Out for the season

[newbieM]

Sprained my ankle doing a non-skiing activity. It is an upper ankle sprain so it takes longer to heal. My ankle looks like the size of a grapefruit For now, no idea how long it will take because the swelling has to go down first. But at least 6-8 weeks. He also has no idea how severe it is at this point because it’s so swollen, just hoping for few long term issues. So I’m done for the season. Boo.

Skiing for spring break is out :( and buying new boots will have to wait.

This was my first year with an Ikon pass (generous birthday gift from the BF) so I think maybe I broke even but I got far less skiing in than last year.

Would love some positive vibes. Going to try and work on core strength and balancing on the one good leg once I can do longer stretches of not elevating it. And holy cow - walking slowly is such a lesson in patience! I usually speed walk everywhere and I’m always in a hurry. Now I really have to slowwwww downnnnn.

positive vibes, tips, thoughts and prayers appreciated.

 

[Christy]

Oh no!! That sucks!! I broke my ankle walking on the sidewalk last August, right before a vacation, and was in a boot 6-8 weeks. I healed exactly on time and everything is fine now so hopefully that will be your experience. But at first especially it's so frustrating trying to figure out how to shower, etc.

Btw I was worried about being inactive and ended up finding some great exercise videos you can do with a hurt ankle. My favorite was a Pilates video. I actually think my arms and core got stronger than ever while I was down. LMK if you want links. When I was still pretty immobile I started with a wheelchair yoga video! I just needed to figure out how to move again.

 

[Peppermint]

Sprained my ankle doing a non-skiing activity. It is an upper ankle sprain so it takes longer to heal. My ankle looks like the size of a grapefruit For now, no idea how long it will take because the swelling has to go down first. But at least 6-8 weeks. He also has no idea how severe it is at this point because it’s so swollen, just hoping for few long term issues. So I’m done for the season. Boo.

Skiing for spring break is out :( and buying new boots will have to wait.

This was my first year with an Ikon pass (generous birthday gift from the BF) so I think maybe I broke even but I got far less skiing in than last year.

Would love some positive vibes. Going to try and work on core strength and balancing on the one good leg once I can do longer stretches of not elevating it. And holy cow - walking slowly is such a lesson in patience! I usually speed walk everywhere and I’m always in a hurry. Now I really have to slowwwww downnnnn.

positive vibes, tips, thoughts and prayers appreciated.

So sorry to hear about that. Hopefully you can start PT soon which may give you focus and start helping the healing process. Do things that bring you joy and stay positive. I am rooting for you to recover quickly!

 

[Jenny]

I, on the other hand, had great intentions of doing arm and core work while waiting for my ankle to heal, but instead I read books.

Either way, you'll end up OK. Here's hoping it doesn't turn out to be anything worse.

 

[newboots]

I am a veteran of many ankle sprains. The good ol' RICE has always proven good for me, but with less time with ice than they used to recommend. Wrapping and elevating them felt right to me.

Once I had a badly sprained ankle and a broken hand simultaneously. (Never eat a spoonful of yogurt while walking down the stairs at bedtime.) I couldn't do ANYthing. Thank heaven for my daughter, who drove 2 hours, cleaned my house, washed my hair, made food for the week, mowed the lawn, and drove home to host a dinner party for her husband's birthday. Wonder woman!

PT will be a godsend in getting your strength back, and strengthening it to make it harder to sprain it in the future. Good luck!

 

[Scribble]

Oh bummer! I had a high ankle sprain years ago that I kept aggravating because I didn't take recovery seriously enough. Take it easy, and hopefully you'll get good news once the swelling goes down.

 

[newbieM]

Oh no!! That sucks!! I broke my ankle walking on the sidewalk last August, right before a vacation, and was in a boot 6-8 weeks. I healed exactly on time and everything is fine now so hopefully that will be your experience. But at first especially it's so frustrating trying to figure out how to shower, etc.

Btw I was worried about being inactive and ended up finding some great exercise videos you can do with a hurt ankle. My favorite was a Pilates video. I actually think my arms and core got stronger than ever while I was down. LMK if you want links. When I was still pretty immobile I started with a wheelchair yoga video! I just needed to figure out how to move again.

Would love links! Thanks for the encouraging report.

 

[newbieM]

I am a veteran of many ankle sprains. The good ol' RICE has always proven good for me, but with less time with ice than they used to recommend. Wrapping and elevating them felt right to me.

Once I had a badly sprained ankle and a broken hand simultaneously. (Never eat a spoonful of yogurt while walking down the stairs at bedtime.) I couldn't do ANYthing. Thank heaven for my daughter, who drove 2 hours, cleaned my house, washed my hair, made food for the week, mowed the lawn, and drove home to host a dinner party for her husband's birthday. Wonder woman!

PT will be a godsend in getting your strength back, and strengthening it to make it harder to sprain it in the future. Good luck!

Rice??? Wait. How does that work? Do you put a bag of rice in the freezer?

The doc said once the swelling goes down we can start PT for strengthening so it doesn’t happen again.

Im very thankful it is my left leg so I can still drive. As a single mom with three kids, resting is impossible and I still need to get the kids to school and activities.

But at least I work on a computer all day so I can work from bed with my foot elevated.

But I do want to hear about this rice thing.

 

[Iwannaski]

RICE: rest, ice (first 24 hours, I think), compress, elevate.

As someone who has had my fair share of orthopedic experience (self and loved ones) … physical therapy is super valuable. even if they don’t recommend it, if you can, pursue it.

Good luck, sorry the season is over.

 

[newbieM]

Ahhh I thought there was some magical frozen rice trick

I think once my foot stops looking like it got into a bar fight and lost I’ll be able to freak out less. The swelling is insane.

 

[marzNC]

But I do want to hear about this rice thing.

R.I.C.E. is an acronym that's been around for quite a while. However, it's not necessarily the best approach after the swelling goes down and the resulting pain is not as much of an issue.

December 2021

RICE for Sprains: Pros and Cons

The RICE method—rest, ice, compression, elevation—is lauded as a sure-fire way to cure an injury. But is it possible it slows the healing process?

www.verywellhealth.com

I've been using more of Chinese medicine approach for injuries that are muscle strains or sprains in the last decade or so. The idea is to use ice only in the first 24-48 hours. After that, heat and warmth is used to promote blood flow and faster healing. For example, after the calf muscle strain I got in mid-Jan I've been wearing knee socks with a leg warmer over the knee and calf. Also have the leg warmer on at night.

For acute injuries, I do more acupuncture treatments. Meaning about once a week. For the calf injury, that's included a few points with electric stimulation for a faster response since I wasn't about to stop skiing until the calf was fully healed.

 

[Iwannaski]

We have a fantastic and trusted acupuncturist, and the combination of acupuncture and PT is really valuable, especially in our “fix it now” culture.

 

[Christy]

Would love links! Thanks for the encouraging report.

I started with the wheelchair yoga video linked below, but I was less mobile than you--I couldn't drive for instance, and even clomping to the bathroom was hard at first. Anyway, this may be too light for you. You might look at Adriene's other chair yoga (for seniors for example) if you want something very gentle at first but the wheelchair video is too slow. I ended up still doing a lot of her other videos as I improved and I'd just skip what I couldn't do.

But these (below) are the routines I ended up loving and building off of. I had never heard of Kim Saha but these really hit the spot. It did take me a few weeks to be able to do some of this. At first even the idea of flipping over and doing a knee push up seemed too complicated, but every day I figured out a way to do something new. I was able to exercise for a solid hour and even get some cardio in with her HIIT videos.