Recovery from broken leg (Before Camino)

Beergander said:

Hello, my wife and I were planning to walk the Frances from Easter 25. We've booked our flights and first few nights accommodation. However last week my wife unfortunately broke her leg whilst walking our dog. She's had surgery (Plate and screws) on top of her shin.

We're in our 50s but pretty fit and have done plenty of decent walks so have some muscle memory.

My question is has anyone else suffered such an injury 6 months out and still managed to do the entire Frances in reasonable time?

We do have some flexibility to swap to late summer if required.

Thanks for your advice...

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All depends on her and her healing. Check with the orthopedist and with the PT on what is enough or too much to promote good healing. Maybe check with a sports medicine specialist for sound advice.

Sorry for the predicament you find yourselves in, but you need to get proper medical advice. The 'entire Frances' entails daily walking of six or seven hours, for a full month. Think about that..

You say you have the flexibility to postpone til late summer? That's good, the camino Frances will still be there..

I'm guessing you really won't know for sure until about March, that's 4 months from now. And yes, so much will depend on the severity of the break and the speed of recovery and PT. I had some tendon-related knee issues, and recovery involved a lot of rest, then slowly returning to walking, but I was advised to start with walking every other day for shorter distances (no more than 4 miles), then to two back-to-back walks with one rest day (still at 4 miles), before increasing my distance - it took me about 6 months to get where I wanted to be before leaving for my Camino. But I'm not a doctor and don't know if bones heal faster than tendons, but 4 months does not sound like a lot of time, but might be more than adequate in your case.

I guess if it were me, I would be looking at whether I could reschedule the flight and the deadlines involved with that, (I'm guessing that with the accommodations, there's more flex on the deadlines) then making my decisions as those deadlines approached - hoping to start as originally planned, but being prepared to postpone if the recovery doesn't feel like it's ready in time. Bummer, but worse would be having to abandon due to an injury that didn't heal adquately.