Any mags familiar with ankle injuries?

[teamdirt]

Just looking for some recovery info regarding ankle injuries.

Synopsis:
Fractured medial malacleous, mid Jan.

Hard cast 5 weeks, removed 2 weeks ago.

Right now my ankle seems to swell alot especially by the end of the day. The doctor gave me the go ahead to ski at the 2 week mark. Still a bit of pain and not full range of motion.

Any thoughts, timeline, physio help etc. would be appreciated.

[P_McPoser]

Injuries forum?

[jibij]

As I recall, the medial malleolus is the little nub at the end of the tibia. I think that's the area that the ortho surgeon cut off when I shattered my talus to give him room to get the screws into the talus. They reattached the little nub with screws when they were done with the talus.

Anyhow... I had plenty of pain and swelling for a while after the cast came off. I was still non-weight bearing for a number of weeks after though. When I was weight-bearing again, the exercises that helped the most were heel dips on the edge of stairs. Start out slow... don't overdo those. Just 10-15 at a time and don't dip too low. Swimming was absolutely the best exercise I found for quick results.

You might also want to get to a boot-fitter to get the pressure reduced as much as possible on the specific area where the break was.

[Jim S]

There are so many possibilities from your scenario that to generalize would do you an injustice. I understand where you are coming from but depending on the mechanism of injury and what has been done so far by the trauma, you may or may not have associated ligamentous injury, bone bruising, and less commonly cartilage injury that would never be seen on an xray.

But hope you feel better soon.

[Dside11-11]

I love ankles.

[iceman]

Ankle bracelets are sexy on some women.

[Cyber Cop]

I dig fat ankles.

[mntlion]

stop by and see me if you need some boot work done .....

[hucksquaw]

medial malleolus, like jibij said, is the prominent bump on the inside of the ankle which makes up the distal medial end of your tibia - you have a lateral malleolus too which is the end of your fibula.

what kind of fracture was it?

i would say that if there is a lot of swelling you shouldnt be on it skiing. Id say RICE it. RICE = rest, ice, compression, elevation. meaning: rest (self explanatory); ice it 20 min at a time 4-5 times a day; compression means wrap it, the right way, an ace bandage will move swelling away from injury and speed healing process (start distal from the injury and work your way proximal while keeping the bandage slightly loose distal from injury tight around injured sight and loosest proximal from injury); elevate injured limb above heart so swelling decreases and drains damaged tissue

i would also suggest seeing a PT to get your range of motion back and make sure the injury doesnt heal poorly. im surprised the doctor sent you out saying you could ski on it with swelling and pain and not full range of motion and didnt refer you to a PT. did he even do any tests to test your active, resisted, and passive range of motion before letting you go?