How Soon Can I Drive After Breaking My Foot?

Once your cast has been removed, regardless of which leg was immobilized, don’t assume that you’ll be able to drive immediately. After weeks in a cast, strength in your foot and/or ankle will be diminished; you’ll therefore want to wait until your walking has returned to normal before even attempting to drive.

As a general guide, the post-fracture timeline for getting back to driving is as follows:

Foot Fractures: Wait six weeks after your cast comes off, assuming normal walking has returned

Ankle Fractures: Wait nine weeks before returning to your regular driving routines

While these are general suggestions, every individual’s recovery time will vary, so talking to your doctor about driving (and checking in regularly during your recovery) is the best way to ensure a safe return to motoring. According to a recent study sighted in the New York Times, a shocking 35% of surgeons don’t discuss post-operative driving safety with their patients; apparently, they’re afraid to take any stand on driving out of fear that they’ll be held liable if a patient decides to drive and gets in an accident.

At Prairie Path Foot and Ankle, we never want you to leave our office with unanswered questions about your safety. We are always happy to answer your questions, whether you are concerned about driving, walking or returning to exercise. While we may not give you a hard-and-fast answer regarding your return-to-driving timeline, we can at least highlight all the safety issues involved so you can make a better, more informed, decision.

If you take anything away from this article, your Elmhurst podiatrists want it to be this: whenever you are driving with a painful injury like a broken foot or ankle, even if you are doing so after your cast has been removed, you must always be aware of your mental acuity. Even if your injury doesn’t directly affect your ability to drive, if you’re not sleeping well or are just feeling a little bit off, it may not be safe for you to get behind the wheel, regardless of your physical ability to do so.

When you’ve broken a bone in your foot or ankle, you’ll obviously be concerned about your mobility, but you must always put safety before concerns about being inconvenienced. Only you can decide when you’re really ready to drive after an injury like this, but we hope that you’ll involve your doctors in the conversation, so we can keep you safe during and after your recovery period.

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