BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Hi, Sorry to hear this. Do you swim? When I have foot injuries, I lap swim with a pull buoy. It keeps your legs floating and you can swim using only your core and arms.

Now that school's in, my local pool might have room for me again, I hadn't thought of that, maybe I'll join up for a month or so...

I never thought of a pull buoy. One of the things that I always hated about swimming with a foot injury was just the water resistance hurts enough to make me want to stay dry. thank you for the idea!

I would say do anything you can that does not cause the injury pain. Avoid re-injuring it at all costs though. Cycling should work, unless it is so hurt you cannot even put pedaling pressure on it.

Wearing a brace most of the time except when doing specific ankle strengthening and range of motion exercises. Ice after.

Immobilization with an air cast or walking boot. It may take 6 weeks or more to feel better if it is a severe sprain. Ankles tend to stay swollen for a long time also. For inflammation, you can use 800mg of motrin 3 times a day if you are healthy, and Tylenol in addition (I believe they lowered the max daily dose of Tylenol recently). Really try to not twist it again. Doing water aerobics or swimming may irritate it depending on how you move it, but definitely better than trying to do weightbearing exercises.

Eat ice cream. Lots and lots of ice cream. At lest then you will feel as though you got some benefit about being out of shape when it’s time to get back on the bike.

Ha! I love that advice so much.

I didn't realize the swelling would take that long

Icecream. Right. THAT I can do

I sprained my ankle a little over a month ago, and I was doing as much as I could as soon as I could. I think moving around helps get the swelling down and healing happen, so long as you aren't too hard on it (which I can't say I haven't been). Swelling was down enough to put my normal shoes on after most of a week, and I started biking again at that point. Just be careful if you put that foot down stopping. I still try to ice mine at least once a day, though.

Ejwme

so sorry to hear you are hurt. I hope you get better fast.

x2 for swimming.

Ice the ankle. RICE - rest ice compression elevation

You can do a fun upper body workout if you have access to the gym.

Beware the one-leg this or that. You will wind up with a serious strength imbalance that will leave you prone to future injuries. Having one side stronger than the other is bad news!

Probably the best thing for it is also the most difficult. Patience. I was down for a couple of months in 2008, and going nuts, but then thought about the grand scheme. Once I did get back on the bike, I would have years and years of time to ride. Pushing yourself before you're ready runs the risk of extending your down time, so be careful.

I know, easy for me to say from here.

When I broke my ankle a few years ago I was out of commission about 9 weeks (6 in a cast, 3 more before I could actually get around without a cane). I couldn't even work because a chef on crutches is an unsafe obstacle in a busy kitchen. The first couple of weeks were mind numbingly boring! Fortunately I had an old ten speed that I had found in the garbage several months prior sitting in my garage languishing in an awful state of neglect and disrepair. So I spent a few weeks slooowly disassembling, cleaning, repainting, and reassembling it. It kept me from being bored and gave me something to look forward to once I healed up. I'm not qualified to give any advice on how to stay physically fit while you're healing but sometimes staying mentally fit, (and by reading your posts that seems to be important to you) can be a beneficial pursuit. Good luck, hope your ankle is better soon, try to stay positive, it's the key to healing!

After my tumble last year (see stupidity thread), I stayed off the bike about three months. That was a shoulder injury, nothing broken (I think), possibly a small cartilage tear. I just did the usual ice for the first day or two to keep swelling down, heat for the next few days to improve circulation, then waited for the swelling, bruises, and pain to go away.

When I could lift and carry a backpack on that side, I experimented with some minimal (sub-half-mile) bike rides, and built up from there: the mile to the bus, three miles home from West View, etc. The first Flock ride, May 2010, was the first long ride I took, and that was about four months after.

Word to your mother

greasefoot, you're killing my brain like a poisonous mushroom

Hahah yes, ice ice baby will work. Moving around will not make the swelling go down.

guh. communal wisdom tapping some more:

parents made me promise to get xrays, radiologist says "go see orthopaedic specialist" (something about some kind of bone chip or something). Any recommendations?

I tried looking up the difference between orthopaedic surgery and trauma, and just got confused. I have this feeling like whoever I see will refer me to someone else, who will refer me to someone else, and so on, and eventually my foot will fall off.

go see stef and her doctor. they are at forbes regional so its pretty convenient for you.

I thought maybe Stef was the right person to ask... looking it up now. Thanks Colin!

dr julius hubner is the guy you want over there. if you call the office directly make sure you speak to jessica and let her know you are a friend of stef's.

sweet. appointment made. I am now confident my foot will probably not fall off. *sigh of relief*. Injuries always make me wish for a supplimental exoskeleton.

Gonna try some brief and slow biking with the pup this evening, thanks to the air cast. I really wish moving around would make the swelling go down At least I have an air cast and a plan now.

Thank you guys!!!!

I used to sprain and break my ankle a lot (among other bones), and every time it sucked. The only thing you can do for swelling that really works is the RICE thing that was mentioned. That said, swelling or not, I popped a few Advil wrapped that sucker tight and still went to the skate park/dirt jumps whatever. It would hurt like heck for a bit afterward, but my sanity is more important than anything when I'm injured. I'm not saying do what I do, but do what keeps you sane. That's the hardest part about injuries.

Ej, I have a kiddy trailer that we could convert into a chariot for you- then the hubby could take you out for a nice bike ride & ice cream when you get cranky.

I notice marko said when you get cranky and not if.... Always knew marko was smarter than the average bear!

It's funny, med express lady (who saw me walk in on my own two feet) tried to give me crutches. I like the Chariots of Icecream idea WAY better. Involving icecream makes anything gimpy much more tolerable. I think I'll see if Hubby would go for it