My oldest son Elohw broke his leg (tibia bone) 2 days after his 6th birthday. He has been in a full cast from his mid thigh to his toes
for 6 weeks. The orthopaedic surgeon and doctor advised us not to let
him put any weight on the leg while in the cast so it would heal
better. Even though we had a pair of crutches for him to use, I never
forced him to use them while he had his cast on, because I thought he
would compensate too much and create wrong walking pattern At the same
time, I wanted to listen to the specialist's recommendation to make
sure it would heal as well as possible.

We were all excited that he when it was time for him to get his cast
off; we didn’t realize that would just be the beginning of the journey
to recovery! Once the cast got off the orthopaedic surgeon told us his
leg might grow crooked and we will have to be careful for a year to
prevent complications. He also told us that the fracture was not fully
healed and said: “if he was an adult we would have to put him back in
a cast but because he his a kid he will heal fast enough.” We were a
bit puzzled by his answer and asked him should we bring him to see the
physio. He advised us not to waste money on physio for a kid. We left
the doctor office with our son and his “brand new leg” - and decided
to do what seemed right to us based on our own journeys in our bodies.

I am so grateful about all my knowledge and experience with pain
because I am able to support my son in his recovery journey. It has
also made me realize how many parents must be at lost in a similar
situation. I broke my femur when I was 19 and I know from experience
that we compensate to avoid pain and create more pain at other place
in our body; usually the spine and hips. So I keep bringing awareness
to my son about his posture and remind him often.

I knew that the first thing we had to focus on was for his to gain
mobility back in his joint before even being able to gain strength. So
I started showing him simple exercises; pointing and flexing his foot
and the second one flexing and extending his knee. I soon realize that
out son had really low tolerance for pain and had gotten use to be
carried around and scooting on his butt! I had to deal with lot of
resistance and screaming. I tried encouraging the use of the crutches
but that wasn’t working. I also discovered that I could go stretch him
while he slept to help speed up the recovery.

We had a second visit at our family doctor and she kindly explained to
us that he needs to start standing and using his crutches to put
weight on the leg in order for the bones to grow. She told him that
astronaut that go out in space lose bone density because they don’t
weight bear without gravity.

We also took our son to the physio to see if she had different advice
on to speed up the process. She explain that most kid are eager to get
up and going and they have to be slow down to not get hurt. (It was
different for Elohw he was anxious about the pain and needed lot of
encouragement.) She also explain to me that his ankle got compressed
in the cast and might be swollen for a few weeks. She show us a way to
use the crutches that is more like a natural walk; step the opposite
foot and crutches in the same time, instead of using it like we
usually see people using like hopping without putting weight on the
foot. She also confirmed that what I was already currently doing was
helpful and said that Elohw also had to work thought pain and move his
leg as much as possible. She said pain if normal but if you feel pain
20-30 minutes after doing some simple exercises that is a sign that it
was too much.

I am realizing how tricky it is to deal with mind set. My son right
now keep saying "I can’t" - but I keep encouraging him to breath and
tell him "Yes, you can!"

I hope this helps any parent in a similar situation, and I would
appreciate any advice or thoughts you might have that could help us in
our journey to healing.