Coming Back from Broken Ankle

[BalancingJane]

Hi everyone, 

Has anyone here had experience recovering from a broken ankle? I play roller derby, and I fell on my ankle trying to make my minimum laps and fractured my fibula, requiring a plate and screws. This is the first broken bone I've ever had, so I know little about what to expect recovery-wise. I am a week out of surgery, 11 days since the break, and I'm non-weight bearing for at least two more weeks, when I might get to be in a walking boot for another 3-4 weeks. So I could possibly be cast/boot free by late July. 

I was training for a half marathon when the break happened. It's in October, and I know I won't be able to run it now, but do you think it's possible to still walk/jog it? I am also signed up for a 5k in August, which I know I can't run, but maybe I can walk it? Are those reasonable goals? Am I completely overestimating possible recovery? Underestimating? 

[gerrymcd]

I've broken many bones in my lifetime.   The bones usually knit together in about 6 or so weeks.  But.....the surrounding ligaments usually take a lot longer to heal. So, take things easy at first, and be conscious you might be walking/skating with damage over and above the broken bone.  I made the mistake of not resting an ankle injury for long enough and its left me with one ankle thats way succeptible to sprains than the other. 

[Heybales]

My trimalleolar break took a lot longer than that. And the complete non-use of the muscle is what took awhile to come out of for several weeks.

I was in boot non-weight bearing for a long time, but Dr would add back some flex for movement therapy, and some light weight levels.

I swam, upper body weight lifting machines, lower body leg curl/extension - none of which used the bone beyond the break, so no stress.

When the flex added and weight level was enough that you could spin bike, I did that too, seated whole time because of weight limit. Just kept increasing tension as weight limit was raised until full weight was allowed - then stood. Since boot was still used to keep things straight, clip on shoes did the same thing.

Surgery July 1, by beginning of October, had been given full weight bearing in boot with max flex to ankle by that point, and was released from boot.

2 days later I did a 40 mile group ride.

You can keep your aerobic base doing other things.

You can keep your muscle strength doing other things. Calves is the killer, they will get weak. Don't do just one, you'll get off balance.

If released to walk, discuss the distance you are talking about with Dr. Marathon may not be off, depending on your progress with one break.

[johnnywalker]

Hey! I have had the exact fracture that you described, and have a plate and several screws in my ankle... Im not sure if it was just a bad operation, but it took me ages to even walk 100 meters again. It was nearly 2 years back, and even now it swells up and starts hurting when I get too enthusiastic with my fitbit!

So from my experience (It might not be yours!) I would try and start off a bit slower... if you think you can realisticly do it without further hurting yourself, go for it! Ill be cheering! Please keep us updated.

[akdaisy]

While i didn't break anything I had a stress fracture in my talus bone.  I had to be non weight bearing for 6 weeks and a boot for 2 more afterwards.  My instructions were to gradually ease back into running and to start with walking.  You don't want another injury and since your body hasn't been doing any weight bearing you'll need to work slowly back.  You don't want to re-injur yourself because your muscles need time to work back up to what they were. 

Also, note to self - if you live in a rainy area like me - take your vitamin D. 

I was devastated at my injury as I was marathon training.  I also switched to Hoka running shoes - they have felt SO good on my ankle and I don't have to wear knee braces running anymore. 

Good luck and happy healing!  🙂 

[BalancingJane]

Thanks so much for the advice, everyone. I'm three weeks in, and I have to admit I'm feeling pretty discouraged at the moment. I have a doctor's appointment at the end of this week, and I'm hoping to have a little more sense of what I'll be capable of doing after that. 

[Heybales]

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@BalancingJane wrote:

Thanks so much for the advice, everyone. I'm three weeks in, and I have to admit I'm feeling pretty discouraged at the moment. I have a doctor's appointment at the end of this week, and I'm hoping to have a little more sense of what I'll be capable of doing after that. 

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Has he tells you that you can put so much weight on it, or allowed so much bend (by adjusting the boot range of motion), use a scale to see what that allowed amount of weight feels like pushing on it.

If 25 lbs say and enough bend, the spin bike is way less than that - get on and off carefully and make sure you don't press more than the limit, I picked bike next to wall and had crutches right there.

Some lay down leg machines where you press may not go over the allowed angle, so you can do each leg at 25 lbs, keep boot on.

You been doing upper body stuff, nothing but your mobility in crutches stopping that. Where there's a will, there's a way, even adhering to the limits.

[Chazzie]

I suffered a broken fib, tib and shattered ankle. Lots of plates, screws, band holding my ankle together, back issues and shoulder issues. Dr said I would be good as new in 3 months. Ha I am one year in. I have severe pain and nerve damage. GO SLOW....VERY SLOW. It fells like hell now....I know I was there BUT the last thing you want to do is have a set back. You don't want to have any long term damage from not following the Dr.s orders.

One Dr I met right off the bat said,"Your really lucky young lady." When I questioned him...he asked,"Did you see the 40ish young man in my waiting room?" I sure did it was so sad I quietly said a prayer to myself for him. Turned out he had the exact same fall as I did. The only difference was he had severe brain damage.

Good luck on a speedy recovery.

[shipo]

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@Chazzie wrote:

I suffered a broken fib, tib and shattered ankle. Lots of plates, screws, band holding my ankle together, back issues and shoulder issues. Dr said I would be good as new in 3 months. Ha I am one year in. I have severe pain and nerve damage. GO SLOW....VERY SLOW. It fells like hell now....I know I was there BUT the last thing you want to do is have a set back. You don't want to have any long term damage from not following the Dr.s orders.

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Back in January 2003 I had a similar break to yours (NWB 4-months; Boot 2-months); doctor told me I'd never run again and walk with a limp for the rest of my life.  When I tried running in the fall of that year it was an unqualified disaster.  I tried again in 2004 and 2005; both times I ran into a multitude of joint, nerve, and back issues due to a seriously messed up stride.  I didn't even bother trying in 2006 and 2007, and by 2008 I was still limping and had gained something like 80 pounds.  I attempted to start running again and at first at least, I seemed to be tolerating the activity well, then I ran into a nerve issue where my calf wouldn't fire properly.

Finally in 2009 I started running again, only this time I found a mid-nineteenth century rail bed, long since converted to an ATV/Snowmobile trail, to run on.  In April of that year I managed a whopping grand total of 8 miles; in May I managed 18, and in June I got it up to 40; by the end of the year I was logging over 100 miles per month.  For me at least, running on a soft dirt trail made the difference and allowed me to ramp up my miles, lose the asymmetry to my stride, and begin walking limp free.