When to be Weight Bearing After an Injury or Surgery
After patients are full weight bearing in the boot/protective shoe a critical portion of their recovery is transitioning back to the use of regular shoes. We generally recommend doing this over a gradual period in order to prevent further or new injury. After time within a protective device the foot and ankle must learn to accommodate to the stresses involved outside of the protective devices. We typically recommend using structured supportive shoes or hiking boots during this phase to help minimize drastic changes in the forces applied to the foot and ankle. In certain situations we will have patient use a brace to keep extra level of protection when outside of the boot.
These progressions typically happen over a 2, 4 or 6 week period. In some cases we allow patients to transitional directly out of the after an appropriate amount of time. This will be determined at your visit based on your condition and recovery process.
