<a href="http://www.choose2be.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/MRME5046-e1499380246495.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2083 alignright" src="http://www.choose2be.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/MRME5046-e1499380246495-225x300.jpg" alt="broken leg - healing process - yoga nanaimo - stretch nanaimo - strength nanaimo - nanaimo -choose2be" width="225" height="300" /></a>My oldest son Elohw broke his leg (tibia bone) 2 days after his 6th birthday. His broken leg 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 broken 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.

<a href="http://www.choose2be.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/images-1.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-2085 alignright" src="http://www.choose2be.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/images-1.jpg" alt="broken leg - healing process - yoga nanaimo - stretch nanaimo - strength nanaimo - nanaimo -choose2be" width="219" height="230" /></a>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.

<a href="http://www.choose2be.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/images.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-2081 alignright" src="http://www.choose2be.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/images.jpg" alt="broken leg - healing process - yoga nanaimo - stretch nanaimo - strength nanaimo - nanaimo -choose2be" width="260" height="194" /></a>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.

<a href="http://www.choose2be.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/MRME5139-copy.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2087 alignright" src="http://www.choose2be.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/MRME5139-copy-225x300.jpg" alt="broken leg - healing process - yoga nanaimo - stretch nanaimo - strength nanaimo - nanaimo -choose2be" width="225" height="300" /></a>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!" He finally started to walk without the help of crutches and I put him on his bike as soon as possible to help him gain his strength and mobility back.

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.