a bone in my left foot about 2 years ago (4th metatarsal). Had a disagreement with the stairs in my house, I thought there were 4 more steps, it insisted there were 5, and I lost.
Knew fairly quickly that it was broken. It was about 6:30 in the morning, and I just waited until the orthopedist’s office was open for the way vs. trying to go to the ER.
I was fortunate to have “just” the boot. I asked for crutches as getting into the orthopedist’s office was sheer hell with just a cane, but I only needed the crutches for a week or so.
Consider getting a temporary handicapped placard. I did, and was glad of it. Rarely bothered with it, but there were a few times where I simply could not have gotten a parking space close enough to make it into a store or whatever.
Get a shower stool and temporary grab bar for the shower. I tried showering once, while standing on one foot, and it was a thoroughly unpleasant experience.
Consider getting a knee scooter / knee walker - basically it’s a scooter with a platform at knee height. A bit more stable in many ways than crutches, but has its own set of drawbacks. Rough sidewalks are a particular challenge, they pose the very real risk of sending you the front of the thing as the wheels stop and you don’t :eek:.
I was told that full healing would be on the order of 3 months, but that I’d be feeling a lot better by 6 weeks or so. I broke my foot on October 13th and had given the boot up entirely before Christmas. It was actually getting pretty tolerable by a week or so after the break, but then I overdid it that weekend and was in such severe pain that I thought I’d basically rebroken it (an X-ray said no, it was doing fine). Be grateful you have the boot - you can take that off for showering, or scratching, or just letting things air out!!
Long-term: For me, there was some long-term damage to the nearby nerves and I’ve got some permanent numbness in the toes. Oh well.
On the brighter side, I broke my “ankle” (it was actually the fibula, but in the ankle area) 8 years ago. They operated, inserted a plate with screws and sent me home. It was pretty much healed in 6 weeks and I have had no problem with it, even in lousy weather, since. I guess I was lucky, since I did not get a cast, was told not to use crutches (although they insisted on giving me a lesson in how to use them) and was advised to walk on it, using a cane if needed, as much as I could.
Good luck.
Broke my fibula distilla a few years ago while rollerskating in a bar(insert laugh track here). My Ortho gave me a bit of great advice which I will share.
PT can be very expensive, as soon as you are able(post boot) get a bike and ride it to get back your muscle tone. It is much cheaper than PT, but ask your Doc first, they know your break and I do not nor am I a Medical Pro.
Happy healing
Capt
I’ve been on crutches a few times, for a couple-three weeks each time, and I would stick with armpit ones, for just this reason. Particularly for a relatively short-term injury like a broken ankle, the option to hold yourself up and have both hands free is pretty valuable, and probably worth the chance of hurting your armpits.
Oh, and pro-tip: you can probably carry a plate of sticky food while on crutches, but don’t make the mistake of buying cans of soup for yourself because it’s easy to fix. It is, but then you’ve got a transport issue…
Extra deep tupperware, a plastic grocery bag. Seal the soup into the tupperware, put the bowl and spoon, tupperware into t-sack and gimp wherever making sure not to swing the bag overmuch. If done carefully you can do a McDonalds 4 beverage carrier with all 4 drinks in a t-sack.
Please do be careful with the forearm crutches. I broke my foot a few years ago and was happily slamming around the neighbourhood on crutches without regard for the shock wave going up through my arm. Ended up with bursitis in my shoulder that took 2 shots of cortisone to fix.
My children tell me I need to come up with less lame story about how I broke my foot. I was jumping on and off boxes about a foot high in my Pilates class and landed wrong. I could actually hear it snap. I was given the crutches and the boot and was told it would be fine in 6-8 weeks. It was only after the third follow up visit to A&E that I actually saw a doctor and was told that sometimes 5th metatarcil breaks never heal and that if I had been someone important like David Beckham they would have put a pin in it the day I broke it. Fast forward 6 months and sure enough I now have a bone graft and a pin holing it all together. sigh
No significant long term effects other than a little soreness after running.
Hope it all heals up nicely for you.