Torn / broken ankle

Triathlon Forum
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Well, I’ve hit some bad luck. My A race is the 12th. Not going to happen :frowning: I was out running, and hit some sand on a slope. Foot slid, caught, and rolled over. Now my foot is as large as a baseball, and hurts to move at all. I gave it 2 days of RICE and IB, but now its still 70% the size, and the foot is turning colors…

I’m getting really depressed that I may need surgery, and I’m going in for X rays today at noon.

Anyone had a sever acute ankle injury, and how long for recovery…

Thanks everyone…

2

Right around Xmas I was in a cast for about 8 days…one doc said broken, one doc said sprained, one doc said…too swollen to tell. After the 8 days of elevation and rest I was able to get back on the bike and ride well after a week…I road hard for a total of 4 weeks then started running (road) again. So all in all I was running with limited awareness in about 7 weeks.

Heal well

3

Thanks. Thats about what I feel like its going to take. Guess I better cancel my races for the season :frowning:

4

Sorry to bum you out…but you never know…hell I pr’d a 50k a couple weeks ago…running as well as ever just now
.

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I would be more bummed to know that you didnt recover. I guess its time to get back into lifting after vowing off the gym. Any other ways to keep the fitness up while I cant bike or run. Swimming isnt an option either for 2 weeks due to recently having stiches that arnt closed up yet. ( yes its been a rough month).

6

In late Feb, I broke my ankle XC skiing. I was on the bike indoors a week later, swimming 2.5 weeks later, and 5 weeks later I started running. Still lots of work to do and I have had to adjust my plans for the year as well as expectations. Depends on what you did how fast you come back. My fibula was broken which was a good thing. I doubt you broke your tibia based on what you say.

Anyway, go get an xray and make sure you ask for an Air Cast. If you can bear weight, graduate to the ankle brace as soon as possible. I out of the air cast in 11 days and in an ankle brace from then onward, which allowed me to bear more weight (painfully, but I did), which in effect helps with the bone rebuilding (at least that is what my orthopedic surgeon told me and it worked and he is an 10:xx Ironman and XC skier too, so he knew exactly what he was dealing with).

Good luck.

7

By the way, I did lots of heavy upper body weights after complete rest for the entire first week.

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Funny you mentioned swimming…that was the worst. I couldn’t push off or kick well. I have been concentrating crits racing and trail running so no big deal for me…

My saving grace was the bike. I had a removable 1/2 cast and could spin/ice/elevate. My doc is a pretty hard core athlete and she is all about getting you back to training so I didn’t have any restrictions other than pain…

9

Thaks for the reply.

I can walk on it, and put weight on it… Its just looks like my foot is about to fall off its turning so black and blue. and still the size of a baseball.

There are no sharp pains, and I’ve broken more bones than most ( racing motorcycles) but I’ve never seen somehting swell up so much in my life, so I’m trying to find out as much as possible before i go see the doctor. ( I’m a law student and the student health dept. is very poor, so I wanted to get some opinions of others to know what to ask and look out for)

10

Back in the early 90’s i tipped over on a ladder at work and did some serious damage to my left ankle.I went to my doctor right away. They took x-rays and he said rest it a week and it should be fine. In the next few days my leg ,knee to toes was swollen about as big as my lower thigh, and turning nasty colors of green and blue.I wanted to trust my doctor so i went back to see him in 5 days. he said give it another week. I went to a different doctor.He is an orthopedic surgeon. he saw my x-rays and told me it was an evulsion break. the tendon or ligament did not tear in two.but they stretched so severely that the bone I think the cuboid actually ripped in two. the swelling was so bad that you could push your fingers in the calf area and make deep impressions in my leg. It was pretty gross.
He had me start physical thearopy that morning. I had been laying down resting elevating my leg that It was just a big block of goo. first thing the theropists had me do was pedal a stationary bike to get blood flow back in my legs. I couldn’t push the pedal with my left “block” It just rode around on top as my right leg turned the crank.most of the first week was on the bike and they also used some kind of electro stimulus machine . that sent electric pulses to the leg. I don’t know if that helped at all. It has been awhile but I recall that I was in PT for about a month. One thing that really stands out in my memory is the pain of getting up in the morning.After having your leg elevated for awhile, which was all the time other that at PT, when you get up and blood goes into your leg it is excruciatingly painful.I would lie in bed in the morning needing to pee but I didn’t want to get up for the pain in my leg. The good thing is it only hurt real bad for the first minute then over about 3-5 minutes it subsided to the regular dull pain of the injury.
Back then I was playing a lot of volleyball and in about two months and with a good ankle brace I was back playing. I probably had a vertical leap of 4 inches to start.It was the coming down that was hard. Long term it healed well. I would like to say I’ve never had a problem with it. however in 04 I ruptured my left achilles tendon. Surgery PT and such. I wonder if it was somehow how linked to my previous injury Or if it was just lack of stretching.
I’m sorry if this is a little long winded but this is my story .I hope this can help you somehow and good luck in your recovery.

11

Sorry to hear about that. Injury always sucks.

In all honesty, you should hope it is broken. Takes less time to heal.
Bad sprains can take much longer.

-Jot

12

Did you get x rays yet?

Wishing you the best. The good thing is that the black-and-blue and swelling is all part of the body’s natural inflammatory cycle, and will calm down in a few days to a week. rest ice complain elevate for now, that will help it.

((((((hugs))))))) and keep us updated.

13

Ok… here is the update.

X-rays came back negitive, so I guess thats good. She said the upper ligiment got torn pretty bad and said 4 weeks before I do any activity again.

Pending that,… i did get on the bike on the trainer, and it dosent hurt at all then I do that, so maybe on monday I’ll start a bike specific cycle for the next month or so.

The foot looks funny, like a black and blue club foot ( dosent help that I already have side 14 feet).

Thanks for all the kind words and good advice. I’ll take it easy and hopefully I can get back on track for what was supposed to be the year I do a half.
Casey

14

The black and blue will go away soon. So will the swelling. I know it sucks right now - you’re probably in pain, and the visual of it makes it worse. I promise the bruise colors will disappear!

So the doctor said no activity and you got on the trainer? Nice work there. Either find a doctor who is really good with athletes, or listen to your doctor.

And I’m totally going to contradict myself and say that you could probably get in the pool and do pull sets (wouldn’t require kicking).

15

The black and blue will go away soon. So will the swelling. I know it sucks right now - you’re probably in pain, and the visual of it makes it worse. I promise the bruise colors will disappear!

So the doctor said no activity and you got on the trainer? Nice work there. Either find a doctor who is really good with athletes, or listen to your doctor.

And I’m totally going to contradict myself and say that you could probably get in the pool and do pull sets (wouldn’t require kicking).

Haha yeah. For one, the docter was not athletic, and didn’t understand my concerns about getting back to training. And 2, The bike trainer idea was suggested by my coach to see how it felt, and then we are going to put something together.

I thought about swimming, but then I’m not sure if i could push off the wall without it hurting.

we’ll see, at least the swelling is finally starting to go down.

16

I wrecked my ankle in a soccer game one summer. Someone stepped on my foot as I was running, and my foot twisted in a direction I didn’t think it could have. It hurt worse than when I broke my jaw in two places (which happened three months before the ankle).

I’d either torn or significantly stretched a ligament. I had swelling from my toes to about halfway up my shin. I would stick my leg in a five-gallon bucket of ice and water to bring the swelling down. They tried to get me to wear a boot, but that only lasted about a week before I got sick of it.

I don’t remember exactly how long it took, but I know I was riding the bike within the next couple of months. In fact, that was when I decided to forget about team sports and stick with cycling. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to get back into running, but, as it turns out, running hasn’t been much of a problem since.

The ankle I injured is now a little less flexible than the other one.

I don’t think you’ll have to cancel your WHOLE season, but you may want to downgrade to shorter distances if you can. Heal quickly. Best of luck.

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I’ve ridden the bike everyday starting 1 week after I broke my ankle in the third week of Feb. March ended up being a bike focus when I did not plan it. I actually barely rode Dec-Feb cause I wanted to be mentally fresh for riding. Glad I did. Early in the process, I’d actually ride, shower, and then put my foot back in the air cast.

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From my experience I think its good to get on the trainer I don’t think it would be a problem to swim either just don’t use your bad foot to push off the wall. One thing to remember is to finish each therapy or workout session with icing it for 15-20 minutes.

19

Well. Not sure what to say but my training fell off the wagon. I was setting PRs, and then bam, down for the count. I have done 0 cardio ( well 2 one hour trainer sessions) and i went back to the gym lifting weights.

I was 215± 5 only missed 21 days in the pervious 17 weeks of training, and then having missed nearly a month, I feel like I forgot everything.

Dropped down to 205 because I just wasnt hungry anymore, and hense the reason i went back to lifting weights and i’m back up to 212 now.

I’m about to go out for my first run, and hope it goes well. If it does, I’m sure i’ll be back in business, if not, I might have to switch back to motorcycle or car racing for the season.

I missed my A race, but am hoping to be back up to speed to do a half by the end of summer.

Either way, Thanks for all the kind words, and I just want to give an update.

Also,… any big developments recently on the board, I havent logged on because I didnt want to be reminded that i couldnt do anything.

and yes, the foot is still slightly black/ blue/ swolen, but getting better. Had anohter doctor look at it, and i tore the upper ligiment. I just cannot sit around and not run anymore.

I’ll report back, not looking to do anything crazy, just an easy 3-6 miles depending on how stable it is.

20

I had the same thing happen to me.

Happened in June and it wasn’t until October before I ran again.

I went to physio at least two times per week and sometimes three.

Give it time. Contrast baths work great too.

Good Luck!