Freak Accident Resulting in Injury

[Maka 0]

So last night, I completely tore up my ankle in a freak accident. I chipped the puck out along the boards, but the defenseman at the point stopped the puck. As I reached out for it with my stick, my blade lodged against his chassis. As a result, my stick served as a makeshift pole vault, launching me completely airborne. As I come down, the front of my left skate catches the ice and I land on my left ankle and roll it forward and out, resulting in some massive swelling and a pretty severe sprain.

Now my question to the members of this board are, other than the standard RICE method of healing, do you guys have any suggestions as to how I can rehab this ankle as fast as possible and get back out onto the ice? I'm already wearing an AirCast and using crutches.

[chikinpotpie 137]

Did you go to the doctor? Sometimes you just have to take the time off and let your body heal.

[indaslot 0]

I can only speak from the experience of my son who fractured his 5th metatarsal walking out the door,was not put in a cast when he should have been thus worsening his injury.He was put in an aircast to the knee for 6wks.During that time,he hit the gym every other day training his upper body as much as possible.After 5wks,he was allowed to remove the aircast to bike seated (as hard as he wanted starting with 15-20 min and extending to 30)and do the legpress machine and then put back the cast.After the 6th week he was allowed to do the elliptical so he alternated 1 day elliptical, 1 day bike while continuing the weights.After that, he was allowed to skate alone avoiding certain moves.As he was not yet back to school,I rented ice several times (cheap where I live)and paid a guy I knew who owns a hockey school(also pretty cheap)to put him through drills, gradually increasing the intensity.Then he went 3 or for times to a non contact league to scrimmage.Finally,he joined the team and looked in great shape.His foot and cardio were fine.NOW,back to you!Your injury is different so you will have to follow those guidelines.I would follow the same pricipal though.Train everything you are allowed to train as long as it doesn't worsen your injury.Watch yur diet:lean protein and Vitamin C.I don't know how long you will be in the cast,but you will probably need physio.Don't rush any of the steps (not necessarily what I did as my son was only 13 at the time)and be systematic.Sorry to be long winded.I hope this helps.I am not a professional, but have been through my share of injuries (my own and his)and had lots of good professional guidance.And stay positive.You Will recover!

[biff44 0]

Yeah, we covered this topic around 6 months ago in detail.

Unfortunately, you did not do the right thing. The right thing would be to wrap it in an ace bandage and ice it down IMMEDIATELY, since the swelling causes around 50% of the damage. Now, a day later, that damage is done.

So basically now all you can do is to ice it down (10 minutes at a time), take alleve, keep it elevated, and hope some of the swelling goes down. Maybe a week from now, you start some light exercise, like an exercycle. If that goes well, carefully try some body weight squats. If that goes well, maybe try balancing on one foot a little at a time. Then possibly some single leg body weight squats. Then some really light forward-backward plyo. Then, if that is ok try some lateral plyo. At each step, if it is hurting to do it, stop and wait a few more days. Keep icing it down as you want to build it up without reinjuring. And say some prayers you only stretched some stuff, and did not actually tear anything.

Your typical ankle sprain that swells up like it sounds you have, IF there is nothing torn up, will take 6 weeks before you can get your revenge on the ice!

If you have some pix of you doing the superman thru the air, post them!

[indaslot 0]

Are you supposed to remove the Aircast to ice?

[Maka 0]

Thanks for all the help guys. Sounds like you have some really legitimate advice. Actually, I didn't cover everything in complete detail. I did get the skate off and ice the ankle while still on the bench, and even so the swelling is horrible today. I'm only using the aircast to walk with an ACE on at all other times, and I'm trying to ice this sucker as frequently as possible. Unfortunately, I just realized that in addition to hockey, I'm not going to be playing on my school's varsity volleyball team any time soon. Damn you and your relentless ways, gravity!

[Chadd 916]

Ankles take a while too. I twisted mine pretty badly on New Year's Eve and it still isn't right. Take it slow and you'll be fine.

[biff44 0]

If your insurance plan covers physical therapy, I would sign up with one. They can get you back in action asap. There is a fine line to walk between going easy and working it to get it back into shape.