Recovery after broken ankle

[ThePurpleCobra 0]

maybe you should stop going feet first into the boards ;)

I'm sorry to hear that you have to go through that whole mess again. How was your other ankle feeling?

haha this time i was going to go in side first but some guy fell on me and turned me, the other ankle is fully healed and I am not having any problems with that

[Wolfpack_1986 154]

well, i guess it's good that your first ankle isnt giving you any trouble.

[Grave77Digger 1]

I broke my ankle last week. I broke the big ball of the ankle clean off. Will be getting surgey this coming Monday... joy... Ill post an xray if I get one. Its pretty trippy looking.

[Wolfpack_1986 154]

the medial malleolus? (inside, tibia)

[Grave77Digger 1]

Thats the one!

[Wolfpack_1986 154]

cracked all the way through into the joint, huh. that's not gonna be fun coming back from... that's the part that still hurts the most. good luck.

Edited March 30, 2008 by puck_it

[Grave77Digger 1]

Just got out of surgery today I think they put 2 screws in the ankle to hold it in place while it heals hurts like a mother!

[Grave77Digger 1]

Got the cast off and stitches out about 2 weeks ago. I have been walking without crutches (with a limp) for 4 days now. I have a pretty bad ankle sprain on the opposite side of my break and my foot has no flexibility in it. This is taking alot longer than I thought. My foot still blows up with swelling also.

[Wolfpack_1986 154]

yeah, it's gonna be a bitch man. I'm almost 11 months out and still have residual pain. I did have the best recover as far as function goes out of any patient that the doctors in the office have seen. So, i guess i can trade some pain for that extra bit of mobility.

[figgifumi_11 3]

I'll throw my name in the hat for people who have broken their ankles playing hockey. Mine is an ascending fracture (approx. 4.5" long) of the medial maleolus with a detached chunk of bone that is floating around the soft tissue in the arch of my foot. Throw in a lovely case of bursitis on top of the fracture and I am one happy camper. This happened in December but was misdiagnosed by my PCP (and partially me), so I have been playing on it since then up until it was correctly diagnosed two weeks ago. Good times!

[Wolfpack_1986 154]

nice... *eek*

[Grave77Digger 1]

Went to the Docs today. Said my break is completely healed. I just had surgery 4 weeks ago, guess those 2 screws really helped. I just need to keep stretching my ankle/calf and wait for all the tenderness to go away. Im really worried I wont be able to wear any of my low cut skates (Kor, S500). Im going to need all the support I can get.

[Zootsuit 0]

I'm recovering this thread looking for good news from peoples recovery. I'm 9 weeks into breaking my ankle and I'm just about to start PT.

Gee2626 are you still around? My injury is the same as yours so I'm intersted to hear how your doing.

Aj

Edited May 13, 2009 by Zootsuit

[Grave77Digger 1]

Well my last post in this thread was over a year ago and I still have issues with my ankle. No flexiblilty, stiffness, clicking, and general soreness. I was to busy with a new job to do the PT, think that may have been my biggest mistake. I can still play hocley though I just have alot of discomfort. I was able to walk/limp after 4 weeks but my biggest issue was the sprain I had on the opposite side of the break. It was months before I could actually run without pain. When you can run you can play hockey.

[Race4LastPlace 31]

Broke my ankle and partial lateral tear of Achilles (and chipped chaputs tubercle) about a year and a half ago. It's a bit more than just an ankle pt wise. But I had about 2and a half months of pt. Biggest thing was to know the limits but make sure to find a home regiment too. Other than at the therapists office I know I did an hour of stretching the ankle every day (stretch resitance band). My particular injury tho has still left me in some pain, and I know I'm not as fast of a skater, but it's getting there. Good luck to ya. (not sure if this was entirely good news ya were looking for, but was my scenario)

Edited May 13, 2009 by Race4LastPlace

[Wolfpack_1986 154]

I'm recovering this thread looking for good news from peoples recovery. I'm 9 weeks into breaking my ankle and I'm just about to start PT.

Gee2626 are you still around? My injury is the same as yours so I'm intersted to hear how your doing.

Aj

I'm one month shy of the 2 year mark. I fractured both maleoli, requiring screws through the tibia and a plate along my fibula. there was no soft tissue damage, but the tibia fracture went through to the joint. That said, both my physical therapist and my surgeon said that i have had the best recovery for that type of fracture they'd ever seen (oddly enough, i was my surgeons first hockey player, and now he's a surgeon for the Hurricanes). I had nearly 100% recovery on the ROM with plantar flexion (pointing toes) and a slightly tougher time (75-90%) ROM on dorsal flexion (like in a deep knee bend).

The bad: may ankle is permanantly larger, and the screws on the inside ankle hurt when pressure is put on them. I had to punch my vectors to fit comfortably, but the One95's fit beautifully after baking. Additionally, there's still bad days, as well as good days. Sometimes the fucker just has a constant dull pain. It's annoying at times. It makes creaking noises.. it feels like i want to pop the joint, like cracking my knuckles, but i just cant do it, so that frustrates me. when i do pull it off on the rare occasion, holy hell does it feel good.

What's this mean for hockey? Not a whole lot. There are some days when i tie my skate and am wincing from pain, but once i get moving it dulls away. There's days when i forget i broke it. Then there's days when i get off the ice feeling like garbage. It took me a good 6 months playing twice a week to get the right endurance levels back where my ankle didnt want to just quit.

All in all, it might still improve from being abused (not as sensitive to big time loading as it has been in the past), but i'm at about where i'm going to get. I'm not really limited by anything, as long as I can deal with minor pain, and minor arthritis. It's a tough recovery when you fracture a joint, especially such an important one. Do everything the physical therapist says. I pushed myself quite a bit, never complained. My therapist said she had a tough time gauging how far she could push me, since i never showed any sort of pain.

the biggest piece of advice is: dont be discouraged when you go in, things take time. Be realistic, and know when too much is too much. When you're back in skates, it feels toatlly foreign, but after the second skate or so, it all comes back. it's just conditioning from there.

[Zootsuit 0]

Thanks guys,,not what I was hoping for but what the realist in me was suspecting.

Andrew

[Wolfpack_1986 154]

everyone heals differently. it wont ever be the same, thats just a product of having a surgery like that. I didnt intend to be discouraging, but i thought it would be most beneficial to point out everything i could. Just do EVERYTHING that your doctors and physical therapists say to get back into it.

Where are you located? before you get to the point where you're going to do physical therapy, call around to see if you can find someone who specializes in PT for sports injuries. They tend to be a bit more agressive, and can get a better feel for where you were and need to get back to. Otherwise, people who deal with grandmas instead of athletes might only bring you to a point where you function, not perform.

give us updates, or ask questions, if you want. we've got a pretty good sample of people with bad breaks ;)

[Zootsuit 0]

I'm in Boston,,,world class medical industry.My surgeon works on all the BC athletes and my PT is sports centric.

Had my first real PT yesterday,pretty achy today,I'm expecting that though.

Aj

[hudsonhockey22 0]

hey guys, jsut seein if you could help with my situation..

so i sprained my ankle pretty bad playin lax in the state quarter final... on crutches for 3 days until state semi final, then toughened it out and had it taped and braced. .. ended up loosin in ot, which is lame but anyways, this happened about three weeks ago. my ankle still is swollen and kinda hurts. i skated on it the other day for about an hour. pretty sore after and hurt to make tight turns. i have my junior tryouts in middle of july, what exercises can i do to help the pain...

thanks

[fieldofdreams 0]

Just rest it. Don't do anything else until absolutely necessary.

[Too Old 1]

Add me to the list. Last Wed night with only 3 minutes left in the game I was hit from behind. I felt/heard a pop and down I went. I hoped it was a bad sprain. A trip to the doctor the next day showed a broken left fibula about 1.5" or so above the joint. Since the fracture was slightly displaced I had surgery last Friday. Now have a plate and 4 screws in there, or so the wife said, lol. I've not seen the post-op xrays myself. I have a boot on there now and it's a sore mf'er to say the least. I go back to the surgeon on Tuesday and would imagine if there are staples/stitches (not sure what's in there) they'd come out. Also unsure if I keep a boot or if a cast will go on. I hope to be back on the ice during the summer for some skating, and also get back to mountain biking as well. The surgeon said I should not have trouble playing hockey again but I'm sure the pt will not be pleasant.

[Brian Harte 1]

I think my brother started skating again after 10 weeks or so.... but his wasn't as bad as yours.

best of luck with speedy recovery.

[kredmore 2]

Too bad about your break. I broke my fibula and tibia about 3 years ago, and was cleared for skating about 8 weeks out, hockey at 12 weeks. I had two plates, 1 for the fibula like you, 1 for tibia.

I had a split cast for 10 days, then a boot. Non weight bearing for 4 weeks, then slowing full bearing until 8 weeks. Usually the plate is put in to ensure healing and speed recovery. You can have it out down the line if it bothers you. I had my fibula plate out, but the tibia plate is still in there. In fact, took a shot recently right at the exact tibia break spot - all is fine.

Good luck with recovery.

[IPv6Freely 2093]

I broke my ankle May 19th after a guy jumped me from behind and my ankle twisted under me as I fell. Long story. 

 

I luckily happened to have a shock doctor ankle boot/brace with ice packs built in so I put that on. I went to urgent care the next morning. They took X-rays and confirmed it was broken. Just a slight fibula break. They told me to make an appointment with orthopaedics, and sent me home with a splint. 

 

I called first thing Monday morning (the 23rd) and the only appointment slot they had was 7am Friday. That seemed a bit ridiculous but I guess if that's all they had I'd take it.

 

Went in on the 27th and they took more X-rays just to confirm the break, and to ensure there hadn't been any displacement in that week while in the splint. There was none, which meant no surgery required. Lucky!

 

They put me in a plaster cast and sent me home, saying to make an appointment for a week from then. I went to the front desk to make an appointment for Friday the 3rd. The nurse said they didn't have anything and that I'd be going on a wait list. Uhh, okay... That seems a bit silly to me. If the doctor wants to see me in a week, I need to come back in a week. But okay.

 

Fast forward another 6 days to the next Thursday. I get a call saying i have a 9am appointment for the next day. Okay, woo hoo I got lucky. 

 

So I go in on Friday the 3rd and get a different doctor. I have more X-rays done to take another look and make sure things are aligned well. Everything looked good. She said to come back in two weeks and I'd likely get put into a walking boot which she may or may not allow me to put weight on yet. She also said if I'm able to put weight on it that she can actually give me an ankle brace to allow me to drive (but I have to put the boot on once I get to work, before I start walking). So that's good.

 

Again I go to the front desk, and again I'm told there's no appointment available. "I have an opening in three and a half weeks, or I can put you on the wait list", I'm told. Uh, the doctor said two weeks so no, 3.5 isn't going to work. Whatever.

 

So here I am a week later. One more week of this cast! Thank god I bought a couple things to help me out. Specifically the iWalk 2.0 which basically acts like a pirate peg leg and I can almost walk normally with my hands free. I also bought a support that goes around the toilet. That thing is a MASSIVE help. And of course I also got a waterproof cast cover for showers. 

 

Thank god I work from home or I'd be screwed. Though I do find it hard to get work done laying on the couch. I also start a new job on the 20th so I REALLY hope I'm into a walking boot next Friday.

 

unfortunately I'm missing playoffs in the league I got injured skating out in, and also miss playoffs in the league I actually care about (that I play goalie in). I think. 

 

If I'm in a cast for another week and a walking boot for 2 weeks after that. Assuming the bone is healed, that gives me 3 weeks before the championship game. Even if I can PT to the point where I walk with a limp I should still be able to skate thanks to how stiff and supportive my skates are. As long as the bone is fully healed it's more or less a "do as much as you can tolerate" at that point, right? 

 

I imagine I should be able to skate long before I can walk normally again. No?

 

PS Sorry for the thread necro... Seemed pointless to start a new thread after I found this one via search.