Has anybody broken their ankle or had ankle surgery?

M

Moheddine

Senior member
 Wiltshire
Hi all,

So... This is the first time I've been on here since around the end of February - more on why in a bit, but I'll bore you with the background first!

I was involved in quite a bad tackle whilst playing football; long story short, I dislocated and fractured my ankle in 3 places, fractured my fibula, snapped two tendons, and dislocated my knee cap. To top it off, I had two blood clots form in my groin and back of my knee which I now have to take three months of anticoagulant medication for. It was quite a painful incident!

Surgery was done on my ankle involving plate and screws at the beginning of March and since the injury, until very recently, I have been completely non-weight bearing. The last couple of days I've been taking a few steps, albeit with crutches, and decided to take the opportunity today for the first time since February to open the Zed and sit in it. It actually made me a bit emotional!

Knowing that I wouldn't be driving for a while when I had the injury was quite tough and frustrating for a guy who is mad about cars, track driving, and casual cruising (hence me going off the grid on this and other forums!).

Appreciate that it's nowhere near as big a deal as what some people go through with more serious injuries and illnesses, and apologies to those who think that this is a frivolous or self indulgent post, but whilst sat in the seat of my flat battery Zed and gently pressing the peddles it occurred to me just how poor the range of movement now is in my ankle. Gingerly taking steps on crutches seems to be fine, but I'm not sure if it's the metalwork or the seated position whilst moving my ankle, because working the pedals seems really uncomfortable. There is still swelling but I'm not sure if this is the screws or fluid.

So, this leads to the big question I have for all you lovely people as I haven't been able to find an answer to it (and figured that asking people who drove the same car as me would be a good start!) - has anybody broken their ankle and/or had ankle surgery and found driving more difficult afterwards? If so, how long until it felt 'normal' again?

Any advice or hints and tips would be warmly welcomed. I'll try and get a pic of the X-ray here too if it helps compare what I did to your ankle incident.

Thanks in advance,

Moheddine
 
A question for you fella - right or left ankle? (you can probably guess where I'm going with this :wink: )
 
Sounds like you have had a tough time,good luck with the rehabilitation .
Can't help with the ankle as I've only broken a big toe in the past.
 
Marlon said:
A question for you fella - right or left ankle? (you can probably guess where I'm going with this :wink: )
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Hahaha! Right ankle, and I have an auto. Already used to heel-toe driving!
 
maxman said:
Sounds like you have had a tough time,good luck with the rehabilitation .
Can't help with the ankle as I've only broken a big toe in the past.
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Thank you, it's the sound of the three cracks I heard that I'll never forget! Followed by the copious amounts of morphine in the ambulance and hospital! :-)
 
Ouch. Infact I always feel sick when people mention broken ankles as I broke mines at school and had to wait 2 hours for someone to contact my Dad to come get me so I was in considerable pain for a while!

I still get pain in it to this day especially in the winter (sorry to say). Unfortunately as I was only 16 I wasn't driving and luckily it was my left ankle and not my right so I get to rest that when driving.

If you've been off your foot for a while and it's still not heeled then you will have mobility issues and you will need to rebuild your muscles in your ankle. I highly doubt it will be as good as it as prior to the accident but it will eventually be better than currently. Are you due to get any help rebuilding and walking on it.

When I broke my toes recently, I was gutted I couldn't drive so I know where you are coming from wanting to drive and not being able to.

There are some professionals on here who will be able to give you some pointers.
 
Angie4m said:
Ouch. Infact I always feel sick when people mention broken ankles as I broke mines at school and had to wait 2 hours for someone to contact my Dad to come get me so I was in considerable pain for a while!

I still get pain in it to this day especially in the winter (sorry to say). Unfortunately as I was only 16 I wasn't driving and luckily it was my left ankle and not my right so I get to rest that when driving.

If you've been off your foot for a while and it's still not heeled then you will have mobility issues and you will need to rebuild your muscles in your ankle. I highly doubt it will be as good as it as prior to the accident but it will eventually be better than currently. Are you due to get any help rebuilding and walking on it.

When I broke my toes recently, I was gutted I couldn't drive so I know where you are coming from wanting to drive and not being able to.

There are some professionals on here who will be able to give you some pointers.
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2 HOURS - blimey, that must have been horrible. Ambulance took 20mins and I was writhing around so couldn't imagine being in your shoes and waiting that long.

RE still feeling pain in it - I was hoping that wasn't going to be the case, but was half expecting that. Is it just in winter you get pain, or does it happen if you run/do physical activity? Did you have any screws or plates in?

Yes, will be getting some physio through NHS and also planning on getting some privately too.

Thanks Angie - professionals or those with experience are welcomed :-D
 
Hi, I dislocated my left ankle & trapped the tendons in the joint and broke the smaller of the two bones above the ankle.
I did this on my way home from the pub (drinking accident :oops: ) limped home and went to the hospital the next day....
I've got metalwork still in the leg as I never opted for another opp to remove it, it gets a bit sensitive/sore if I wear stiff boots & I have slightly less flexibility in the ankle but I can still run 6k with no bother, cycle 45miles etc
I think I recovered pretty well :)
Rob
 
Not the ankle, but I broke all the metatarsal bones in my right foot falling down a mountain about 20 years ago - fully healed, but couldn't drive for around 6 months and still get pains occasionally when stressing my foot in an awkward position, or when driving long distance. I also still cannot stand still for long periods and have to move my feet around, so you may find you have to make changes. One bit of advice - don't scrimp on the physio, especially the wobble board, as its the only way to build up the area again.

I can understand where you are at - it was the dependency bit that frustrated the hell out of me !
 
Smartbear said:
Hi, I dislocated my left ankle & trapped the tendons in the joint and broke the smaller of the two bones above the ankle.
I did this on my way home from the pub (drinking accident :oops: ) limped home and went to the hospital the next day....
I've got metalwork still in the leg as I never opted for another opp to remove it, it gets a bit sensitive/sore if I wear stiff boots & I have slightly less flexibility in the ankle but I can still run 6k with no bother, cycle 45miles etc
I think I recovered pretty well :)
Rob
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Great to hear you've recovered well Rob. Spookily enough, that's the distance I normally run and cycle!!!

Cheers for feedback
 
markeg said:
Not the ankle, but I broke all the metatarsal bones in my right foot falling down a mountain about 20 years ago - fully healed, but couldn't drive for around 6 months and still get pains occasionally when stressing my foot in an awkward position, or when driving long distance. I also still cannot stand still for long periods and have to move my feet around, so you may find you have to make changes. One bit of advice - don't scrimp on the physio, especially the wobble board, as its the only way to build up the area again.

I can understand where you are at - it was the dependency bit that frustrated the hell out of me !
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Falling down a mountain is a pretty awesome way of breaking bones it must be said!

Aside from all day track events which involve driving for relatively small amounts of time, I often make journeys of around the 2hr mark - so hoping this will still be okay to do without discomfort.

Thanks for advice RE physio and wobble board, will take that on board.

Exactly - not being independent is horrible, and I feel like a massive burden on the lady of the house too.

Glad you are fully healed :thumbsup:
 
Went through something similar back in 2001.

Not my ankle but had a compound fracture of my left leg.

Tibial nail inserted for 4 years that affected my knee and ankle movement.

Also had a fat embolism while I was in hospital and was on crutches for nearly 5 months.

15 years on I still get pain when I've exercised or the weather is cold. Also made driving a manual car in stop start traffic quite tiring.

Still, it's nothing compared to what others go through so I can't complain too much.

Good luck with your recovery.
 
Hi, sorry to hear of your accident mate. I was only thinking the other week that I hadn't seen you post for a while.

Can't help with your question, but I used to work for a company a few years back and part of the things we did was fit vehicle adaptions for disabled people and amputees, as you already run an auto it might be good to know there is an adaptation to give you a left foot accelerator, the developer and manufacturer was a disabled guy called Jeff Gosling and he was running a Nissan 300zx on hand controls.
http://www.jeffgosling.co.uk/

In my work fitting the adaptations I met a lot of amazing people that had overcome some horrendous disabilities and to give them the ability to be able to drive a new car was very rewarding.
I guess what I am saying is check this guy out and see what they can do for you should you not get full mobility of your ancle back, you will drive again :thumbsup:

Stuart
 
I have never had an injury anywhere near that bad.
And i hope you make a speedy and full recovery.

I did get punted off a motor bike a few years ago (7 to be exact) I had my wrist in a cast for 4 weeks. And when it cam off my wrist was really weak. I have a fairly hands on job and i was quite worried. But within 6 months it was almost back to normal. But full right took a year or more. And i now have one fat wrist. Its visibly bigger from new bone growth.
 
When I was 17, 30 years ago :( I had a mini van with a leaking exhaust, that put me "to sleep" whilst driving... Ended up on it's roof after colliding with another car at a T junction... Some of my injuries were a broken right ankle, tibia AND femur... Had plate in the ankle and a "K Nail" driven the length of the femur (right through the marrow) I was quite naughty, as after release from hosp, in a full leg cast, and on crutches, I was driving my manual car straight away.. So it did feel a bit different! Cast came off after 8 weeks, but TBH other than the usual physio, it felt pretty normal straight away. I'd also become a master at heel & toeing, as it avoided me using my right toes on the brake :)

Mike
 
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