Recovery after broken ankle

[A2rhino 62]

37.... HAHA! I miss those days. I'm 45 and seem to be recovering well. I'll have my skate punched out before I have another surgery to remove my plate and screws. I figure at my rate of recovery I should be ok. I guess only time will tell though.

[Skater15 2]

The plate and screws were driving me crazy; uncomfortable and a very unnatural feelings. The feeling is better, but now I have to play with the skate fit. 

[IPv6Freely 2092]

As much as it slowed my progress by not having it, I'm kind of happy I didn't have surgery based on the posts by you two, and others in this thread. It took me over a month longer than expected to actually get to where I am now, but at least I should have no issue with skating going forward. At least, once I build up the strength in BOTH legs/feet again so they aren't tired after 15 minutes.

I can now balance on that foot, which obviously requires a lot of work in the foot to maintain the stabilization. It hasn't been painful to put full weight on it in a couple weeks, but it was still difficult to balance. I sure couldn't do that even a week ago, though. And now I'm working up the strength to stand on my toes on just my bad foot. It's difficult and I don't get really high, but I couldn't move it AT ALL at the last PT appointment. Week to week it's amazing to see the improvement. 

This weekend, I'm planning on bringing my gear, suiting up, and taking warmups. Then just sitting on the bench for the game. I figure it's a good way to see where I'm at without throwing myself into game action. I also plan to try to join in with my old pickup group next Tuesday. We'll see how the skating at public sessions goes this week. 

[Skater15 2]

I was told by my doc that the displacement was enough that I would have long term issues with arthritis and other joint issues if I didn't have surgery. I didn't heal any faster than someone who was not cut on.

Work up slowly back to playing. I tried to kill myself at therapy, I would push myself until the therapist told me to stop. My time slot was 30-45 min and I was usually there for an hour and a half. I did this not only to get back on the but for my job as well. I was lucky and my local rink started adult clinics on Monday nightso, so I was able to use that to get back into playing shape. Good luck IPv6freely.

[A2rhino 62]

Same: I was told by my doc that the displacement was enough that I would have long term issues with arthritis and other joint issues if I didn't have surgery.

I'm happy to say I have the ability to skate on a couple different rinks at any time. Its just a matter of getting past the pain of the incision point and where it meets my boot. The incision is still fairly fresh  and I have a good amount of swelling in the top of my foot. Just have to keep on the road to recovery and moving forward.  I'm now skipping at a good pace and should be running in a week or so. Deep Squats, leg presses and all other leg exercises are a breeze. The only thing holding me back is the pain in that area.

It is great to hear about others progress and success stories. Very motivating

 

 

 

[IPv6Freely 2092]

My doctor told me that the plate usually makes the recovery quicker because it's all being held together. He said mine wasn't displaced so I probably didn't need surgery but that he'd do it if I wanted to. I opted to skip it.

Anyway, I actually forgot my warfarin pill on Saturday night so I just said screw it since I was going to be finished today anyway. So, it should be nearly all out of my system at this point (3-4 days they said). Hooray!!!

I need to get out to skate some more this week. The public skate times kind of suck though. 

[Skater15 2]

I think 4 hours of skating in 3 days last weekend was overdoing it a bit. I played a game last night and the ankle is good, a little sore, but nothing like last weekend. Back to the gym on monday and I;ll keep doing my stretching and ROM until I can skate and not think about my ankle. The public skate times around me are garbage too. 

[IPv6Freely 2092]

I'm taking warmup with my team sunday. Full gear, do some laps, stretch a bit, take a couple shots, and then sit on the bench for the game.

I've signed up for a pickup on Tuesday, but I'll have to decide Monday if I'm going to cancel that or not. I figure at worst I can just kind of stand there playing a stand-up style like it was 1956 again. I may cancel it anyway and just give it another week. We'll see how Sunday goes. 

[IPv6Freely 2092]

Took warmups with my team on Sunday. Did some laps, some stretching, took about 10-15 shots and then sat on the bench. Man, it was nice being out there again.

It was totally fine except that when I’d butterfly, I totally underestimated the amount of weight you actually put on the inside of the foot, specifically up near the toe area, while in that position. That made getting up really hard because my other leg is not yet strong enough to get a very good push, so I end up also shoving on my "back" foot a bit to stand. I used to do this a lot when I first started also, before I built up my leg muscles a bit. 

When I go to stretch I usually do my laps, then get to just inside the blue line on the players bench side, stop down to about 5% speed, then butterfly and slide the rest of the way. No real reason, that's just how I do it. Apparently I let out a loud enough "ARGH!" for a couple guys to stop and check on me. So, that sucked. But honestly, unless I'm just going to sit at home in that position (which I suppose is something I should try) I'm not really sure of the best way to help with that besides just doing it. I didn't wear any kind of brace, though.

With that said, I'm playing a pickup tonight. I had absolutely no problem skating or even stopping hard on that leg. So I figure AT WORST, I just play like a 1950s stand-up style goalie if it's too much. And since it's a pickup, it doesn't matter (it's not like I'm letting my team down). 

I'm thinking next weekend I'm going to do the same thing, doing warmups with my team. Maybe...MAYBE... play a period. If we're either up or down by a lot in the 3rd then I may go in. My planned return to the crease in a league game is still Oct 2nd. 

But man, it felt amazing to be back out there! 

[IPv6Freely 2092]

Probably should update this thing. 

I played pickup last Tuesday. It went really well, surprisingly. Getting up was difficult, but got easier over time as things loosened up. I ended up letting in only 5 goals over the course of 1.5 hours; none of them I would consider "bad". In fact, I ended up getting applause as I walked into the locker room! 

Wednesday-Friday last week both groins hurt a lot but that's no surprise considering how long I was off. Also, zero ankle pain. Well, not quite true... I had pain on the INSIDE of my ankle, but I've had that before when I first started playing goal. It's just from a lack of leg strength, forcing me to push up more than I normally would on my inside of my skate on the ice when getting up. That gets better as I get stronger so I'm not concerned about it.

I got a text from the goalie who had been filling in for me for the last four months asking if I was playing (she's the other goalie during Tuesday pickup and I guess she noticed I was doing okay). I decided that, what the hell, I was going to give it a shot. If I survived a 1.5 hour pickup with no D, I should be able to survive a league game. 

So, last night I played a game a week ahead of schedule. I'd been eyeing Oct 2nd since mid-August when I was told I'd be getting off my blood thinners in mid-sept. It was pretty good, no significant pain. I'm using this as an opportunity to get used to getting up with my other leg (using the "bad" leg as the plant leg for standing up, which is more awkward but hurts much less). 

I still walk with a bit of a limp from the mid-foot still being a bit stiff, and I still ice it every night when I get home from work, but otherwise its seriously like it never happened. I don't even think about it anymore.

Now I need to bring all the crap I bought to the used medical supply store. I'm tired of looking at the crutches, the iWalk, the boots, and all the other stuff I bought to make my life easier. They represent one of the lowest times of my life! 

[Skater15 2]

On September 26, 2016 at 11:22 AM, IPv6Freely said:

Probably should update this thing. 

I played pickup last Tuesday. It went really well, surprisingly. Getting up was difficult, but got easier over time as things loosened up. I ended up letting in only 5 goals over the course of 1.5 hours; none of them I would consider "bad". In fact, I ended up getting applause as I walked into the locker room! 

Wednesday-Friday last week both groins hurt a lot but that's no surprise considering how long I was off. Also, zero ankle pain. Well, not quite true... I had pain on the INSIDE of my ankle, but I've had that before when I first started playing goal. It's just from a lack of leg strength, forcing me to push up more than I normally would on my inside of my skate on the ice when getting up. That gets better as I get stronger so I'm not concerned about it.

I got a text from the goalie who had been filling in for me for the last four months asking if I was playing (she's the other goalie during Tuesday pickup and I guess she noticed I was doing okay). I decided that, what the hell, I was going to give it a shot. If I survived a 1.5 hour pickup with no D, I should be able to survive a league game. 

So, last night I played a game a week ahead of schedule. I'd been eyeing Oct 2nd since mid-August when I was told I'd be getting off my blood thinners in mid-sept. It was pretty good, no significant pain. I'm using this as an opportunity to get used to getting up with my other leg (using the "bad" leg as the plant leg for standing up, which is more awkward but hurts much less). 

I still walk with a bit of a limp from the mid-foot still being a bit stiff, and I still ice it every night when I get home from work, but otherwise its seriously like it never happened. I don't even think about it anymore.

Now I need to bring all the crap I bought to the used medical supply store. I'm tired of looking at the crutches, the iWalk, the boots, and all the other stuff I bought to make my life easier. They represent one of the lowest times of my life! 

Thats great! Hopefully by the end of our fall seasons we will be back to our old selves. Ive skates in 2 games, 2 mite evaluations and a ref clinic, The hour games and clinic I felt pretty good, still having a hard time getting comfortable on the left skate outside edge. But anything longer than an hour and the swelling becomes problematic. 

[IPv6Freely 2092]

48 minutes ago, Skater15 said:

Thats great! Hopefully by the end of our fall seasons we will be back to our old selves. Ive skates in 2 games, 2 mite evaluations and a ref clinic, The hour games and clinic I felt pretty good, still having a hard time getting comfortable on the left skate outside edge. But anything longer than an hour and the swelling becomes problematic. 

Yeah. I'm still nowhere near 100% but its mostly a strength thing, not an ankle thing. The only issue I have still is swelling. I just make sure I ice my ankle before playing to make sure I can get my skates on. Wouldn't be an issue if my games weren't late at night :) But as long as I ice my ankle before I leave home, I'm fine. 

My fall season ends in December, so I'm hoping you're right. My day-to-day life has returned to 95% normal, I just need to build that leg strength back up. 

[A2rhino 62]

Great news about your progress. 10 days ago I went and saw my friend with my previous Supremes. after my PT progress was off the charts and I was doing fast and long lateral jumps as well as vertical jumps. He evaluated my ankle and the swelling I still had. He then heated my boot around the side of the ankle to the eyelets. when it was warm enough he rounded it out, so it wrapped rather than squeezed. I put the skate on, tied it tight and stood there for a few minutes. I then walked in them with no pain. We stuck them in the freezer for about 45 minutes, I put them back on and skated 10 laps pain free. Talk about a win for me. Well not so fast. later that night I went home and wrapped my pillow sized ice pad (in a pillow case) around my ankle and fell asleep with it on. Woke up about an hour later and my ankle was good and numb. I went to bed thinking no big deal. Only to find out the next morning my ankle was killing me. I had gotten Cold Pack burn on my ankle. Having the plate inside only magnified the effects and made it that much worse. So I'm now dealing with the skin on my leg  and around my ankle red as a tomato, burning and itching beyond belief while being swollen and limiting me to do little to rehab it.

[IPv6Freely 2092]

1 minute ago, A2rhino said:

Great news about your progress. 10 days ago I went and saw my friend with my previous Supremes. after my PT progress was off the charts and I was doing fast and long lateral jumps as well as vertical jumps. He evaluated my ankle and the swelling I still had. He then heated my boot around the side of the ankle to the eyelets. when it was warm enough he rounded it out, so it wrapped rather than squeezed. I put the skate on, tied it tight and stood there for a few minutes. I then walked in them with no pain. We stuck them in the freezer for about 45 minutes, I put them back on and skated 10 laps pain free. Talk about a win for me. Well not so fast. later that night I went home and wrapped my pillow sized ice pad (in a pillow case) around my ankle and fell asleep with it on. Woke up about an hour later and my ankle was good and numb. I went to bed thinking no big deal. Only to find out the next morning my ankle was killing me. I had gotten Cold Pack burn on my ankle. Having the plate inside only magnified the effects and made it that much worse. So I'm now dealing with the skin on my leg  and around my ankle red as a tomato, burning and itching beyond belief while being swollen and limiting me to do little to rehab it.

Ouch! I've never heard of that! I've slept with my Shock Doctor ankle ice pack thing on a few times, thankfully without issue. It's always nasty and warm when I take it off in the morning. haha

I spoke too soon, though. Played pickup again last night. Ankle (or surrounding area... I'm honestly not sure) was killing me the entire time. The first pickup and the game on Sunday it hurt but once loosened up it felt fine for the most part. But this time... oh my god. I think I went down maybe 5-6 times the entire 1.5 hours. Probably let in 30+ goals, just because I didn't ever go down. I actually felt bad for the guys who were paying good money for the pickup session. Most of them knew about my injury, but my pickup last week was so good (honestly, better than most of the pickups I played while healthy) it was pretty disappointing.

Anyway, pretty sure I'm just over-doing it. A game Sunday and then a 1.5 hour pickup on Tuesday is probably just too much. I'll probably stick to just the Sunday games for a while. I really need to work up more strength in my legs. 

You mentioned lateral jumps and vertical jumps. I wouldn't even attempt a jump at this point. Not because of the ankle, but the pain in the rest of the foot. 

[A2rhino 62]

Yeah the foot strength will come back eventually. It came back for me the more I walked. I noticed a really big difference when I began walking hills and then moved up to walking hills on my toes and then my heels in 2 minute intervals. I agree with you about simply starting back slow and playing once a week if you can do that. That's my plan other than some stick and puck or even open skate until I have full strength and ROM again.

The Shock Doc ankle ice pack isn't as intense as the Ortho pillow sized cold pad.

[IPv6Freely 2092]

Might as well give this one (hopefully final) update. 

I played my 3rd game (and 6th ice time including games and pickups) last night. For the first time, there was no pain at all. It was actually kind of an odd feeling. Despite losing, I was ecstatic after the game. The leg strength is coming back as well, which was evident in how little fatigue I had in general. The last few weeks I've been dying by the end of the game. Last night though, my water bottle was still 1/3 full when the game was over. That's usually a big indicator.

The last time I was at PT, which was about 3-4 weeks ago now (I don't remember, I stopped going...) the goal was to get me doing calf raises (up and down standing on my toes) on my bad foot. At the time, I couldn't do it at all. Now, no problem. No pain while walking, even on unstable surfaces. We were in the mountains last week and while it was sore at the end of the day, I'm pretty sure my feet would have been sore after that much walking on unpaved trails no matter what, especially in the shoes I was in.

So, I guess we'll call this horrible, horrible chapter of my life closed. 

[Skater15 2]

I don't know it will ever be closed. I've been skating since Aug with an ace bandage wrapped around the incision. It helped a little , not enough to skate any more than an hour.

For the past week I've quit using the ace wrap when I did sticks n pucks and when I'm coaching.  The Friday I'll try a game without the extra padding.  Every other aspect of my injury is a non issue.

[IPv6Freely 2092]

From the stories I've read in this thread, I have to say I feel VERY lucky to have not needed surgery. 

[Skater15 2]

Everyone told me Id heal faster and have less issues since I had surgery. Wrong, the hardware caused a lot of problems. I wish I hadn't had to have the displacement realigned. 

[IPv6Freely 2092]

37 minutes ago, Skater15 said:

Everyone told me Id heal faster and have less issues since I had surgery. Wrong, the hardware caused a lot of problems. I wish I hadn't had to have the displacement realigned. 

That's what I heard, too. And I'm sure it's true... I probably took quite a bit longer because I didn't have surgery. Doctor basically gave me the option. Said it WOULD heal on its own, but would heal quicker with surgery. I had already read this thread by then and decided to skip the plate. Was 100% willing to do it if he'd said I needed to though. 

You'll get there, it just may take time. Others in this thread have also mentioned having their plate removed if that's an issue...

[Skater15 2]

My ortho said it was out of place enough to cause problems if it healed that way. If the ankle is out of alignment then everything going up has to compensate. I'd have arthritis earlier in life and additional knee, hip and back problems because of it. So I opted for surgery. Then I had it all taken out 9 months later. It's a much slower progression compared to my acl reconstruction.  I'm doomed to have arthritis anyway.

[IPv6Freely 2092]

10 minutes ago, Skater15 said:

My ortho said it was out of place enough to cause problems if it healed that way. If the ankle is out of alignment then everything going up has to compensate. I'd have arthritis earlier in life and additional knee, hip and back problems because of it. So I opted for surgery. Then I had it all taken out 9 months later. It's a much slower progression compared to my acl reconstruction.  I'm doomed to have arthritis anyway.

Oh, you've already had it all out? this is just scar tissue irritation, then?

 

[Skater15 2]

Yes, scar tissue irritation. Its slowly getting better, I was worried I would have to get new skates. 

 

[A2rhino 62]

Wow, I have had absolutely no issues with my hardware. It seems to have set in very well. I don't even snap and pop anymore.

I feel that I would have been completely recovered had it not been for the 2nd degree burn. I am slowly recovering from this using a prescription cream called Silver Sulfadiazine SSD and being on antibiotics. It's continuing to drain from the bubble that developed and the swelling is once again dissipating a bit more each day. I worry now that I will have to wait for the skin to fully recover from the burn before I can put a boot on and attempt to skate. Thankfully I can do most anything else that my ROM allows due to the swelling.  

[IPv6Freely 2092]

3 minutes ago, A2rhino said:

Wow, I have had absolutely no issues with my hardware. It seems to have set in very well. I don't even snap and pop anymore.

I feel that I would have been completely recovered had it not been for the 2nd degree burn. I am slowly recovering from this using a prescription cream called Silver Sulfadiazine SSD and being on antibiotics. It's continuing to drain from the bubble that developed and the swelling is once again dissipating a bit more each day. I worry now that I will have to wait for the skin to fully recover from the burn before I can put a boot on and attempt to skate. Thankfully I can do most anything else that my ROM allows due to the swelling.  

You're STILL dealing with that? Holy crap. Sorry to hear :(

Funny you mentioned snap and pop... my ankle was popping almost CONSTANTLY when I was first able to put full weight on it without the cane. But not at all now. I kinda miss it, it felt good! lol