Broken ankle

phelim21

I've broken my ankle in 3 places today. And was told it could take 6-8 weeks to heal. Has anyone on here had this happen to them and how long was it before your able to get back on the bike and what tips do you have for the boredom.

Thanks

imposter2.0

Never done an ankle, but from breaking other load-bearing bones, 6-8 weeks sounds reasonable. A lot will depend on what other collateral (ie ligament, etc) damage there is and what - if any - surgery is required.

thistle_

Not my ankle but broke my scaphoid years ago and was told minimum 6-8 weeks but was out of plaster in 7 (had a splint for a few more weeks).
I kept as active as I could (walking, jogging) which I think helped stop it taking longer to heal.

Might be a bit more difficult with an ankle than a wrist.

Might be worth asking the doctors what they suggest. Maybe some weights stuff which doesn't stress your ankle?

thecycleclinic

You'll be back on the bike when your able too. 6 to 8 weeks is an average. It could be 3 or 4 weeks before you can ride or 12. Dont rush it and dont be impatient either. Your bones will heal when they are ready too.

mercia_man

I broke my left ankle fell running 12 years ago. I was on my own, on the top of an icy Shropshire/Welsh border hill in winter, with no phone. I had to hop down a steep descent holding onto a wire fence for support until I got back to a track where a dog walker phoned for my wife to fetch me.

It was initially diagnosed as a sprain by a nurse at my GP practice and I was given an elastic bandage. I kept driving and went to work for a week but ended up going from my office to A&E on a Friday afternoon as the pain and swelling had got worse. An X ray revealed it was broken. It was put in plaster that evening but thankfully that was removed when I saw a specialist the next day. I was given a plastic splint and was able to hobble about at work but not drive.

I was doing gentle outdoors cycling again after six weeks and running shortly afterwards, gradually building up the effort and duration. I also had physio sessions at my local hospital where I was given advice on exercises and was able to work out on a static bike, treadmill and other training equipment. I set a PB in a 10k road race about 12 weeks after my fall so my recovery programme obviously worked. I had slight pain in my broken ankle for several months and I still have limited movement in it compared with my right ankle.

Being laid up is boring. Being able to go to work helped as well as working determinedly to get back to fitness.

phelim21

I've to have surgery on it and surgeon said time in cast/boot depends on any ligament damage.

pblakeney

I had a snapped Achilles Tendon, not a broken ankle but here are my comments.
Do your first rides on a turbo or stationary bike to build up a bit of strength and confidence in the ankle.
Once you are comfortable on the bike concentrate on using your weak leg at anything less than FTP. Oh, and do an FTP test first as yours will have dropped. Don't worry about your good leg as you will subconsciously use it anyway. If you don't do this you will subconsciously favour your good leg and full recovery of your weak leg will be prolonged. As I eventually realised.
Do exercises to strengthen your calf muscle. I have keep telling myself that. 😉
Two years out of the cast (I was in a cast for 3 months) and my weak leg calf muscle is still noticeably smaller than the good one.
Hope the recovery goes well.

mercia_man

My wife broke her ankle when she slipped on leaves walking in a park a year after I broke mine. She was admitted to hospital and had the ankle pinned. She then had to wear a boot. Recovery took longer than my break but she was back cycling outdoors again after eight weeks, starting gently on the back of a tandem and progressing on to solo riding. She also bought a secondhand spin bike that was advertised in our village shop window for £50. That was an excellent way for her to get back to fitness and mobility. She has about seven pins in her ankle and they give her the occasional twinge if she bashes her ankle but it hasn’t stopped her running, cycling and long distance walking.

aberdeen_lune

6 weeks is a pretty standard recovery time for most breaks. 12 weeks for the scaphoid which has a limited blood supply. You just need to be patient and let it heal. Learn a musical instrument. It’s not the worst time of year to be out of action.

I am in week 5 of my recovery from a pinned bone which was fractured. Can’t drive and can’t cycle outside but I can turbo.

billycool

Hard to give an exact time frame as every injury is different and recovery times can vary.

If you need an operation you'll probably get some internal fixtures. Bones actually heal quite quickly. It really depends on the ligament damage, as they usually take longer to recover and require more work.

A broken ankle can mean less ligament damage compared to a forced dislocation (far more traumatic on the ligaments). I don't know the exact mechanism of your injury so don't know the trauma involved.

When I broke my ankle hedge diving in 1999, I broke both my tib and fib and completely displaced my foot (it basically fell out of the socket). My consultant said that as I'd broken both bones and my foot just fell out, the ligament trauma was limited. Still bleedin' hurt though (my first and only introduction to morphine and tramadol - great stuff).

Having said that, I was in plaster for a few weeks and my calf wasted away badly. At the time I wasn't really on the bike and was playing more football and hockey, both quite high impact sports, so rehab time took longer.

I stopped playing football but was playing hockey 7 months later, albeit still sore and I'd roll my ankle every so often as the ligaments were still a bit weak. Had I been riding bikes, I would have been back at it sooner as it's less impact driven (assuming nothing too mental).

My best recovery tips?

Physio - my ankle was so stiff (your toe sort of points down usually and needs work to get it to 90 degrees). My physio was brutal and made me cry. I'm really greatful for it. Got things moving and made good progress.

Exercises - whatever they ask you to do - do it. More if you can. Sore is okay, pain is not (i.e - it will be sore but don't overdo it). My best rehab was driving a transit van. I'd done my left ankle so constant gear changes all day, 6 days a week worked it really well. Therapy bands, wobble boards etc are also very good. It takes time to build that muscle back up but you'll get there.

PMA - Positive Mental Attitude - I sulked a lot to start with. Was told I might not walk properly, let alone play sports (it was a BIG part of my life at that time). Once I'd got my head round that, I got on with it.

It takes time but the more you do (within limits) the quicker you'll recover.

20 years later I'm still playing hockey, I mountain bike twice a week and I'm sooooo grateful to the consultant who put me back together. I do creak once in a while and if I bang my ankle and catch one of the screws it really smarts.

Hope your op goes well and you get on the recovery trail.

This is my bionic foot.




PS - I wrote a web-site to pass the time. Nowadays I'd borrow a PS4 and do COD to death.

Longshot

No idea but best of luck with the recovery.

gsk82

Get your ankle right. A couple of extra weeks of junk miles is pointless if you're having an operation to repair a problem with it in 6 months.

Lay off the cycling, don't take it seriously and enjoy riding your bike in 2020... once you're fully fit.

phelim21

Update I've another 4 weeks in the cast. And then I'll have physio after this the consultant said I could do a maximum of 20 miles on flat roads or towpath specifically no climbing. Which is not good as I'm going to mallorca before easter with my club.😥😥

alistaird

Ask about Hydrotherapy - can really help with flexibility and muscle recovery with minimum of weight bearing issues...

A

pblakeney

FWIW - I have an update on my progress as I now have a Tacx Neo2 which gives split power.
More than 2 years after 3 months in a cast my good leg/bad leg power split is 60/40. This is clearly not going to resolve itself naturally. Specific recovery exercises are necessary.

dennisn

Had clean breaks in both bones of my lower right leg. After two plates, thirty screws, and 5 months of zero weight bearing on that leg I finally healed up. As for the boredom of sitting around unable to do much, I say, catch up on your reading. I read lots and there is plenty of great stuff out there.

Ped29

Hi I'm probably a bit late to comment on this but here goes - 10 years ago I dislocated and broke my right ankle, the catalyst for all this is when the fibula sheared about 3/4 way up allowing the whole ankle joint to collapse! Anyway after many operations & years of suffering I finally had the ankle 'fused', quite a common operation for broken ankles I'm led to believe, this has been an absolute revelation, before the fusion operation I always walked with a limp and if I lay down or sat for more than 5 minutes the ankle would be incredibly stiff for the next 10 - 15 minutes. I can also run now which was impossible before. The original ankle break happened around this time of year so my time off on the sick was quite enjoyable - lots of cycling on the TV! I think from what I remember I got onto the turbo mid august of that year so probably about 10 weeks from breaking it to riding on the turbo. Just reading when you 1st posted and your probably back on the road now but I thought my story might help if you encounter problems with the ankle as I did.
Good luck!