When to send back to school after broken ankle?

It's not just the pain @DressedToThe90s its the swelling. When I broke my ankle many years ago now, it swellled up so much if I had my foot down for too long, and one of the things the drs told me to do was to keep it elevated. I would see if school can send him some work to do at home and see how that goes.

Talk to the school..might be if you do go for Monday he only does a few hours...see how his pain is. Can school send work home

You got yourself out of cover/lunch duty. Most teachers would be off 6-8 weeks is my estimate

I've broken both ankles and had 4 operations on one of them, just one on the other. I'd definitely say let him stay off until the stitches are out and the lighter cast is on. I didn't take elevating it above my heart seriously after my first break and ended up with really painful swelling and a DVT.

In terms of getting around at school, I found a knee crutch really useful for getting about https://kneecrutches.co.uk/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwytS-BhCKARIsAMGJyzr5yMR_vf8Eq9VkFD0MuyEm-MAXU3XL9-MW57DPGfF8LN44bMxjbu8aArn1EALw_wcB (pricey but might be available for hire)

Contact the school, discuss, agree ... get him back in asap

speak to the school.
all mine have been back to school after breaks almost immediately. last time (broken hand) they organised a buddy system helping lugging the stuff around.

Talk to the school

Hopefully more sympathetic than the school I was at where my friend broke her ankle. The school still insisted she had to adhere to the one way system to hobble on crutches even though one lesson was 10m from the next lesson, in the opposite direction. Honestly, I can't remember how long she was off initially

What are the rules of students who are injured/ill when timetabled for PE? Is it still standing outside when the class is doing outdoors stuff? We had double PE during her time in the cast, last thing. Her DF picked her up just before the double PE as it meant leaning against a wall for 1h 40 mins in freezing cold. Wasn't allowed a stool or chair to sit on due to HnS (this was 1995) I remember she broke the ankle in Feb.

Also it depends on how many floors the school is on, does he keep going up and down the stairs. Plus steps between buildings etc.

My DD (10) broke her tibia on Wednesday; we’re hoping to get her back to school on Monday. We’ve hired a wheelchair from the British Red Cross for her to use in school, she has crutches too but isn’t very confident on them. School have said they’ll allocate her with a buddy each day to help her with doors, toilet, stay in a break etc. I’m meeting with school on Monday morning to discuss it further.
she’s currently got a back slab cast, but we’re hoping it gets changed soon.

My grandchild broke a leg at 5 years old. The school refused to have them in, unless a parent or grandparent was with them. A primary school is usually on one level, but they were concerned about toiletting etc.

I think your son needs to be able to get around with the cast or boot safely, especially in a busy secondary school. Online lessons for the moment, until he’s more used to it and not in pain.

Gosh bless you. In that case unless doctor advises, I’d try and get him back ASAP. My son enjoyed the other kids making a fuss of him. Get the PE teachers on side to keep him involved without moving too much. Being ‘monitor’, ‘ref’, handing out vests, being in charge of the whistle etc. Not sure if your lad would do it, but my son liked having a racquet and bouncing tennis balls against the wall. The amazing after-school-club lady stood for ages and ages with him, passing him tennis balls and letting him see how many consecutive hits he could do. PE teachers also got him from having one withered leg to running 2km park runs in under 9mins, and taking part in tag rugby and footy tournaments and they helped him get back to that level safely. Took a couple of months after the cast came off but now you’d never know he’d done it. He did it playing football!

What does the doctor say? One of my form-Year 11-broke both tibia and fibula a few weeks ago. He had to have serious surgery too, screws and plates. He was back within 2 weeks after his parents spoke to the school medical lady who organised for him to leave lessons early with a buddy and to use the lift for lessons on the first floor. He was then told to ditch his crutches within a week of his return and put pressure on but as your ds has broken his ankle, advice may well be entirely different. Hope he heals up quickly and without complications.

It’s really early days. I’d definitely keep him off another week till lighter cast on and he’s not needing more pain relief other than para/brufen. He might need longer. If he does, that’s ok. He’ll catch up. Support him while he needs it. Mine was off 4weeks with a broken ankle inY10 before going back with cast and adjustments, he did part days not whole days. He caught up well.

You need to talk to the hospital op not people on Mumsnet. If he puts weight on it too soon he could seriously mess with his recovery.

I hope you can get sorted with school and get him back asap. My 11yo has been able to take a friend with them when leaving lessons early which has really helped and school have accommodated it nicely in all ways for them.
This is a fourth surgery for them on their leg which I think has slowed recovery. Missing sports and the social bit is really hard but friends have really stepped up and help by carrying bags and running around after them! We have had unlimited online gaming to make sure there is no missing out socially outside of school, although I’m sure your son has more freedom as older but we have tried to make life as ok as we can for them while recovering as it’s a long time.

Lots of good advice here. At our school we'd do a risk assessment and be happy to have him back as soon as he was feeling able.

We would probably put the following measures in place, along with a reduced timetable for the first week or two.

• Leave classes 5 minutes early to get around when it's quieter and allow a bit more time
• lift usage - we don't give out keys but he would be able to have a buddy or two that could collect and return them to medical room and help with his bags if needed
• pass to go the loo
• pass to come to medical for pain relief as needed - we'd also ask you to sign a consent form so we could administer what he needed without calling you and ask you to supply it in the original box with the prescription label on if not over the counter

Sorry one more thing. Watch out for the “idiot” teachers. I’d got the main teacher and PE teacher on board with making sure he didn’t do sport or sit on the floor. Unfortunately the teaching assistant went rogue and made him walk the “Daily Mile” despite him having a cast. I went mental when I found out.

Do you have a beanbag he can use to elevate his ankle at home? It's so much more comfy than faffing about with cushions.

Could not agree more. My son in a normal week plays football twice, tennis, swimming lesson and Park Run at weekends. Sport is wrapped up with his identity and not being able to even play footy at break affected his mental health. He didn’t even want to go in to school at all. His sports teacher cracked it by making him referee - that helped no end. He’s only year 4 though but even so, I was amazed at the mental impact. Luckily he’s back to full power now!

My son broke his ankle in September, but not bad enough to need surgery. Just a cast. He did it on Thurs, back at school on the Monday! School made sure he didn’t do sport (yes he still tried to play football ) and he had a chair during assembly so didn’t have to sit on the floor. He’s year 4.

Most schools will:

give lift key if needed
allow him to leave less s 5 mins early so he is moving in clear corridors
obviously no pe
allow jogging bottoms and comfortable shoes
allow someone else to help him by carrying bag

I’d suggest getting gloves as crutches are fucking brutal on the hands. You might find a manual wheelchair easier

My son did exactly the same but in year 11. He didn’t go back until he had the stitches out and was out of his back slab and into an air boot and crutches. In school he used the lift and left lessons early with a friend to get to the next lesson. Just watch his mental health too as my football mad son found it really hard not to be able to play football and keep up with his friends going out etc. Mentally it was much harder than physically recovering for him, something I hadn’t expected.