Hi all
I hope that someone who has suffered from a broken ankle can give me some advise.
My question is I want to get back on the bike and I run spd's should I swap to flats to give my ankle time to strengthen and allow my foot to move about or stick with the spd's and adjust them. Thing is not sure if my alinement of knee ankle foot has changed and if the pain is because of the heeling or adjustment problems.
Missing my bike like mad, looking for inspiration
Bike Forum
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Broken ankle need some advise, please
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Posted 1 year ago #
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How old are you? I would recommend a good break from the bike and do a lot of walking / swimming or something. If you get back at it to soon and break it again you could be feckered.
Disclaimer. I am not a doctor
Posted 1 year ago # -
i have a broken ankle. did it years ago and it never healed. steer away from ankle supports and let the surrounding structure strengthen
Posted 1 year ago # -
Hi theswede
The ripe old age of 42, walking with a limp at the mo only out of plaster 1 month, physo has given me streaching and balance exercises, don't swim and not got the covinece of a local gym, working shifts when I go back to work the week after nextPosted 1 year ago # -
go to physio - theyll give you exercises to get your ankle strong again and also so it works properly without everything else compensating. This can cause problems with joints and muscles further up your leg. I'm just recovering from an ankle op after damage which wasnt fixed for three years and my leg didnt work right at all. Now after op and two months physio exercises its starting to work properly again, which in turn has reduced pain in my knees and also corrected my foot position. however i still runs flats and spds. spds are handy for keeping our foot where it should be...
Posted 1 year ago # -
I broke my right ankle back in 1999 pretty badly, it was a good four months before I was back on a bike. What damage has happened to yours ? depending on how bad the damage will probably determine what you can and can't do when you first get back to things... foot, ankle, knee alignment not an issue for me but I did suffer cartledge problems between the talus and tibia.
Kev
Posted 1 year ago # -
I broke my leg just above my ankle recently but due to time off it most of my physio involves the ankle. My advice is do your physio RELIGIOUSLY! And once off the NHS goto a decent sports physio. The NHS discharged me faar too early and now as a result i've got 5 more months of heavy physio to correct all the issues I have, this break was back in september so you can imagine my frustration at not being recovered with summer on the way! I'd also stick to flats, most of recovery is trying to re-learn all your muscle memory movement.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Christoginger, have pins and plates fitted at time of break main thing is lack of foot up and down movement, it's getting a bit better, the main thing is that I was so active and after three months sitting around and limited exercise I'm getting very frustrated at how long this is taking
Posted 1 year ago # -
Hi I broke my ankle in two places a few years ago, they removed my plaster after four weeks to allow me to go on a pre booked holiday, while away I did as much swimming as possible and it really helped, after 7-8 weeks I tried riding with flats four a few weeks then went back to spds and found it ok, if your still getting pain I'd give it a few more weeks to be on the safe side and see how it goes.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I'm afraid you're going to have to deal with the frustration of not biking and concentrate on recovery. Biking may seem like everything to you when you can't do it but wrecking your ankle by rushing back out on a bike could end your walking properly, let alone cycling. Take the time out, get physio and find a new hobby for a while.
Posted 1 year ago # -
kev, broke tib and fib ether side of talus needing a plate a six screws in fib and three pins in tib to support an unstable fracture. Jamie excuse me asking how much is the private physio ?
Posted 1 year ago # -
Broke mine in 2 places and now have pins and plate too, but I went straight to private sports physio and pushed as hard as I physically could to get it back to normal. Still can't move it up as far as other one but pretty close. This was a few years ago and I hardly ever notice it now. Just concentrate on the physio and getting full movement back. I wouldn't risk getting back on bike yet either. Just think what could happen if you do any further damage when it's not healed properly yet. Cost of physio will vary I guess depending on where you are, but I'd ring a few to get prices and ask them specifically about sports injuries. HTH.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Sorry to hear about your brake. I totally snapped my fib & tib 6 months ago and had a titanium rod and several pins put in to hold it all together. I started doing stretching exercises every day as soon as I could and bought a £50 exercise bike which I slowly started building up time on. I also spent the first 12 weeks building a new bike to keep me sane as my 10 week old Lapierre was written off in the accident. After 12 weeks I slowly started riding again and soon after ended up back on the singletrack and night riding twice a week. To celebrate 7 months since the accident I'm off to Afan for a large weekend with my riding buddies who have been amazing at supporting me back to fitness oh I'm also 42
Your injury will take longer to heal than mine as you were in plaster, but you will get there. One of the kids who worked at Jamie Olivers Fifteen restaurants once told me 'hard takes a long time and impossible just takes a little longer' - I think that is exactly what a broken leg feels like. Stick with it, get good physio and hopefully you'll have forgotten all this broken bone crap in no time
Posted 1 year ago # -
Why would you need to go to a private physio when the one you're seeing is doing exactly what they should be doing?
Posted 1 year ago # -
Broke mine rock climbing - bloody stupid I know now. I was in a walking cast for 7 weeks then 2 operations later and a lot of co-proxamol / co-codamol and various anti inflams later It still isn't right. My physio suggested one of those wobble pads looks like a flat football - to build the strength up and to run in the swimming pool bloody hard work but your weight is supported. 14 years later it still hurts, but I have pain killers for when it does. Cycling is now great but I can't run due to the joint being knacked. All I can say is take it easy and listen to your body, don't push too much as you'll end up in a worse state. I was given 3 choices - take the pain killers - don't take them or have the joint welded together so there would be no movement. Therefore I'm popping pills when needed.
Good luck
For god sake take it easy. The bike will always be there but you want a good ankle to allow you to use it so don't rush...
Posted 1 year ago # -
roverman... I had the same but with added damage between the talas and tibia /up & down movement. This was only discovered after I complained bitterly about having limited movement in the joint. It turned out after many months and an MRI scan that there was fragmented bone in there. Get an MRI scan. I had an arthroscopy to remove the stuff and then it was alright after a while. Plates & pins out too now, the whole thing took a few years mind.
Kev
Posted 1 year ago # -
I'm paying £45 for 45mins for my sports physio, he's based in oxford but my dad's been to a dance physio in London in the past and paid £90 for an hour. End of the day, go with the physio who seems to do his or her job the best, i'm going once a month which at the rate i'm going should be £300ish in total. I'd happily pay £500 if that is what it took, it's your body after all.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Broke my fibula a year ago, luckily nothing complicated. A couple of weeks after having the cast removed the physio said gentle cycling would be a good thing for building the muscles back up, as it's lower impact than walking. He did suggest starting on an exercise bike though, mostly to avoid any putting-the-wrong-foot-down-and-screaming-in-pain incidents.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Thanks for all the advice folks, will keep at it and may change to flats just for a while, even if I just ride to the shops and back
Posted 1 year ago # -
Sympathies to the OP, broke my ankle in 2007 and it was beyond frustrating. The good news is that you do get through it...I have no issues with the ankle now. Few thoughts
- Physio: don't just do it, become obsessive...the home exercises are initially painful and progress is slow but this is where the recovery really bites, sessions actually with the physio are more productive if you've worked hard in between
- Turbo trainer: bought one of these after my cast came off, benefit was being on a bike but in control of the environment/ angle of the ankle. I got something called Tacx iMagic which plugs into a PC and has you steering around a 3D mtb landscape racing the PC, expensive toy but it kept me interested. Mtb dvds work well too.
- Balance board (aka wobble board): one of the key ways to strengthen the ankle and get your balance back, as well as toning muscle, you're also getting your proprioceptors back on line. You can knock one of these up in the garage or buy online. The other benefit is that this will improve your balance on the bike (balance is learned)...I got into the habit of watching the footie standing on the balance board but, hey, whatever works. Should mention that the key exercises are the one-footed variety but you build up to these
- Short cuts: there are no shortcuts to recovery, you've just got to put the work in and the earlier, the betterGood luck
Posted 1 year ago # -
I broke my ankle a few years back - the surgeon told me that once the plaster comes off you have another 6-8 weeks before the bone is completely mended so take it easy! Just repeat what others have said wobble boards are good, stretching and for me the gym (ughh!) worked.
In terms of pedals as I slowly got back to biking I found that SPD's made me think about my ankle in a good way - in that I was having to think about what was coming up rather than randomly unclipping to put down a foot in loose corners etc. So I felt at the time I'd be less likely to acquire a new injury.
Good luck and sorry about this bit - take your time
Posted 1 year ago # -
- Physio: don't just do it, become obsessive...the home exercises are initially painful and progress is slow but this is where the recovery really bites, sessions actually with the physio are more productive if you've worked hard in between
- Turbo trainer: bought one of these after my cast came off, benefit was being on a bike but in control of the environment/ angle of the ankle. I got something called Tacx iMagic which plugs into a PC and has you steering around a 3D mtb landscape racing the PC, expensive toy but it kept me interested. Mtb dvds work well too.
- Balance board (aka wobble board): one of the key ways to strengthen the ankle and get your balance back, as well as toning muscle, you're also getting your proprioceptors back on line. You can knock one of these up in the garage or buy online. The other benefit is that this will improve your balance on the bike (balance is learned)...I got into the habit of watching the footie standing on the balance board but, hey, whatever works. Should mention that the key exercises are the one-footed variety but you build up to these
- Short cuts: there are no shortcuts to recovery, you've just got to put the work in and the earlier, the betterExactly this ^
Posted 1 year ago # -
Broke mine back in 2001 with dislocated foot physio told me to use slightly flat football and plenty of bare foot walks on beach to help with rotation strength up and down etc... I remember being told to jump up and down as this kind of impact helped with marrow or something to strengthen join?
I had a couple of screws removed as they use to hurt under the skin but plate and 8 screws still in there, no probs here.
I did first ever bungy jump in November with approval of consultant, broke it in April. So take it easy and you should be back to full use without complications, maybe in time to get some decent rides in during the summer.
I ran flats for a while, but now use Time Atacs as they offered more float without having to increase / increase cleat tension. As did find slight pain in the same knee since accident but since moving to Atac's no real problems.
Posted 1 year ago #
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