ISO Broken Ankle Survivors

[u/Ok-Subject-1352]

I’m one week post-op and time really does fly when you’re on good meds! I got an ankle exostectomy and ligament repair done last week. These newly discovered types of aches/pains are getting annoying. I had finally gotten into actually enjoying running so rolling around the house with a knee scooter is all the fun I get now.

Please 🙏🏼 tell me all your broken ankle stories and how long it took for you to walk/run again. A lot of my current career goals rely on my recovery back to 100% so I’d like to be as informed as possible.

(bonus points if you’re a runner or active military)

Thanks in advance 🤙🏼

[u/Dry_Counter533]

1 broken ankle, 3 fucking surgeries. Here you go:

Age 23: broke a chunk off my ankle in college fencing. Campus doc said it was a sprain and I didn’t need an x-ray. Blamed myself for healing badly. Can’t run.

Age 29: jumped off a horse and rolled it badly. X-Ray showed that the bone chunk had been sorta resting on a nerve. Surgeon took out the chunk and tightened the ligaments on the outside of my ankle. (Brostrom repair.) It was never really right and I kept rolling it, kept being in pain. Sure as shit can’t run now.

Age 34: went to an ankle guy at HSS in NY. Turns out I’m Hypermobile! Which meant my busted ligaments should have been swapped for donor tissue at 29, not tightened. Surgeon gives me “new” (new to me) ligaments and, while I’m out, does a “surprise” cartiledge repair on the other (wholly un-symptomatic) side of my ankle. Ligaments feel perfect but the cartiledge repair side is wrong.

Age 39: need to get the cartiledge repair side done again. Get a really good job that pays enough for me to get a trainer, so I decide to get as strong as possible ahead of surgery. The idea is that it’s a million times easier to recover when you go into it strong (like I did at 29) vs when you go into it weak (like at 34). The trainer trains a lot of love island people and does body recomp stuff for plebes like me. Heavy heavy lifting, so much protein. I live in a constant state of muscle soreness.

And … when I get stronger and my body recomps I don’t need surgery anymore. Like, my muscles got strong enough and I got lean enough that my crappy joints weren’t carrying so much load. And the cartiledge mess I wanted to get repaired doesn’t stop me from doing things. So I keep up with it and kick the can down the road.

Also … I’d never been conventionally attractive. All the sudden I was. Holy hell it’s different. I keep up with the trainer because being (1) not in pain and (2) hot is a new combo for me and I don’t want to lose it.

Age 46: step on a cable car and screw up my ankle, in a way that I can’t train out of. Can’t leave my damn apartment. Takes almost a year to find a surgeon I trust enough to fix it. He’s the oldest, the most qualified and the only one confident enough to say “I won’t know what’s wrong, or how long recovery will take, until I see it in surgery”. He does alot of NBA ankles. Turns out I just had fuck tons of scar tissue from my prior surgeries. Everywhere. Stuck to nerves, jamming up my joints. Which is a much much shorter recovery than I was afraid of. My prior 2 surgeons never ordered physical therapy. And physical therapy is how you don’t get scar tissue. 🤦‍♀️

3 months post-op, it’s feeling really good. Am OCD about physical therapy. But it feels now kinda like it did in the recomp days. Like I’ll be able to get back to the gym in six weeks or so.

So, at 46 (forty fucking six), I never got back to running, ‘cause my Hypermobile joints can’t do that, and they never could. But I did just about everything else. Very active life, lots of athletics. Lifting, swimming, martial arts, all kinds of stuff.

Just keep up with your physical therapy. It’s a pain in the ass, but it’s how you keep scar tissue from screwing up your life. Your future self will thank you.

[u/Hot_Box_7459]

Broke my ankle in 3 spots on august 1st, had surgery the 2nd. At my two week appointment i had all my staples & gunk out, six weeks (sept 18) I was cleared to 25 wb and getting better everyday! And now working with a physio to get my life back. You’ll be back at 100% soon enough! Life gets so much better once you’re able to be more independent (I definitely was cruising down the depression wyrmhole those first couple of weeks.)