Are the absolutely worst. I blew my shoulder out a few years ago and thought that was bad, but I’d take that over this any day.

Curious to see what other’s recovery was like for mod-severe ankle injuries. Still not sure if it will require surgery, but I’m being told 6-8 weeks is about the minimum to regain basic functionality.

I’ve been referred to a sports medicine clinic- local ortho did an MRI and I have: a complete tear of the ATFL, avulsion type fracture where it used to connect to the fibula, torn CFL, torn deltoid ligament, and 3 weeks out past injury my ankle is still so swollen it’s basically useless.

And how did I manage to do this? Walking. I was walking along the side of a road with my 6 year old and leaves masked a depression which I stepped into. I guess out of the millions of steps you take over a lifetime one is bound to go bad, but damn this sucks.

Hah! Yeah it hurts, and whoever it was that said recovery is in weeks is just full of shit. I "twisted" mine 4 days before Christmas 2 years ago. The only good thing that I can say about it is I really liked the Physical Therapist that tried in vein to help me. She was a star. Its not her fault my ankle still hurts. I've been fighting weak ankles for most of my life. This little sprain or twist, it doesn't matter what you label it, has been bad.

Picture a baseball on the outside. Inside normal. Its getting better, no longer a softball, just the size of a baseball. My wife is no help, she parks as far as possible from the store or whatever as she can. So I was a fairly good sport about it(not really). It hurt like the devil. She says the doctor wants me to walk. When we got a good/bad snowfall, she parked out in east Jesus from the door. Said she didn't want anyone to bash her car door. I wanted to stay in the car. She insisted I hobble. The idiot who plowed for the store left a multi-foot berm for me to navigate. I failed miserably. and fell of the 3' or so peak. To me it was like Everest. The ice "broke" my fall. I was so pissed I couldn't see straight.

My solution was to just lie there, in the parking lot. Sure, it was cold and my ankle hurt, but no more than trying to get up would. She finally nudged me with her foot and asked if I was going to get up. I told her no, to just bring the car around. She didn't want to of course. But I can be pretty hard headed. Women tend to give in to peer pressure. So she went back across the frozen tundra to bring the car up.

I liked the crowd that had gathered. I told here that was the first time in 50 years I'd considered divorce. Then I crawled into the house. In several inches of ice and snow. Then I told her I wasn't going anywhere with her again. You've gotta play rough.

They suck. I badly sprained my ankle 10 years ago, managed to land wrong after jumping up to knock a bug off the wall . The Doc told me I would have been better off breaking it. I was on crutches for 3 weeks and it was another month before the Flight Doc returned me to flying status. I had lingering issues with it for about two years before it healed fully.

I ruptured an Achilles tendon in 2012, from pushing a car. I couldn't go back to work for nine months.

Tight calves and tight plantar & plantar plates can contribute significantly to a number of ankle/ankle joint injuries. Fortunately you didn't tear or rupture your Achilles. Best of luck on a fast recovery.

I have had bad ankle sprains and also a broken bone in the foot. In a cast for 5 - 6 weeks with the break. Far less pain than the bad sprains.

The crutches on the other hand….ugh!

Fell while rock climbing a year ago May and caught my toe on a hold. Twisted my ankle and tore my peroneal tendon (and potentially SPR to some degree). Tendon subluxes out of place over my malleous. I opted for conservative treatment. Did PT, still do the exercises regularly. It still slips out of the groove occasionally, but only hurts if it does so forcefully.

At my one year followup, Ortho doc said I could have the MRI and referral to the surgeon if I wanted surgery, but would be six weeks non weight bearing, followed by a boot, followed by PT for twelve weeks... He said it should continue to strengthen over time and hopefully the subluxation would continue to become less frequent.

Joy.

I dislocated my ankle playing basketball in college. Went up for a rebound, came down on my friend's shoe and rolled my ankle out. They knocked me out to pop it back in place. Fortunately it hasn't given me any major lingering issues. It gets tight from time to time so I have to stretch good before exercise. I was on crutches for about a month then in a walking boot for another few weeks. It was a few months before I could do any running and I had to work back into it. I was 22 then so that probably helped my healing.

My wife, however, rolls her ankle every other day it seems. She has very weak ankles.

quote:

Originally posted by tigereye313:
Fell while rock climbing a year ago May and caught my toe on a hold.

That sucks. Ironically I did this after a full day of climbing. We were at Stone Mtn state park in NC, walking back down the road to the parking lot. Buddy and me took my 6yo on his first multi-pitch climb. Not the way I wanted to end the day.

The post stability issues are what I’m most concerned about, but surgery is unappealing to me for the same reasons as you. Are you still climbing at all post injury?

I had a Watson-Jones surgical repair done on my ankle many moons ago.
Hole drilled in fibula, ligament passed through said hole and I don’t know - a granny knot to secure it. After 30(?) years it’s been fine.
3 weeks post injury of a ligament is nothing. Still sucks though.
Best of luck!!

What timing. I'm recovering from a tip avulsion fracture with Anterior TaloFibular Ligament (ATFL) tear. There is also a partial Deltoid ligament tear. Xray and MRI have shown the damage, so it's almost the exact thing you have, for the same reason, I was out walking around and slipped off a wonky curb.

The interesting thing is... it was swollen for a day or so badly and then since then very lightly. I have had no cast, no boot, no brace. Closest has been the light air brace that goes in the freezer for when I needed to "put ice on it." I have almost full range of motion, and I've been walking on it constantly, though carefully. Both docs have said I need to walk on it, don't immobilize since that will just make things worse in the long run. It stopped "hurting" by the next day and only remains an ache, especially if I work it too much during the day.

So weird, almost the same thing with two completely different recoveries. I'm over 50 so it's not like I'm a youngster...

quote:

Originally posted by K0ZZZ:
What timing. I'm recovering from a tip avulsion fracture with Anterior TaloFibular Ligament (ATFL) tear. There is also a partial Deltoid ligament tear. Xray and MRI have shown the damage, so it's almost the exact thing you have, for the same reason, I was out walking around and slipped off a wonky curb.

The interesting thing is... it was swollen for a day or so badly and then since then very lightly.

That’s really interesting, glad your experience is better. I wonder if the difference is the complete tear vs a partial tear. The local Ortho here said the big concern was the full ATFL tear, the rest was expected to heal on its own. The Ortho PA I met with described my ATFL as “obliterated”.

For me the swelling was instantaneous, below is how it looked 10 minutes after injury. I am not direct embedding due to the gross factor-
https://ibb.co/nm2ZwTc

This was about 6 hours later:
https://ibb.co/XpTwcn1

1 week:
https://ibb.co/zF7Ywkx

2 weeks:

https://ibb.co/TtWxGdF

This week the swelling in the foot area went down almost overnight, but the ankle looks pretty much the same as right after it happened. I can walk on it if it’s wrapped and in a soft walking boot, however I presently have zero lateral movement due to the swelling.

I also have an “ice boot”, best $20 bucks I’ve ever spent on Amazon.

i broke the right fibula in '06, repaired surgically with plates/screws both sides.

in 2016 i saw a board certified orthopedic podiatrist about removing the hardware to reduce the pain.
while moving the ankle, he said only bone was taken care of in '06 surgery but atfl ligament was torn....he could both remove hardware/fix the atfl.

outpatient surgery, in at 6, home by 11. knee boot, on a knee scooter for 4 1/2 weeks.

4 weeks pt.

after atfl was repaired, i could balance on the leg for 1 min, had been unable to hold balance since initial repair in '06.

quote:

Originally posted by Whisp:

For me the swelling was instantaneous, below is how it looked 10 minutes after injury. I am not direct embedding due to the gross factor-
https://ibb.co/nm2ZwTc

This was about 6 hours later:
https://ibb.co/XpTwcn1

1 week:
https://ibb.co/zF7Ywkx

2 weeks:

https://ibb.co/TtWxGdF

The swelling in your ankle looks like a lot of edema. I had that the 2nd day, when I didn't have it elevated enough. So I went and laid on the couch for about 5 hours with it pretty elevated, and it almost completely disappeared.

I'm still waiting on the orthopedic doc to call and get me an appointment so I can find out just how bad everything is. I just know today, after taking the pup for a mile walk, going shooting, grocery store, and working on the truck, that I'm gonna feel it later today!

Yeah. Take it easy. The amount of pain does not always correlate to the amount of damage.

1972 Ft.Sill, Oklahoma severely twisted right ankle by foot slipping off the edge of sidewalk causing me to go down to the ground . Went to the Army hospital and the Dr. was a Captain(rank) and was going to put it in a cast but compromised with a ankle wrap. ..... Well one month to the day I did it again at almost the same spot on the sidewalk and this time at the hospital the doctor that treated me was a Old School Full Bird (ARMY) Colonel and myself a staff sgt lost that battle and as i left the hospital the ankle/foot was in a boot cast and 24hrs later was marching troops down the street going to and from classes... Picture a drill sgt marching troops down the street with one foot in a cast..... even now every once in a while the ankle acts up and hurts but am able to deal with it.. Be careful because from what I have been told that a severe sprain can be worse than a broken ankle and easier to possibly reinjure..............drill sgt.

Something that needs to be brought into this thread is the question of if the OP here is diabetic. It would seem that those with diabetes seem to have more ankle trouble. Don't ask me how that works, only that it seems to be the case.

quote:

Originally posted by Whisp:

quote:

Originally posted by tigereye313:
Fell while rock climbing a year ago May and caught my toe on a hold.

That sucks. Ironically I did this after a full day of climbing. We were at Stone Mtn state park in NC, walking back down the road to the parking lot. Buddy and me took my 6yo on his first multi-pitch climb. Not the way I wanted to end the day.

The post stability issues are what I’m most concerned about, but surgery is unappealing to me for the same reasons as you. Are you still climbing at all post injury?

My doc had cleared me to work back into climbing at the three month mark after good progress with PT. I do still climb when I can, but have been too busy lately to hit the gym. When I do go I wear a slim wrap for support, and as long as I don't rotate on my toe too much it does OK. Can't pull as hard on that foot as I used to, especially if the move requires getting that foot up high. I've not worked back up to where I was before. I had worked up to climbing 5.10 with ease and making progress with 5.11's before the injury. Last time I went a month or so ago I did complete some 5.10 routes. I no longer boulder as I'm not brave enough to land on it from any heights and stick to rope courses.

I am on my feet all day everyday for work (another reason I opted for conservative treatment), and honestly fatigue from standing tends to make the tendon sublux more frequently after a number of days in a row. It's mostly uncomfortable when it happens unless it pops out while under tension, then it hurts. After a weekend off it's generally good for several days.

I did something similar this past summer tho I was fortunate enough to not break or tear anything, but it was quite painful. I hobbled around on it for two months before it started to feel normal.

6 months of hell, after surgery the first month was almost unbearable. rolled it over on a staircase with a slug on it.