Broken legs

[mikey]

Okay Nopesporters, I really need some positive comments here.

Broke my leg at a NOR event yesterday - single break of fibula just above the ankle.

Anyone any positive experiences of this in terms of rehabilitation, getting back to Orienteering/running etc.

Anything I can do for the next six weeks while plastered up to make rehabilitation easier.

Any other things I could/should be doing?

Any experiences that will make me feel even a tiny bit better. I am in a pretty bad place at the moment.

Mike
WAOC

[graeme]

Ouch - hope you get better soon.

My experience in breaking various bones it that, as long as they set properly, you should make a complete recovery. You can be confident about the diagnosis. You have none of the chronic problems associated with nerve, ankle and knee injuries. As serious injuries go, you couldn't pick up a better one, or a better time .: there's not much on in the next six weeks.

You can get a lot of muscle wastage in six weeks - try to do what you can to make the muscles fire, and don't panic when you have a stick-like leg in February - it comes back soon enough and you'll have time to get in shape for the spring season.

[gaw]

My experience is that you should talk to your physio now about anything you can do to minimise muscle wastage, and most importantly keep the muscles firing. For me it was incredibly frustrating having my brain tell my leg to straighten (I broke my femur) and my leg not doing so!I don't know the technical term but commonly known as 'lag' - and then being told that it is something the physio should have had me doing from day 1.
Along with that, once you're told you can, work on range of movement.
Try and find a consultant and physio who understands what you want to do - one of my physios, who had paced me on the BG, was quite happy once I could hobble across the room. I went on to find one who got me running again. Don't assume they will set you back on the path to full fitness - some will only get you back to work in a reduced capacity.
I have no medical training but taking the right approach to getting back to full fitness is essential and the above may give you some questions to ask of the medical staff you see.

[DaveR]

Firstly, get well soon.

I broke an ankle age 28 and did my best orienteering in the following few years, so do not be gloomy!

As Graeme says, (for a serious injury) you've picked pretty much the ideal one at the ideal time of year.

Good advice from a doctor or physio is well worth having, and getting as soon as possible. As gaw says, you want to talk to one who understands where you were and where you want to get back to so they can give appropriate advice.



My personal experience was that in addition to a small break I'd done quite a lot of soft tissue damage around the ankle so my rehabilitation was in several stages.

1) A few days feeling sorry for myself and letting the swelling die down!

2) When in plaster I did as much strengthening of the moveable muscles as I could. This was sandbag weights (both legs!), visiting the local weight gym (not my natural habitat, but I wasn't the only one in plaster there), and also doing exercise bike sessions to try and keep up some aerobic fitness. I even considered going out on the roads on my normal bike, but my girlfriend wasn't keen so I didn't until the plaster was off!
Doing some exercise when in plaster was partly about physical rehabilitation, but was also terribly important psychologically.

3) When out of plaster I was very gentle in returning to running, particularly in terrain, due to the soft tissue damage. This built up over probably 6 months to full running, but you may well be able to build up faster.
For long aerobic workouts I did a lot of cycling, slowly reducing this as the running increased.
I did get a wobble board which was very useful in terms of mobilising and then strengthening both ankles. If you can work up to eventually balancing on it one legged with your eyes shut then you really have cracked it.
I also did swimming and even tried aqua-jogging (running in a pool with a flotation vest), possibly the least fun activity I've tried.


One interesting side effect was that once I had built up to running for say ~40 minutes a few times a week I wanted to make sure the sessions really counted, so was much more focused on doing good, hard sessions (intervals, hills or whatever) and saving the recovery sessions for the other sports and activities. I ended up doing no more volume of training, but training smarter and running and orienteering faster than before. Of course you may well be brighter than me and already have been training optimally, but it is worth taking the chance to reevaluate your training.

PM me if you want even more personal anecdote disguised as advice

[CeeJayEll]

Commiserations.
Definitely get good early physio. And don't let your other half fly to the other side of the world for 4 weeks just afterwards..... Bionic husband has metal pins in his tibular plateau, thanks to an hh training weekend. He is still orienteering. He will be happy to share your pain. He is shortly to go skiing again. PM me if you need.

[maprun]

I broke my fibula five years ago at the widest point of the bone just above the talus bone. Spookily on the way to the event I was thinking if I trained consistently three times a week I'd get far more out of the sport. Sure enough three years later, in my mid 50s, I had my best season for 20 years and that was despite unexpected complications that required surgery six months later.

The first 10-14 days are probably the hardest, the ankle will swell over this period. Keep it elevated as much as possible during this period and ice it if you are put in a boot. It will keep the swelling (and pain) down and aid the soft tissue recovery. My A&E gave no advice and I was literally back at my office desk 10 hours after leaving the hospital (self employed) with my foot below the desk and visiting potential new clients (successfully) the next day, but it didn't help my recovery.

If I had my time again I would have asked for a boot rather than plaster, as the fracture was stable and only slightly displaced, but the local A&E just took the conservative route of putting my ankle in plaster for 6 weeks. Its definitely worth asking your doctor if your ankle can be put in a boot, stress you are keen to be running in forests ASAP. You will probably have a follow up appointment at around 10 days to take off the temporary plaster cast to be replaced with a lightweight fibreglass cast and a good time to ask.

There will inevitably be some ligament damage. With a boot you can consider doing some physio as directed. You may be able to do deep water running (an acquired taste and greatly underrated) after a few weeks and partial weight bearing exercises such as static cycling. If you are stuck in a cast you will be very limited in what you can do in the first 6 weeks.

You'll eventually need a wobble board, or wobble cushion. I still use the latter even when fully fit.

Don't over do it, you'll know the following day if you have! When the plaster came off after 6 weeks the first thing my physio asked was whether I was taking any pain relief and she told me to take it for at least the next couple of weeks and she was right.

Don't expect the NHS to give you much if any physio, so you'll need a private physio.

Tough times ahead. Good luck.

[Safety]

Owe,

This is the injury I fear the most, just a bit cringe worthy. As has been said get well soon.

I have heard some people say that by keeping the none broken leg as strong as possible it minimises the muscle wastage on broken one. Note: I have no scientific proof of this, and a doctor will no doubt contradict it. However people in my cycling club who have broken a leg have continued to ride (one legged) on a turbo trainer, and found they have returned to competition faster than those who haven't.

[mikey]

In case anyone was wondering, and to add a sense of completeness, I completed my first orienteering race at the weekend - exactly 11 weeks (almost to the minute!) since I broke my leg. It was fun.

Obviously I was really lucky as I had no soft-tissue injuries so once the break had healed it was just a matter of taking it steady and not rushing anything. I am now ready to take back my rightful place in the middle of the field (But must now work on ditch-jumping technique)

I had loads of helpful message and emails after my first post, immediately after my accident. They were incredibly helpful and made me feel much more positive - thanks to everyone who posted, messaged or emailed - it made a real difference. A particular thanks to 'Maprunner' who came up with a lot of really helpful advice that kept me going when 6 weeks in plaster seemed never-ending!

[graeme]

Brilliant, nice to hear some unashamedly good news on here.