“Is ankle surgery painful?”
My 15 year old son needs ankle surgery. Will he be in pain? Is ankle surgery painful?
4 Answers
yes yes
Yes. There is no way around it surgery is usually painful but unfortunately often necessary
Great question, and a bit difficult to answer.
Every person experiences pain different because the pain receptors in our nervous system are all wired differently. Some people will have a lot of pain after a "minor" surgery, and others will have little pain after a "major" surgery like ankle surgery. There is no way to predict this.
Your son's surgery should be performed with some type of general anesthesia along with what is called a "popliteal nerve block". This is where the anesthesiologist numbs the sciatic nerve behind your knee. In addition, a "catheter" should be placed after the initial injection. A catheter is a small tube, smaller than an IV tube. After your son's surgery a gravity flow pump will be connected to this tube and drip marcaine (like novacaine at the dentist) on the sciatic nerve to keep your nerve numb for about 2 days.
Sometimes patients will have no pain at all after the 2 days when the nerve block/catheter wear out, sometimes they will. If so, the surgeon should prescribe an opioid type pain medicine, AND other non-opioid medicines like tylenol and ibuprofen (if it is safe for your son to take these medications thus ask your son's surgeon/doctor). The idea is that he takes the tylenol and ibuprofen type medicines on a scheduled basis (usually you stagger them meaning you can take each every 6 hours and thus you take one of the 2 every 3 hours. He would only take the opioid pain medicine as needed for uncontrolled pain.
In my experience with this type of approach patients' pain is managed well and they rarely require the refill of the opioid pain medication.
Every person experiences pain different because the pain receptors in our nervous system are all wired differently. Some people will have a lot of pain after a "minor" surgery, and others will have little pain after a "major" surgery like ankle surgery. There is no way to predict this.
Your son's surgery should be performed with some type of general anesthesia along with what is called a "popliteal nerve block". This is where the anesthesiologist numbs the sciatic nerve behind your knee. In addition, a "catheter" should be placed after the initial injection. A catheter is a small tube, smaller than an IV tube. After your son's surgery a gravity flow pump will be connected to this tube and drip marcaine (like novacaine at the dentist) on the sciatic nerve to keep your nerve numb for about 2 days.
Sometimes patients will have no pain at all after the 2 days when the nerve block/catheter wear out, sometimes they will. If so, the surgeon should prescribe an opioid type pain medicine, AND other non-opioid medicines like tylenol and ibuprofen (if it is safe for your son to take these medications thus ask your son's surgeon/doctor). The idea is that he takes the tylenol and ibuprofen type medicines on a scheduled basis (usually you stagger them meaning you can take each every 6 hours and thus you take one of the 2 every 3 hours. He would only take the opioid pain medicine as needed for uncontrolled pain.
In my experience with this type of approach patients' pain is managed well and they rarely require the refill of the opioid pain medication.
Any surgery will result in some pain. As I don't know what type of surgery he is having it's hard for me to answer specifically. I would address your concerns with he surgeon. Be sure to rehab well afterwards especially if he is immobilized in a cast or boot afterward. Good luck to your son!
