Stupid Broken Ankle: Week 7

Ligaments of the ankle. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"Fractures also can occur in individuals with unstable ankle joints and a history of recurrent ankle sprains." Aha, I suspected that the fact I had rolled my ankle the morning I broke it probably played a roll in the fact it broke that evening.  Plus I had a pretty good sprain on that same ankle during an adventure race about 2 months prior - I rolled it on a rut in a trail.

"most women experiencing ankle fractures are over age 50"  Hmmm...I'm not that old. I wonder if most are caused by slipping on ice, or falling on stairs?  Anyone want to take a bet?

The mucous sheaths of the tendons around the ankle. Lateral aspect. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have the OK to start bearing weight on my foot this week.  This first week I'm supposed to use 2 crutches, then work my way to one crutch and then no crutches.  This is 2 crutches week, and trust me, I need 2 crutches as putting weight on my foot is rather painful.  Not the ankle, but the foot.  Why the foot you may wonder? "Yes, please tell me, why the foot if you broke the ankle?"  Well, let me tell you. The tendons and ligaments in the foot essentially shrink/tighten up from not being stretched for 6 solid weeks.  Plus there is tons of swelling.  When you step on a swollen foot, it hurts.  When you step on a swollen foot and stretch all the tendons and ligaments, it hurts more.  It's like stretching past your stretching limit - think of touching your toes, but add another 5" past your toes.  Now spread that pain all over your foot.  My right foot is about 1/2 size shorter and narrower than my left, but it's much thicker.  I liken it to a cooked hamburger.  You put it on the grill thin and big, but by the time it's done cooking it's thicker and the diameter much smaller. That's my right foot, a cooked hamburger. 

I have to push through the uncomfortable pain in order for it to get better.  I also have to start doing exercises to increase muscle strength and flexibility.  Both suck.  I notice obvious improvements in the amount of movement by day 4 of this week.  And get this: I can do squats now! I did 20 just fine - well sort of fine. Guess that means it's time to start doing some sort of workout routine again. My calf cramps up on simple flexing exercises. That will hopefully work it's way out by the end of this week.

I forgot to mention that my legs insist on stretching all the time while I'm in bed. Must be from all the laying/sitting around, but if I start to straighten my legs in bed they instantly start to do a full on stretch.  Rather annoying and strangely odd at the same time. It's like being possessed.  But this has been going on for weeks.

I returned to work all of this week.  I played it conservative and only worked 5 hours each of the first 2 days.  I was pretty worn out by the end of the day and slept pretty well. It has created a nice improvement in my sleep cycle.  It also causes my ankle to swell to twice it's size by the end of the day.

I've added a photo of how great the ankle looks first thing in the morning when nearly all swelling is gone.  Trust me, by the end of the day it looks nothing like this.  In fact, with in a few minutes of getting up it looks nothing like this.