Ankle injury question

A snowHead

My girlfriend sprained her ankle whilst out on a club run, a few months ago. She has seen a physio and has been doing various movement exercises and we have been out cycling together, for which she was fine. She also walks about a mile each day as part of her commute but she hasn't been running since. She used her cross trainer last night and her ankle is sore today. Her physio is off until Monday and she is a bit worried about it aching after last night.

We are in Tignes in two weeks and she is worried that she may cause further damage by skiing on it.

My thoughts are that her boot will hold it all in place but I wondered if any one has skied with a similar injury and whether they were OK.

Any advise from medics also very welcome.

She is getting some Voltarol gel for it this morning.

A snowHead

Very badly sprained my ankle last year 10 days before a trip to Mayrhoffen (running along a track in the woods and slid it along a hidden tree root until it stopped with a nice crack - only a mile's hobble from home...). It was very sore and swollen, but with lots of RICE and some mobility work managed to get it into a ski boot with a thin neoprene support on. The boot immobilises it beautifully, the only issue for me was external pressure on the bruised bits and any jarring from impact (don't jump anything...it really hurts!). It was a short break trip and was mainly skiing quite gently with my wife so didn't really affect the trip at all. Kept it raised as much as possible at the end of the day and consumed copious amounts of ibuprofen (and brandy...although alcohol obviously not the best recommendation when recovering from a soft tissue injury!).

Given the time difference I'm sure it'll be fine if managed properly while you're away (obviously usual disclaimers apply regards my lack of any medical qualifications etc.)

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

bar shaker, I ruined my ankle a few years ago and can confirm that the immobilisation of the boot will certainly help. RICE will help, as might a few demis of a an evening .....

My ankle will never fully recover and I do find that if I ski hard it aches a bit, but thems the breaks, eh? I reckon your gf will be fine but you might need to go easy on your normal first lift, last down approach on a couple of days!

You need to Login to know who's really who.

I hurt my ankle quite badly last year only a sprain but a nasty one, skied on it 2 weeks later wearing a support, had to take it easy but no problems, just make sure her boots fit really well.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Blunty, you were lucky to get it into a boot with even a thin neoprene support on. I am recovering from an ankle injury (torn ligaments and small avulsion fracture compounded by chronic achilles tendonitis) and threw everything at it last week when skiing. My foot lasted about 10mins with a fitted support on - at least it distracted from the injury - toes had severe pins and needles and foot unhealthy colour Laughing

Even a thin support will have a velcro tab at the top which can also be very uncomfortable in a boot.

bar shaker, is your girlfriends's ankle swollen? I would suggest she mobliises gently over the weekend, nothing too strenuous, does the exercies she already has unless they make it worse, rests/elevates after exercise and ices if swollen. The she can see her physio next week Very Happy

Ankles can take ages to settle down.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Lou, It was an old Vulcan support you lip on like a sock...I say slip on, more like drag wincingly!

And you're right, they take ages to settle down, especially if you keep turning them. 20 years of playing rugby didn't help, they used to be shaved half way up the shins so I could strap them to play

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Thanks guys we have both just read your replies and feel a lot more confident that things will be ok. GF will try not to wear a support but will take a thin one to try if it hurts.

After all it is free

bar shaker, its likely to be soft tissue injury, and I endorse the advice above. Also be careful lifting heavy loads, they all get transmitted through the ankle and can cause a symptom flare. I found last year that my ankle tendonitis was aggrevated most by carrying the cases, so I now own a wussy wheeled bag, and by skiing in heavy powder where a ski load of snow was being lifted each turn (and thats probably my technique at fault)
Have fun

My ski partner very badly sprainer her ankle a few years ago while hiking. Bad enough to require an A+E visit and crutches. By the time we were due to go skiing she could walk on it with discomfort, cycle with no problem (she's an ex-GB rider) but not run on it. We tried it with a trip to ChillFactorE before going and it was OK in there so we went away. She had no problems skiing but putting the boots on and off was painfull. RICE every evening and anti-inflamatories.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

I knackered my ankle in 2003 playing football - never been the same since. Less movement and stiffer. On ski/snowboard trips the first few days it is always sore, seems to get stronger as the week goes on? Also certain types of snow (grabby wet stuff on piste particularly) really makes it ache...

Hard trail running and cycling it is fine though?

I presume I did something to the ligaments - these do not seem to heal well?

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

norris, you might need to do what I did (although my injury was only 5 months old) - physio 're-injured' Shocked

it and effectively laid down new scar tissue. It hurt more during the first few days of skiing and as you say, it was worse in grabby wet snow. I still have some local swelling but not the hard swelling that I had in the joint before the recent physio.

snow reports

bar shaker, A year last Sept I highsided a fully camping eqipment laden motorbike on a damp field (my own fault) and turned my ankle really badly. Size of grapefruit type of thing. It still gives me pain now but can runb on it no problem. I skied 4 weeks during the winter after injuring it, the only problem I had was that sometimes it took assistance to get my boot on in the morning due to lack of flex in the joint and a swollen top of foot.

On Saturday GF bought her first pair of ski boots (Atomic Hawx, IIRC). She tried on every boot in the shop, several times and this involved lots of stretching and squeezing on her ankle, in and out of all of the boots.

That night she couldn't believe how much better her ankle felt and by the following morning it felt even better.

We did 28 miles with our bike club on Sunday and it was fine after that too.

We had gone to the gym on Saturday morning and used the Powerplate machines as part of our work out, but wonder if the stretching in and out of the boots is what has helped. She is seeing her physio today, just to be safe, but we are really pleased with how it has improved this weekend.

GF felt really pleased with the feel of her ankle in her boots and could load it up in ways that would have been agony in trainers, so we are confident that everything will be fine.

Thanks for all of your anecdotes and advice.

You know it makes sense.

i Busted my ankle a few years back whilst working in Tignes!

it is still bad and has very limited movement but the only real problem skiing is the lack of flex and getting forward. as some have said in wet grabby snow this seems to be a problem, but found like many that during a week of skiing it loosens slightly but never gonna be as good as it was!!!

but to be skiing is great so im happy

oh yeah did it on a thursday and was back on the snow full time a week later. ski boots help alot with ankles as there held in place so well!

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

My friend hurt her ankle bad when snowboarding. She was unable to ski for weeks (snowboarding was fine...) and after that if she got any wrong movement (an edge caught or something) she would be rolling on the slope, screaming and crying. But other than that she was fine rolling eyes

A snowHead

bar shaker,

I am sure she'll be fine.
Before I read your post about her trying boots, I was going to suggest those "balance plates on a half ball/sphere" (not sure how else to explain). You stand on them and try and keep your balance. Very good to get your ankles working/strengthening. I reckon the getting in/out of ski boots achieved a similar effect.

17 years ago, I sprained my ankle very badly just 3 months before I was due to start my officer training. I was devastated. But I was lucky enough to see a top/renowned specialist/surgeon who dismissed initial talks of surgery and prescribed intense physio and 3 months later I duly started my army career. So ankle sprains can be recovered from quickly..

So if you say your GF sprained the ankle a few moths ago and had good physio then it'll be no problem. The pain will likely be just a bit "rhumatism" or the ankle expanding its movement a bit...

A snowHead

Help!!

Ankle injury question

snowHeads Forum Index >>> The Piste