Do I sleep with my walking boot on or off is a question my friend recently asked me? I don’t know why she asked me because I am not a doctor but because I am a great friend I decided to do some research.
Here is the back story. My friend fractured her legs and the doctor put the cast on. After four weeks the cast was taken off and was given a walker boot to wear. This was when she asked me, do I sleep with my walking boot on?
The simple answer to the question “Do I sleep with my walking boot on? is YES. It is always advisable to sleep with your walking boot on. If it becomes uncomfortable in the night then consider loosening the straps for optimum comfort and surround your injured leg with pillows or use the Foam Leg Elevator Cushion for extra support. You do NOT want to take off the walking boot and risk reinjury.
The doctor may give permission to take your boot off when resting but definitely NOT while sleeping because of the risk of re-injury is too high.
While sleeping it is very easy to injure your leg by knocking it on the wall or your partner may accidentally roll-on or kick
Personally, I wouldn’t take the risk, one wrong roll or worse, you get a kick from your partner on the fractured foot in the night could set you back a few weeks. Wearing the walker boot while sleeping could be perfect revenge if your partner always kicks you in their sleep – pure evil.
5 ways of reducing walking boot discomfort while you sleep.
If you find the walker boot to be uncomfortable while you sleep then here are a few things that you may do to increase your comfort level.
#1 loosen the straps on the boot to ensure that you do not cut off blood flow while you sleep. If blood flow is impeded while you sleep it hurts like heck in the morning. Loosened about an inch or so, just enough to have some wiggle room, but not enough to do too much movement.
#2 Order a gel heel cup to cushion your heel – you may find that the pain is normally concentrated in the heel. Without the gel heel cup, the pain may wake you up a couple of times in the night. The gel cup is much better than pain medication in my opinion but that is what it is – opinion.
#3 Sleep on your back and put a pillow under the fractured foot to raise it higher than your heart in order to prevent swelling of the leg.
#4 If you sleep on your side then put a pillow between your legs to increase the level of comfort and to align your back to reduce the chance of pain.
#5 Sleeping in the boot is a good idea because when you sleep your foot tends to point downwards and the tendons could stiffen up. The boot prevents this.
What if I sleep with my walking boot off? Will I rupture my leg?
Some people sleep with their walking boot off and experience no problems whatsoever. Please remember that it is a risk and with all risk, it will work out good for some and bad for others.
You may sleep with your boot partially off. Keep your footloose in the boot by removing the front plate, it helps to reduce sore spots that result from your foot being strapped in the boot 24 hours a day.
If you happen to sleep without your walker boot remember to make sure that you don’t just ram your foot in the boot but the loosen up your tendons first with some mild rotation of the ankle, if you can in order to reduce the risk of reinjury and to reduce foot pain.
Conclusion on do I sleep with my walking boot on or off
You can deduct from this article that when the walker boot is on while you sleep you do not have much of a risk. However, if it is off the possibilities do exist that you could cause serious reinjury.
There is a good chance you will be fine, but it is for you to decide if it is worth the risk to not wear your walker boot. It is suggested that you could loosen the straps, a bit, before getting in bed and you should get a good night’s sleep.
I heard countless stories of people being treated terribly by their doctors and have been advised to seek another doctor’s opinion. This is to show that doctors are not the ‘be all, end all’ and we should not follow them blindly.
You should never follow advice from a blog blindly but instead, use the information as a starting point to educate yourselves so as to be a better advocate for your own treatment.
I would encourage everyone to do their own research and then take the conversation to your doctor. This article only points the way, you need to take the right path. Listen to all conversations and make decisions based on your tolerability to the risk.
For more information on sleeping with walking boot on consider reading the article How to sleep with a broken ankle in a cast?
