What to Do With a Messed Up Ankle

i was playing Basketball and i rolled my ankle really bad. i just got back from the hospital and i have a bad sprain with a minor fracture where the ligament pulled off my bone. the Doc said i would be walking in a week and that i could begin wight training again when the ankle felt good.

when he said weight traing though im noit sure if he ME squats and heavy loaded stuff. does anyone have expierence with this sort of situation?
how soon could you get back doing leg work? Also what can i do to maintain leg strength without stressing the ankle to much?

i go the docotor for a ankle they always say take a week of just to be safe if you can stand you can squat :slight_smile:

[quote]Jmiller558 wrote:
i was playing Basketball and i rolled my ankle really bad. i just got back from the hospital and i have a bad sprain with a minor fracture where the ligament pulled off my bone. the Doc said i would be walking in a week and that i could begin wight training again when the ankle felt good.

when he said weight traing though im noit sure if he ME squats and heavy loaded stuff. does anyone have expierence with this sort of situation?
how soon could you get back doing leg work? Also what can i do to maintain leg strength without stressing the ankle to much?[/quote]

Was this an ER Dr.? If you are correct in what your are saying that you have an avulsion fx, then this is going to take a lot longer to heal than a regular ligament sprain. Did he tell you to see an Orthopaedic Surgeon?

The severity of the avulsion fracture is going to dictate how long before you can stand, walk or move around. Are you bearing any weight on the ankle? Generaly bone heals in 6-8 weeks, but again healing time will depend on the extent of the fracture. Just my opinion, I would get a second opinion from an Orthopaedic.

General ER Dr’s are great if you have a 12 gauge shotgun wound to the chest or a fucking screwdriver sticking out of your forehead, but when it comes to minor Orthopaedic injuries I feel they lack some knowledge and caring (I mean an ankle injury compared to someone who looks like ground up hamburger meat on a gurney really doesn’t matter to them. They see far worse shit each day, so a sprained ankle really doesn’t create much cause for concern to an ER Dr.)

Was this an ER Dr.?

yah it was

If you are correct in what your are saying that you have an avulsion fx,

the x ray showed the ligament tore off a small chunk of bone when it snapped

Did he tell you to see an Orthopaedic Surgeon?

no he didn’t but he was the Orthopaedic surgeon at the hospital

it really doesn’t hurt and i can put some weight on it already (it happend earlier today. this definatley sounds like the sort of thing that will take 6-8 weeks?

Sounds like you need to ask a doctor who can look at it and not people on a forum lol

[quote]Jmiller558 wrote:
Was this an ER Dr.?

yah it was

If you are correct in what your are saying that you have an avulsion fx,

the x ray showed the ligament tore off a small chunk of bone when it snapped

Did he tell you to see an Orthopaedic Surgeon?

no he didn’t but he was the Orthopaedic surgeon at the hospital

it really doesn’t hurt and i can put some weight on it already (it happend earlier today. this definatley sounds like the sort of thing that will take 6-8 weeks?

[/quote]

Just so you know it’ll probably feel a lot worse when you wake up in the morning. My experience with ankle sprains and trust me I’ve had enough, the day after is much worse than the day of, walking in the morning could be real rough just ease into it and let the ankle loosen up, you might get that sensation of feeling blood flow into the ankle.

As far as training, when you feel good I would go for it, you might lose some flexibility for a temporary time and this could hinder you when you squat.

http://83.170.72.216/~trials/gallery/1092838536/gallery_710_335_1092955989.jpg

Thats a picture of my ankle after i rolled it. Ive lost count the number of times ive done them both but easily over 20 times both ankles. I was contacted by a physio who took an interest in bike trials (the sport i do) as many many many riders get bad sprains. I met up with him and for free got my ankles looked at. He curses every damn doctor there is especially ER. They usually do the “rest and it will be fine” speech when nearly all cases need some form of a cast else the ligaments do not heal correctly. Infact he has had to rip the ATFL’s (ligament on outside of ankle) of my friends because they hadnt healed in the correct place. Then stuck them in a cast like they should have been in the first place.

Your going to have to apply a lot of ice to bring the bruising out fully and you cant do any form of sport for atleast 2 weeks. As stupid as it sounds my ankles were rolling from just walking around they got that bad. He suggest i got a wobble board to help tighten the ligaments once they had healed correctly. They look like this: assistireland.ie - Citizens Information Board

All i can say is they are a dream come true for anyone that has suffered from sprains. You start off just regular 2 feet balancing. For as long as you can, 10 minute stints are best. You then move on to one foot in the middle of the board balancing. Then eventually one foot with your eyes closed. I forgot to mention during my time with the physio he told me that most reoccurences happen due to when you roll your ankle you rip/streatch ligaments but you also kill nerve ends. These nerve ends are what tell the brain where you ankle is and whether you are on uneven ground. Since you have killed these off your reaction to an uneven surface is much slower = more ankle rolls.

If you place one foot on the ground (the one that rolls the most) and close your eyes 9 times out of 10 people who have had a bad time with their ankles will feel really off balance and find it hard to keep on the one leg (its nearly as bad as trying to stand on one leg drunk). When you use the wobble board it helps to tighten the ligaments and allows your body to react to sudden changes in slope and direction of your ankle. All i can say is i used the board for around 4 months off and on not even really taking it seriously and i havent rolled my ankle since. That was over a year and a half ago now. Best purchase ever!

[quote]Jmiller558 wrote:

Did he tell you to see an Orthopaedic Surgeon?

no he didn’t but he was the Orthopaedic surgeon at the hospital
[/quote]

He may be an ER Ortho., but I would still see an Ortho who specializes in sport related injuries or a foot and ankle specialist. Again, this guy may be an Ortho. and I am sure he could do a hell of a good job if you got your leg crushed in a car accident. However, your case to him probably does not rank very high on his scale and thus he really doesn’t consider your injury to be severe.

I AM NOT A DR!!! However, I am in a profession that deals with rehabbing orthopaedic injuries every day and I am telling you, if you walk around on that ankle that little piece of bone you pulled off from the fibula is not going to reattach by itself. If you walk around on it, you will disrupt the calcification that needs to occur between the piece that was avulsed and the fibula (ie. it will not heal correctly and you will continue to have problems).

Just my 2 cents. It’s your ankle do what you like.

[quote]obatiger11 wrote:
Jmiller558 wrote:

Did he tell you to see an Orthopaedic Surgeon?

no he didn’t but he was the Orthopaedic surgeon at the hospital

He may be an ER Ortho., but I would still see an Ortho who specializes in sport related injuries or a foot and ankle specialist. Again, this guy may be an Ortho. and I am sure he could do a hell of a good job if you got your leg crushed in a car accident. However, your case to him probably does not rank very high on his scale and thus he really doesn’t consider your injury to be severe.

I AM NOT A DR!!! However, I am in a profession that deals with rehabbing orthopaedic injuries every day and I am telling you, if you walk around on that ankle that little piece of bone you pulled off from the fibula is not going to reattach by itself. If you walk around on it, you will disrupt the calcification that needs to occur between the piece that was avulsed and the fibula (ie. it will not heal correctly and you will continue to have problems).

Just my 2 cents. It’s your ankle do what you like.

[/quote]
I would agree with everything you said.
I’ve had 2 bad ankle sprains and one hairline fracture. I’d say run (well not literally) to the doctor now.
If/when you return to playing basketball, wear an ankle brace solid support (usually plastic lining like ACE or SWEDO has). Don’t get ones that are only cloth with no solid support. They’re garbage. When you walk around with a fully cloth one on, you’ll feel as though your ankle is much more stable but if a lot of force is applied to your ankle, the cloth won’t stop it from srpaining.

right now im taking to reaaly easy and going to see a doctor.

i was wondering for the 2-3 weeks when i won’t be doing any exercise should i eat as big as possible? it should be easy to gain weight since i;m burning no calories through exercise but will the weight be useful for overall athletic performance. i thought i saw a study where a man doing no exercise and just eating a ton gained 1lb of muscle for every 4 of fat. could my ratio be better since i don’t gain fat easily and will eat a clean diet?

One piece of friendly advice is to make sure that you are as right as possible before you go back to training etc if you have done this numerous times.

My kid brother had to retire from all sports at the age of 22 due to rolling his ankle over and over again. Remember that once you cant play anymore its for life, pretty hard to take if the choice is taken away from you.

Good luck

Si

Play soccer for a few years.During games I’d get kicked in the ankle or it twist and I’d still keep running and jumping.There’s some HFT for ya.Now it takes like an hour for it to feel fine if i sprain/twist it.