A cast removed after healing leaves a person reacquainting themselves with ordinary movement.

After healing there is a period of relearning. The limb works and does not feel like yours, and ordinary movement has to be re-acquired deliberately, which is a stage nobody warns you about because from the outside the injury is over. Recovery has a phase after the repair.

Expect the same after any hard period ends. Coming out of grief, illness, or a difficult stretch at work, you are not immediately returned to the person you were, and the awkwardness is part of mending rather than a sign that it did not work. Go slowly, and let people know you are still in the reacquainting stage even though the cast is off.