recovery from torn ankle ligaments

hammerite

I tore ligament in my right ankle last week while playing football on holiday :oops: . On visiting A&E I've been advised I can start to cycle gently in a couple of weeks time as soon as I feel comfortable with trying to weight bear if I have to stop suddenly (I only managed to walk yesterday for the first time since injury).

But they have advised me not to ride clipped in as the it is the twisting of my foot to release that will cause me problems.

I'm guesing everyones scenarios are different, but anyone know how long it is likely before I can cycle comfortably with my feet clipped in?
Can anyone recommed any exercises to help recover from this fully?

MartinL

I did something similar to my right leg last year when I crashed in a road race just before the Dragon Ride. I couldn't clip in or out, so I moved the cleat as close to the centre of my sole as possible and found that I could then clip in and out with only a small amount of pain. I wasn't able to exert much pressure with my right leg and ended up mainly using my left.

I did manage to get around the Dragon though, albeit very slowly :?

It took quite a long time to heal, somewhere around 3 months, but I had done a load of nerve damage at the same time which didn't help. I managed to ride most days though and with hindsight I reckon my leg was ok much earlier by I was reluctant to put any real weight on it for fear of causing more damage.

hammerite

MartinL wrote:

I did something similar to my right leg last year when I crashed in a road race just before the Dragon Ride. I couldn't clip in or out, so I moved the cleat as close to the centre of my sole as possible and found that I could then clip in and out with only a small amount of pain. I wasn't able to exert much pressure with my right leg and ended up mainly using my left.

I did manage to get around the Dragon though, albeit very slowly :?

It took quite a long time to heal, somewhere around 3 months, but I had done a load of nerve damage at the same time which didn't help. I managed to ride most days though and with hindsight I reckon my leg was ok much earlier by I was reluctant to put any real weight on it for fear of causing more damage.

Thanks for the reply Martin. I think you've hit the nail on the head, I'm very conscious of doing more damage by doing things too soon. Having been in plaster before twice for 3 months and 4 months I know how depressing it can be, so want to do it properly. At the same time when I do get back to being able to train I want my ankle to be as strong as it can be given the situation.

At least I've done it this side of the summer rather than at the beginning. That said my main sport is running so I've pretty much messed up my autumn half marathon attempts and probably any chance of being able to run confidently in the cross country races (which are my favourites!).

emaichael

i recommend you eat lots of protein foods... like beans, eggs, chicken... etc. and about 2-4pints of milk per day.
then your body will be driven into over load recovery mode!

ut_och_cykla

hammerite wrote:

I tore ligament in my right ankle last week while playing football on holiday :oops: . On visiting A&E I've been advised I can start to cycle gently in a couple of weeks time as soon as I feel comfortable with trying to weight bear if I have to stop suddenly (I only managed to walk yesterday for the first time since injury).

But they have advised me not to ride clipped in as the it is the twisting of my foot to release that will cause me problems.

I'm guesing everyones scenarios are different, but anyone know how long it is likely before I can cycle comfortably with my feet clipped in?
Can anyone recommed any exercises to help recover from this fully?

AS far as I know any gentle exercise that you can put up with will be beneficial. Ligaments don't have much blood supply which is why they take forever to heal. A combi swim/gentle cycle might help you maintain some kind of fitness and help ligament heal too - but take it easy especially to start with.

NFMC

My main sport is basketball and I've done this too many times to mention. I now have these ankle braces that I wear underneath my basketball boots which makes it almost impossible to 'turn' my ankle.

Last time I did it (not playing basketball so not wearing the braces) I ended up cycling afterwards wearing these braces which really helped give me confidence and strength. I just wore normal trainers rather than clips, mind you.

The other thing I find helpful is swimming. That's a really good way of exercising injured ligaments.

hammerite

Thanks for the replies guys.

I thought about using this enforced break to have swimming lessons to improve my triathlon times. So I guess that will help me (I can swim I'm just slow and stick to breast stroke!).

About these ankle braces, where can you get them from? Are they expensive? Are they restrictive for running?

Airmiles

Sounds unpleasant..... but all is not doom and gloom. I dislocated my ankle a few years back (long story...) and here is what I found helped.

1)Cod-liver oil, and Glucosamine+chondroitin are helpful to healing. Volterol gel (anti-inflammatory) is great stuff too. Ibuleve is ineffective.....
2) Using a wobble-board (post the initial healing period) REALLY helps to strengthen the tendons and muscles supporting the joint, and improve proprioception and reactions so that you don't turn it again - mine's now stronger than it was before the injury. Great for core stability too! Google Norlite Medical for some good-value ones.
3) Cycling is actually one of the best things to do for rehab - but build it up slowly in terms of time, and I'd agree with the "avoid clipless" approach.
4) You'll need to be careful about giving it rest, and icing - you'll be able to do 1 day in 3, or alternate days, long before it will take consecutive days - but you can still keep most of your fitness this way. If you don't listen to your body and push too hard, you'll just keep creating inflammation and scar tissue & it'll go chronic.... look at the "Polar Pack" from www.allsports-int.co.uk as an improvement over frozen peas
5) The best "everyday" ankle braces I've found are the bioskin ones available from snow+rock. You might benefit from an "aircast" during the initial chronic phase, and for a longer period whilst running or (heaven forbid) playing football - mine came from the Orthopaedic clinic at hospital, see if you can get one from them or try on-line - whether it's worth it depends how bad the tear is....

The background to all this is that you have to let the inital healing phase just happen -rest, ice, elevation, nutrition.... but this just forms "disorganised" fibres (i.e. scar tissue). the rehab phase then promotes the formation of organised fibres in the correct orientation to take the load. You have to do enough work to promote this growth, but not so much that you exceed the strength of the disorganised fibres and cause more scarring...... you need appropriate rest and nutrition during this phase too, and again icing etc. will help.

Good luck!

Miles

hammerite

Thanks Airmiles.

I take glucosamine regularly anyway so should be ok there. I was given a tube of voltarol at the hospital when I did my ankle so have been using that too.

I'll start on the wobble board when I feel comfortable to, we already have one at home as my gf ruptured her achilles tendon last year!

I'm actually wearing a tru-fit ankle brace at the moment, not sure how comfortable it would be for running in though. Doesn't look any where near as effective as the one from Snow & Rock though.

Will keep resting it a bit this weekend, but next weekend I'll probably try to have a little spin out on the bike to see how it feels.

Thanks for the help and advice, much appreciated.