How to Scratch an Itch With a Cast On

A few months ago I took a really hard fall and sprained my ankle pretty badly. This may not have been a big issue, but I’ve had trouble with this ankle before and had to have the ligaments reconstructed a few years ago. Unfortunately, the fall was bad enough that the repair failed completely. Once again, my ankle was in a state of severe instability and needed to be fixed again. So, a few weeks ago I went into surgery to get my ankle fixed yet again.

Dealing with a cast

After my surgery, I was to be completely non-weight-bearing for 4 weeks while I was in a cast. The non-weight-bearing part wasn’t a huge deal. I got myself a wheelchair to use around my apartment and pretty much didn’t go anywhere for those 4 weeks, so I didn’t have to use those awful crutches very often. The cast, however, was a HUGE deal.

The surgery left me with quite a large incision on the side of my ankle, and unfortunately for me, healing incisions are itchy. And I don’t mean a little irritated here and there, I mean ITCHY all the time with an insatiable urge to deal with the itch. It was an all-consuming, bring-me-to-tears kind of itch that I could not scratch.

Now, if you’ve ever been in a cast, you may have experienced cast-related claustrophobia, where after a while, you just want the cast off. I’ve been in casts many times before, and let me tell you, after a few days I just want the darn thing off. My claustrophobia coupled with the ridiculously intense itching was causing some problems, to say the least. Mentally, I absolutely could not handle it.

Getting creative with my cast

My surgeon's office is very busy and he’s incredibly difficult to make an appointment with, but thankfully I was able to get in with one of the nurse practitioners whom I’d seen a couple of times before. I told her I was miserable and just wanted the cast off. The only problem was that I wasn’t allowed to use a walking boot for another two weeks. But she had an idea.

She removed the cast I was in and gave me a few minutes to scratch as much as I wanted to. It was glorious! And by scratch, I really mean “pat very gently or softly touch the skin around my incision.” It wasn’t anything crazy, I just needed to stimulate the nerves a little bit to get rid of the itch. I cannot tell you just how good it felt. Unfortunately, a cast still needed to go back on. So, after a few minutes of “scratching” my insatiably itchy incision, the nurse practitioner placed me back in another cast. It was purple in case anyone was wondering.

But here’s where the magic happened. After putting the new cast on, the nurse practitioner cut each side of the cast, in a similar fashion to how a cast is cut to be removed. The cast was in 2 pieces – a front and a back. Or a top and a bottom if you’d prefer to think of it that way. The cast was now in 2 pieces that were to be held on with a couple of elastic wraps. BUT, I had the liberty to undo the wraps and take off my cast when I needed to “scratch” my pretty little heart out. The technical term for this kind of cast is called a bivalved cast. Bivalve refers to the cuts down each side of the cast, making it removable.

The freedom to scratch

Now, the stipulation is that the cast has to stay on at all times, except when I need to satisfy my itch. But I was more than okay with that. Just to have the freedom to take it off for a minute or 2 when I needed was pure bliss, if you ask me. Having a bivalved cast made all the difference and I was able to wear my cast for the remaining time without any issues. I am so thankful that the nurse practitioner trusted me enough to give me this freedom. It’s the only way I survived those weeks in a cast.

This is not medical advice, nor a suggestion or recommendation on how to deal with itching or claustrophobia due to a cast. If you are struggling with either issue, talk to your doctor to figure out a solution that will work for you.

Have you ever struggled with itching while in a cast? How did you handle it? Let us know in the comments!