My Broken Ankle ORIF Experience & Returning to Roller Derby

ORIF. Open Reduction Internal Fixation.

We started the simplest pack skating drill, but were intermixed with all skill levels. Someone started the fall that took us all out like dominoes. I felt two snaps as I went down.

How did I do this?

Read all about busting my ankle at roller derby.

This post will not be like my usual posts. I decided to chronicle my busted ankle experience since there was not much for me to read about it online. I didn’t exactly stage pretty pictures for this post either, so the photography is pretty bad. As in, all of it is spur of the moment images snagged with my phone while I was laid up and unable to move.

May

May 7, I fell and fractured my ankle. Actually, someone else fell on my leg and took me down. It was all rather silly since we were barely moving in what was supposed to be a very slow moving pack drill.

The ER was annoying. Apparently, literally hearing your leg break in a couple places and having a really messed up looking ankle is not enough for them to actually believe you need an x-ray. I was not screaming and howling enough, so I couldn’t possibly be hurt. Come on Doc, I have had a lot of kids. I am no stranger to pain.

ER x-ray showed bimalleolar fracture needing surgery. They splinted the leg and sent me off with crutches.

May 10 – Appointment with orthopedic surgeon to make a game plan.

Pre-op physical that same day, which was a big hassle.

May 11 Open Reduction Internal fixation for bimalleolar fracture. I must say, this was the longest four days. My tibia was throbbing non-stop. when I read about people dealing with awful medical treatment for this, I cringe for them.

I got the typical plate with small screws on one side and the big lag screws on the other.
There is a free floating bone shard between tib and fib from an additional break in my fib that will be left there since it is too far from the surface to do much about without really messing up my leg.

I was re-splinted after surgery. No hard cast since it needed room for swelling. The back-slab splint is the worst thing ever and the position it puts your ankle in is what causes the need for all the physical therapy down the road!

May 23  First post-op follow up.
They removed the splint, padding, and wrapping.
The ankle and foot was very swollen, but not too shabby. I had no staples, just dissolving stitches with tape. The bruising was purple and yellow. I had incisions on both sides. It was just your boring ol’ run of the mill ORIF with a plate and six screws on the fib and then two large screws going diagonally through the tib.

June

We discussed range of motion exercises I can do until physical therapy begins. I was given an air cast (CAM boot) and was told no weight bearing for at least another month. BUT,  I can remove the boot for movement and baths!

June 20 Second follow up.

At this point I am allowed MILD weight bearing in the boot with crutches and can stop using the boot when I am comfortable doing so. It is all very difficult and painful. It takes me a whole month to really start walking with just shoes and a cane.

By late June, I am starting to get depressed. My neighbor calls up a friend who had a broken foot a couple years prior to come over. She has four kids and knows how hard it is to take care of your family while injured. Oh yeah. If you are not a regular reader here, I am also taking care of four kids under seven during all of this.

I live in Minnesota where we have snow on the ground eight months of the year. Summer is pretty much the only time I am not mildly depressed and isolated from everyone. So losing my entire summer to this injury sent to me to a really dark place. While everyone else was enjoying the brief warm season, I was sitting in the dark in my basement. I couldn’t clean my house, so it was a pit. (FOUR kids, remember?) I couldn’t work out. I couldn’t work, period. Not ONE person in my family came to see me or even sent a how are you text. A couple league mates messaged me. I was in a bad way.

August-September

I stopped using the cane at the end of August and began physical therapy. The physical therapy honestly was not that helpful. The little exercises prescribed were things I was already doing in addition to going to the gym and just walking. I did 10 sessions before I just didn’t want to pay for it anymore.

The pain while trying to walk was on the inside of my ankle at first. It felt like some one was trying to tear the soft spot between my heel and tibia. After a couple weeks, the pain moved to the front of my ankle since those ligaments were lengthened and crunched up.

October

One of my league mates suggested a chiropractor, so I am thinking about it.

I feel like the problem with how “tight” my ankle feels is not just a shortened soleas. I had issues with this ankle slipping out of place and getting locked before the injury and it kind of feels like that. Orthos are not helpful at this point. The bone is fixed so they don’t really care about the fact that your quality of life is crap.

I went to the sorting day for the roller derby recreation group. This is basically a training group in our league that doesn’t compete. It is like a light version of bootcamp. Being on skates with so little mobility in my ankle was difficult, but I managed. The second week was better. However, due to favoring my other leg, I ended up straining my right quad in a bad way and now can barely walk for other reasons. Apparently, you do actually need some ankle mobility when doing knee taps.

I am five months post-op at this point, and I feel like I should be all better now. I am NOT, and it is really frustrating. I can still only do about 20 percent of my previous gym/walk/skate lifestyle. I have gained 20 lbs from being so much more sedentary and none of my clothes fit. This does not help with the down-in-the-dumps feelings.

December 19      (Seven months after break)

I went in to my ortho and requested he open my leg back up and remove the hardware. He says it is my choice, but he is not sure it will help mobility. I decide to go through with it.

Immediately after surgery, it feels better. Seriously.

Of course, the downside to surgery, is I am not cleared for skating again for three months. Which is just as well, because I find out out a couple weeks later that I was actually six weeks pregnant when I had the surgery! Oops. Spending the puky first trimester limping around was a little rough. I spent a lot of time at the gym trying to wrench my ankle into place with the leg press.

Late March   (10.5 months after break)

I am finally cleared for all activity. I am tempted to show up for skating clinics, but I have a feeling my now-showing baby belly might weird people out. On one hand, being pregnant is a bummer since I will need a cesarean and my derby activity is basically put off until the next winter. On the other hand, the relaxin hormone your body puts out is supposed to soften up your ligaments. My ligaments are my main problem at this point, so having them loosen up sounds pretty sweet.

May 7

The one year anniversary of my compound fracture! Too bad my bad leg is still stiff, sore, and swollen at this point. People with no experience ask me what my problem is? People WITH experince tell me it will take about three years for the swelling to go away.

June 14

We move south of the cities. It is a long day of heavy lifting and activity. I am heavily pregnant. My ankle swells up to more than twice the size of the other ankle even though I have been hammering on it at the gym for months by this point.

July 10

We have reached the home stretch. The relaxin hormone has definitely kicked in to get me ready for birthing and my ankle feels pretty fabulous, maybe because of it. Since my ankle has loosened up to about 80 percent, I am able to stop favoring my other leg so much. Which means, my strength is evening out too. I am also finally able to do squats again. Well, as much as my enormous belly allows right now.

At this point, I am 14 months post initial break, and I feel pretty good. My leg is just now to a point where I would declare it 85% better. If I were not having a cesarean in August, I would return to derby in the Fall. I am waiting until the winter session so my abdomen incision can heal. So there you have it. After surgery, you CAN put some weight on the leg after six weeks. You CAN resume activity after three months. You CAN avoid hardware removal surgery. You CAN be back to functional fairy quickly. However, most people take much longer. My leg doesn’t swell too bad anymore, but I am actually ahead of the statistics at over a year out. It really just depends on your break and your body. I feel I should mention that back to normal for me includes sports, powerlifting, chasing kids, and lots of hard labor. Someone workign a desk job all day would probably be back to normal much quicker.

Take your time and do your stretches. It WILL get better.

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Pinterest
• Share on Email
• Share on Instagram
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on Reddit