Dealing with ankle injuries

[~ngcskate~]

Just wondering how some fellow skaters may have dealt with ankle injuries and getting themselves back to skating form? I have a torn tendon in my left ankle that has been hurting since last December. The doctors advised I stay off it as much as possible and not skate until next year. As anyone had this same problem and can maybe recommend strengthing exercises or anything that helped them through the injury?

[lil-sk8r-chick5]

yea i have had the same problem but my skate suports my ancle so i dont feel it when i skate... all i can say is i got better by icing it before i warm up before i skate.. and take an advill pain reliveer
hope it helps...

[fadedstardust]

I sprained my left ankle twice and tore ligaments in it the second time around. It still doesn't bend as much as the right one and probably never will. My orthopedic surgeon told me I needed surgery to sew it back together, I said no way. It took me about 2 months to get back to normal strength but I went back to skate on it a week after it happened because I had a competition. It doesn't hurt anymore, but it pops a lot and like I said it doesn't bend as much as it should, but what my doc said is that if I'm not willing to do the operation, the best I can do is to do as many strengthening excercizes as I can, so I do a lot of ballet relevees and stuff like that. I take pointe too so I use those at home, and you have to stretch all the time to make sure everything is building back up properly.

My doctor also said there is a small chance for a tendon to grow back together naturally. I have no clue if I believe him, but, it's good to hope for that. Either way though, it shouldn't take you a year. If you don't skate for a year you won't be building any strength back to make up for the torn ligament (if you'd torn a tendon you wouldn't be able to walk so I'm assuming you mean a ligament...if you've torn a tendon you definitely need surgery, like, right now).

[~ngcskate~]

Thanks for the advice guys. This is what my doctor told me regarding my injury - I have a vertical tear in the tendon that runs by the ankle bone. They can't perform surgery unless it is a complete tear, mine is just partial. Perhaps it is ligaments though..I've had no loss of movement at all. At the start I did have great pain walking and skating. Walking now isn't much of a problem. I went skating once and couldn't walk the next day. It felt fine while skating though...LOL...

[Chico]

Hi,

I fractured my fibula in two places and was plated. I also tore the tendons at the same time. It was a pretty nasty injury. (right ankle) Skating was a painful experience for months and months. My ankle would swell so much that I would need my husband to pull my boot off. The more I skated however the better this got. Until now, when I only have the occasional bad spell. I do have limited flexibility for about the first 10 minutes of skating. However, this does improve with warm up. I found that streching the ankle doing exercises my therapist gave me helps a ton. I know this is going to sound weird but try to keep your feet and ankle warm. I have found that when my feet and my body get cold my flexibility is not as good. So keep those feet warm! Good luck.

Chico

[lil-sk8r-chick5]

Thanks for the advice guys. This is what my doctor told me regarding my injury - I have a vertical tear in the tendon that runs by the ankle bone. They can't perform surgery unless it is a complete tear, mine is just partial. Perhaps it is ligaments though..I've had no loss of movement at all. At the start I did have great pain walking and skating. Walking now isn't much of a problem. I went skating once and couldn't walk the next day. It felt fine while skating though...LOL...

awww ouch :cry: 8O