UKC

Hello!

Fell off the slab this afternoon at the bouldering wall. Staff were fab and looked after me brilliantly. I initially thought it was a sprain and managed to hobble home. However, it swelled up to the size of a decent grapefruit and, sure enough, I've broken it and put a good sprain in as well.

I now have a boot and crutches and won't be doing much running or walking for a while! Boot will be on for atleast 6 weeks. (Also, the folks at A and E were simply brilliant and really looked after me. So impressed.) I'll be booked into the fracture clinic in the next 2 weeks. 

Further down the road, I'll think about campusing / pull ups / finger boarding etc. 

For now though, my priority is getting it to heal as well as possible and quickly as possible. Has anyone got any advice for this? 

Also, if anyone has any success stories like, 'I exploded my ankle and now I boulder V12 wearing a diving suit' or 'My ankle fell off completely but I did a Bob Graham last year' that would really cheer me up. 

Yours slightly miserably, 

BB

In reply to bouldery bits:

I've bust my right ankle twice now to varying degrees. First was not a bad one bouldering while the second was a big pilon break that smashed everything and needed external fixation and all sorts. That one was not bouldering and was stupidity induced. 

The first time was an easy fix, healed well and was back at it pretty quick (2 months maybe?). That time it was as good as before but with a little loss of flexibility. The second not so much. I was gutted at the time with that one and really worried about climbing in the future (and the fact that I was going really well that year and looking at a great summer). It took a healthy about of time to heal and a tonne of physio but it's back, strong enough and doesn't seem to affect climbing at all really. Climbing as well (or badly) as ever for an ageing git. It's now lost quite a bit of flexibility regarding lifting the toes up towards the leg but other than walking up hill to the crag it's totally acceptable in all other ranges of motion. Tbh, I think it's incredible that it works as well as it does as it was pretty fuuuuucked. 

Take some time, rest up and just think of it as a bit of time off. Nothings going anywhere really and a couple of months isn't anything in the grand scheme. The leg'll be fine. Do the exercises and don't go too quick trying to get back on it. I'd rather have breaks than tendon trouble as that shit is misery itself. 

In reply to bouldery bits:

Have a quick Google on helping bone heal.

I ate lots of spinach, eggs, dairy stuff, calcium tablets etc. 

Keep as active as possible to keep HR and blood flow up.

Get onto getting physio arranged as soon as possible for when you can weight/exercise it and don't think I'll do extra it'll get better quicker. Make sure the fracture lot and physio knows what you want to get back to doing, NHS treatment pathways just need to get you mobile to go to the shop not necessarily to Swanage or Ben Nevin north face. 

Best wishes

Mark 

Broken hip - 11 weeks back to work

collar bone in 4 pieces - 6 weeks back to work.

Bit longer both times back to cycling and climbing but fitter than ever and climbing as hard as ever. Had an excellent physio 🙂

In reply to MarkAstley:

Great advice here. To add to this: whilst it's tempting to cut your calories as your activity drops, don't go too extreme - bone repair is calorically intensive. As soon as you're out of the boot, go to a good (read: private) physio, do the exercises and you'll be back sooner than you think. As Mark says, NHS physio is about getting basic ROM/strength back, not sports performance.

In reply to bouldery bits:

I still have a plate, screws and a bolt in my ankle after a slight argument with gravity in a french canyon. The good news is that it does get better and to all intents and purposes mine is as good as new and the metalwork is no problem at all. My only advice is to really go for the physio when you can, that is soooo important! In the meantime try and relax, be positive and catch up on your reading - good luck!

In reply to bouldery bits:

I gave myself serious back problems from running too soon after a sprained ankle. I was a bit lopsided still and now, years later, I still get issues if I don't manage it well. In fact I can't really run anymore.

So my message is - make sure it's properly healed before over-doing it. I wish I had.

In reply to bouldery bits:

Good advice from the other folk re. Bone healing. 

This probably feels shit right now but a silver lining is that most people I know who got some kind of leg injury came back as absolute beasts because they did a serious block of quality strength training with caloric surplus. 

Make sure you get a physio on side who is focused on regaining maximum ankle flexibility because that's a big limiting factor on anything friction based. 

In reply to bouldery bits:

I broke my heel and ankle in a ground fall from an E2 4 years ago and now have climbed upto E5.

What I found difficult (but not apply because slightly different injury) was I couldnt hang off a board. When I did blood would rush to my foot and cause quite a lot of pain in the area I had surgery. I did a lot of core and S+C work which I think has helped a lot. I managed to hang a bit towards the end (was in a pot for around 4 month) but I think if you did the current trend of having an edge and some weights for finger strength it would be a game changer!

Loads of climbers have come back stronger from these kinds of injuries, you'll come back stronger and more psyked than before!

In reply to bouldery bits:

I broke mine in 2008 and ended up with a few pins and a plate in. As others have said, give the bone time to heal, get a good physio, listen to them and do the exercises religiously.

It took me a few months to get confidence back bouldering, but I don't think that's a bad thing as it gives everything a chance to strengthen up again (listen to your physio). It very rarely gives me any trouble now and I do quite a lot on it - climbing, bouldering, running, hill walking.

Did I mention to listen to your physio?

In reply to bouldery bits:

Thank you all for your brilliant input, I'll watch the diet, take it easy, make some strength gains and be sure to get a really good physio. 

It's great to hear that you can come back better so that's the aim. I made it through a day of teaching today but I am feeling pretty exhausted now! 

In reply to bouldery bits:

Just under 2 years ago I dislocated my ankle bouldering - I remember sitting looking at it 90 degrees to my leg thinking I could push it back in place....the rest was hard and frustrating - I watched the muscle from my leg wither away over a couple of months. Was able to get a good physio and to help my rehab I bought a bike. Last year I ran 2 ultras and finished 3rd in a 24h mountain bike race, with 2 more ultra bike races and another 2 ultra runs booked for this year. Plus yesterday I won my local 10k. Doing my ankle gave me the kick up the backside I needed to get fit, so relax, read, make a plan and set some goals. 

In reply to bouldery bits:

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully you recover quickly!

When my husband broke his hand, one thing he read was that alcohol slows down bone healing, so as well as eating all the good stuff mentioned above, maybe cut out alcohol for a while too? He became quite a connoisseur of alcohol free beers!

In reply to girlymonkey:

Good advice although I've been doing this in advance for the last 3 year! (I'll take any good AF beer recommendations though!) 

Apparently, I need to reduce caffeine consumption aswell though as this can limit calcium uptake. 

Thank you! 

In reply to girlymonkey:

When I smashed my leg up the nurse told me that. Dutifully stayed off all booze for 3 months. When the cast came off I asked the consultant if it was ok to have a drink. He looked puzzled, so I told him what the nurse had said. He laughed "they do like to say that"

Having said that, no booze did me no harm at all. Also, the risk of falling is probably the main reason! 

In reply to bouldery bits:

Don't neglect the physio unless you want to risk permanently sacrificing mobility.

In reply to bouldery bits:

Definitely also agree with the info about physios, worth paying for a few private sport specific physio sessions for the exact reasons people have said.

In reply to bouldery bits:

Having smashed my Tibia-Talus joint into lots of tiny bits, I swear by the use of a 'comfrey cast', made from powder paste , dries on like leather and easily kept under a bandage. Left the shattered surface all smooth and brand new by the time I had it xrayed again. Like the below (but any powdered comfrey root will do):

https://shop.kauaifarmacy.com/products/comfrey-cast

Just dont underestimate the soft tissue damage that doesnt get addressed initially, and doesnt show up on x-ray. Get onto a good sport physio with high expectations as soon as its safe for the bone.

In reply to bouldery bits:

The hard thing with more severe injuries like this is dealing with the grief and then taking ownership of the injury and the recovery process; can be real tough early on.  But embrace the recovery plan.

Bodies are amazing and it will get better.  Let the recovery process be led by your body ... it will let you know when its ready to go to the next phase in recovery.

And don't be afraid of seeking out a number of views about the injury, its treatment and the recovery plan.  It might take you a few goes to get a physio that clicks with you.  Also push the doctors / surgeons etc, they need to know how active you are and how you need to get back to 100%.

Also, the NHS is just THE best at fixing broken people; but less great after the initial fix.

In reply to ChrisJD:

I can only speak for myself and my own stupidity, but I actively enjoyed the challenge of recovering from a broken leg - and actively enjoyed speeding past people in the street while non-weight-bearing on crutches. I reckon most with a 'climbing temperament' would probably feel similarly if in a similar position. If nothing else, it did bits for my fitness as I went around my normal daily business without compromising by driving or taking taxis or similar. 

But you're not wrong - I think mindset and ambition is really important - maybe even the most important of all the factors?

In reply to bouldery bits: a wealth of great advice here and I’ve little to add. I’d echo the calcium advice and the importance of rest. I was actually quizzed by a consultant on what I had done to achieve such good bone healing🤣 The point re the role of NHS physio is well made though I found my ones responded to my zeal for recovery to sport and set out to do as much as they could but it was my own physio who really forced me on and challenged me. His sessions and goals where challenging but took me way beyond expectations. They started well before I was allowed to weight it with extensive movement/mobility drills. My takeaway from what was a major pillon fracture has been you can’t stop the work and I regularly use a wobble cushion, wobble board and short balance beam. Your own motivation and rigour will, to an extent, define the outcome. All the best with it.

In reply to bouldery bits:

I managed to shatter my ankle hiking on Skye about 10 days before you did yours. Took 11 days to get surgery as Broadford and Raigmore couldn't figure out how to put my talus back together. Now 3 weeks after surgery and I've managed to go back to running climbing sessions despite being non-weight bearing and still in the plaster. Even managed to climb up to 6a+ indoors on a top rope very comfortably. Definitely trying to prioritize my mental health for this initial period and trying to stay independent.

Keep your head up, hope you're healing well!

In reply to bouldery bits:

https://player.vimeo.com/video/42893621?h=0f36a3cfc4

Standard repost

In reply to bouldery bits:

Shattered my fibula bouldering 7.5 weeks ago. Back walking on two feet now after 3 weeks in a cast and 3 weeks in a boot but not back to climbing yet :-/.

If you're not doing so already you want to supplement with vitamins and minerals that help with bone healing: vitamin D3, magnesium, vitamin C, zinc. I found that Waitrose had most of these in stock to deliver via Deliveroo, no other grocery store in my area did, and I got the vitamins within an hour.

Obviously you want to get lots of calcium too but people say it's better to get calcium from food sources. Useful fact sheet on foods with calcium: https://www.bda.uk.com/resource/calcium.html

Kale has vitamin K which is also supposed to be important. It was recently recommended to me to seek out a good Chinese herbalist and ask for Dit Da Jow, which is an herbal tincture traditionally used by martial artists to help heal their injuries such as bruises and broken bones, but I haven't followed up on this.

You might wanna take it easy for the first couple of weeks because your body needs to make a lot of effort to heal the injury right now. This is the stage where you should try not to make it worse. Please don't fall off the campus board! the boot is not going to save you if that happens.

Being on crutches sucks, they hurt your hands. Everyone recommended to me to get some sort of pads to put on the handles of the crutches which you can buy on Amazon, but I never bothered and just wore cycling gloves. Also, be aware that the crutches slip on wet surfaces. 

If you look on YouTube you can find floor workouts you can do with your leg in a boot. 

Once I got a boot and was allowed to partial weight-bear then I started going every so often to the bouldering gym to use their training island. (Before that it was just too hard to get myself there.) I found that after a 4-week hiatus I hadn't lost much if any strength in my upper body, although I got overexcited and the first pull-ups workout left me sore for 5 days! The long recovery process from the injury seems like an opportunity to get stronger fingers and upper body. I didn't realize how weak my fingers are! Now that I can't climb, it's the first time ever that I'm regularly hangboarding. As for campusing, it's a new thing for me and I hope it will help (I only use the jug rungs and use them like vertical monkey bars, try to stay in control at all times so I don't fall). I tell myself I am doing a "training cycle" which makes me a tiny bit more patient (only a tiny bit though ). I am not concerned about grades right now, I will just be so grateful when I can climb on rock again and not feel like I have this fragile leg made of glass.

Hope your ankle heals as quickly as possible!!! Injuries suck!!!