Imagine, traditional cast off your broken leg after a number of weeks, you can walk now with the aid of crutches or a walker. It’s a massive relief, no more showers with your leg in plastic wraps.
If you need plastic wraps for your leg, you can get them here on Amazon. Have a look, they are reasonably priced but the prices keep changing. The ones that were recommended are the Seal Tight Original Cast and Bandage Protector.
Transitioning out of a walking boot
“You are all healed”, said the doctor, but you normally need to wear the walker boot for a few more weeks. You can take it off when resting, bathing and going to bed.
Light walking with crutches is sometimes advised. Swelling can occur because it is a normal part of the healing process and it can be very bad even when your foot is not hanging down.
Elevation and Ice now and again, if you have been using the crutches to offer a bit of relieve.
As said before you can take off your boot walker when resting and you could sleep without it but make sure it was put back on as soon as you need it to walk around or even to go to the bathroom.
Seriously, you probably should not be walking without the boot unless the advice come from your doctor. They are the one with all the knowledge of how the healing of the bones works.
With a broken leg, my doctor wanted me to wear the boot to bed so that I wouldn’t be tempted to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom without the boot.
Transitioning from the cast to the walking boot
While transitioning from the cast to the walking boot you may need to use a crutch because it makes the journey much easier. However, using a walker is actually the best because it gives you more control.
During the three or four weeks of using the boot, you can easily transition each week to put more and more pressure on the broken foot in the walking boot.
Transitioning out of walking boot: Learning to gait properly
At first, you can put only a little pressure on the foot and most of the pressure on your hands, on the walker. Over time, just make the switch and put more and more pressure on the leg until you can walk on it without much pain or feeling of pressure within the leg.
If you do this right, by the fourth week you should be able to put full pressure on your feet and basically none on your hands on the walker. By that time, you will only gently rest your hands on the walker to push it forward as you walk.
As you walk with you may find that you have a slight limp, not because of pain but because your foot is on unequal height. The explanation here is that one of your foot is in the walker boot and the other is in a normal shoe or barefoot.
So basically, the problem was because the walker boot was higher than the foot in a normal shoe. I searched for a good workable solution that I could live with that was not too expensive.
I came across the Evenup Shoe Leveler on Amazon. You can check it out by clicking on the shoe leveler link. Always check the prices because they are always changing.
Transitioning out of a walking boot: A few handy tips
Making a good recovery is a good thing. Keep following the doctor’s advice. They are the ones with the skill, knowledge, and techniques and can advise you on everything.
It can be horrible to be in the boot all the time or even to sleep in it but you have to do what you have to do to make a speedy recovery. You know, back to living, back to enjoying and back to having fun.
Your doctor may inform you that you have to sleep in your walking book. The idea of that is not very good because you remember that you walk outside and the bottom of the boot may be dirty or have germs on it.
The solution is simple, instead of having to clean the bottom of your boot every night, just put a pillowcase over the boot walker.
Final thought: Transitioning out of a walking boot
It can be scary to have a broken leg, you are always worried about different things, is my foot healing properly, is the swelling on my leg really normal, and is my foot turning purple really normal?
The worrying is normal, the best you can do is to do everything that your doctor told you to do. The boot walker will help, if your foot is swollen you can loosen it up a bit to relieve the swelling.
Remember, you will do great by following the advice of your doctor. They are qualified medical professional, with years of experience that will help.
