recovering after ankle fracture

Hi Susan, I'm so sorry to hear of your ankle trouble. I can totally relate to it all, except for the plate and screws. My ankle problems started when I was 10 years old and sprained it playing basketball (30+ years ago!). The ER doc said I would have been better of if I had broken something because this was going to be a problem for my entire life. Oh how right he was. Each subsequent sprain led to reduced stability in the ankle and I think I have broken it a total of 4 times.....I've kind of lost count. Anyhow, by 1997 I had been delivering mail for 12 years and averaged a sprain or a break about every 18 months. I was finally send to an ortho who wanted to do surgery to strengthen the ligaments so maybe I'd stop doing more damage. Don't forget, this was now a worker's comp case and nobody wanted to touch it. The paper work for a federal employee is staggering.

So in '97 I had surgery to repair the ligaments. First I had to wait for the trauma of the last injury to subside and then it was off to the OR. I spent 8 weeks in a cast then 2 months in your boot. I was totally off my feet for about 4 months and the last month started PT which I did for what seems like forever.

But here's the beautiful part. Except for being forced to for physical fitness tests while in the service, I had never run before. After I was cleared for physical activity by my doctor, I lost the ton I had gained while being laid up and then some. Went on to run a handfull of marathons and more triathlons. I was cruising right along whenI did the stupidest thing I could possibly have done. I went trail running with my track club. Yup, broke the freakin' ankle again. That was Labor Day '01 and I am still trying to come back. But my long road back isn't just because of the ankle, I have had way too many other injuries to blame my setback all on my ankle. But I do have arthritis in the ankle shouldn't do a ton of running. Don't let it make you discouraged, do whatever you can and don't turn into a couch potato! You will run again, just take it slow and steady and you'll be back. Shoot, even I am going to run again.....or die trying......

Susan,
My heart goes out to you. I twisted mine during a trail run so badly in the spring of '02 that the Doctor actually said it would have been easier to have broken it and gotten back into activities. I was signed up for an olympic tri in Monterey Bay that fall (that I didn't get to do) and ended up in an aircast for 8 weeks followed by ~8 weeks of PT. When I got out of the cast, I returned to swimming. In about 6 months, I did my first sprint - but I walked a bit of it due to weakness in the ankle. It still bothers me, especially when I am tired. Getting used to clipping out of my pedals was another adventure - I have little scars on my elbow from falling until I got my twisting leg strength back! I still do the little exercises that the PT ordered for me. They still help a lot and I am now comfortably running ~ 10K. It has taken a load of patience (and a lot of griping - as I never go down easy ;-) ). Ankles are so vulnerable, take your time and heal as completely as possible. I bet you will be up and tearing up the course in no time, just hang in there and if you want to gripe, email me!
Vanessa

Thanks so much for the replies. It does seem like forever since I have walked! What I do hear alot, is be patient and take the time to get better and not push it. Which is hard for me since I usually am so athletic. But I'm smart enough to know that to take time now will pay off in the future. I hope to beat my time this Nov. at Treasure Island tri again- that is my goal! It's good to know that there are other people out their that have had bad sprains at least (which I know can be worse than my fibula fx), that have come back and did more tri's. I hope to start swimming very soon, since the weather is getting a lot nice out. I'm still off work, since my job requires me to be on my feet all day- that in itself will be a challenge.

I thought the training for a tri was tough- this has become harder than that! :-)

Sorry to hear about your accident!  I think that if the DR. says you will be able to do tri's then you will probably be doing them in the futrue.  But I know holding back to make a healthy comeback will be easier said than done.  Good luck!

One of the guys in the cycling club, a runner/Ironman, had a stress fracture in his foot. On his come back he spent more time in the pool and trained on the eliptical trainer at the Y. After it healed he trained on the eliptical trainer through the week and did a long run on Sunday and ran a 3:16 marathon shortly after. 3:16 on 1 day a week of actual running is really good and he's not some skinny little guy but a stocky 45 year old. He said the eliptical trainer is close to the running motion but without the impact that could have re-injured his foot. I never bothered with the eliptical trainer before this but since then I have tried it and I like it. I've seen him do his eliptical trainer workouts and he keeps the rpms higher than I can manage but I'm not as use to the movement.

that's exactly why I invested in a good elliptical trainer. Between the bum ankle and now the knee singing the same tune, running on pavement every day is out of the question for me.