Ankle Rehab: 12.5 weeks post-cast

I knew it had to happen -- Carli made it back on the field before I did.
From last night: Second-half substitute Carli Lloyd, making her first appearance for Sky Blue FC since breaking her ankle in a game on April 25, fouled FC Gold Pride’s Ali Riley drawing a yellow card.

That said, earning a yellow card the first day back isn't something to which I aspire.

And I'm not doing badly myself -- the orthpedist said that the physical therapist gets to decide when I'm ready to play (I think this scared the living daylights out of the PT). So, I'm now starting to jog -- and when I say starting, I mean starting -- I'm jogging slowly (4.5 MPH instead of 5 MPH), and right now I can do 2 minutes on/3 minutes off. Much more than that and I feel it in my ankle. So, I have to work both on increasing speed and increasing endurance.

Once I can jog, I get to run -- I imagine that will be another long slow process.

And once I can run, then I start cutting and before you know it I'm back on the field.

Overall, I suppose I can't complain too much -- it's almost 3 months since the cast came off and I'm actually beginning to think that I'll be back "soon." Of course, my endurance sucks at the moment and I've got to get back to some serious weight training, but it will happen. If all goes well I'll sign up to do some kids' reffing within a few weeks and ideally I can manage a few minutes for the Chucks' fall tournament.

Here's hoping.

Two steps forward, one step back

Here I am wrapping up week eight since the cast came off. Things were going well. At the end of last week I started asking about running -- well, I continue to ask about running, but now I feel like I've progressed backwards. I have this sharp burning pain right at the ankle. The PT responded by backing off a bit -- she still lets me do 7 minutes on the elliptical (a very cool one with free moving foot rests), but we're not pushing much. I saw the Orthopedist's PA (Physician's Assistant) and she didn't seem terribly worried -- said that sometimes you get nerve entrapment from the scar tissue.

So, no one thinks it's a big deal, but well, it's annoying. Having worked hard to become relatively mobile and pain free, it's a drag to be limping again and in pain. I continue to have pretty good mobility, I can feel my little ankle work its heart out when I do all sorts of interesting balancing exercises (hmmm -- I should play Wii FIT this weekend), so I think all is good, but I'd like this pain to go away.

On the other hand, when I asked the PA about soccer, she thought winter was safe, but thought three months might actually be doable -- that would get me on the field in time for our fall tournament! It seems that the fracture is healing nicely -- almost all the gaps are filled in with new calcium and there are only a few small pockets left. I go back in 4 weeks for another X-ray and what I hope to be a solid bone with no gaps.

As for now, Go Breakers! (We're in 3rd place and while 1st place seems out of reach; 2nd doesn't seem that far away.)

- M

Me and Carli

Finally -- I actually got some info on Carli Lloyd's rehab. Why am I so obsessed? Because I broke my ankle the same day and while I don't claim to be in the same shape as Carli, I also don't expect to rehab any more quickly than she does. So, here is the article on what she's been up to.
And here is my comparison:

	Me	Carli
When Injured	April 25	April 25
Age (when injured)	48	28
Length in cast	6 weeks	2 weeks
Length in boot	2 days	2 weeks
Length on crutches	6 weeks	4 weeks
Day/week in PT	2	5
OK'd to run,pivot,run,pick	???	~ July 10
On the field	???	???

I go to the orthopedist next week and my goal is to get an OK to run. Fingers crossed!

- M

6 on 6 off

It's been six weeks since I got my cast off. That means I've not spent six weeks in a cast and six weeks out of a cast since I broke my ankle. Let's say that I wholeheartedly recommend the out-of-cast experience more than the in-cast experience. The last sixe weeks have practically flown by while the preceding six, well, let's just say "flying by" isn't how I'd describe them.

I continue rehab, usually twice a week. When not in rehab, I'm spinning every day and doing a stretching regime and getting back to a bit of weight strengthening (still not back to my standard 45 minute workout, since the ankle exercises take time and there is only so much time I can spend in the basement each morning). Most days the ankle feels pretty good and it hardly limits mobility. When I do a runner's stretch, I can't really feel it in my calf, but it sure puts plenty of strain on my plantar fascia (resulting in heel pain). So the truth of the matter is that there is still some pretty limited mobility somewhere -- I believe it to be a tight achilles (which I stretch) and also residual swelling in the front of the ankle. The swelling is almost gone -- if you look closely you can tell which ankle I broke, but you now have to work at it. I can walk downstairs with an almost imperceptible timing difference between the left and right feet (I roll down off the injured ankle just a tad more quickly).

Rehab continues to focus on building up strength in the ankle. It's kind of amazing what you take for granted. That said, I can stand on the left foot for 30 seconds on both a hard surface and a squishy foam one. The real difference is that I am acutely aware of all the tiny muscle compensations that are happening to keep me standing. It's actually quite remarkable what a little workout this is for those little muscles, ligaments and tendons in the ankle.

I go see the orthopedist next week -- I'm hoping she is pleasantly surprised with my progress and updates my prognosis for playing again. I note that even Carli Lloyd (Sky Blue FC, US National Team) does not appear to have returned to the playing field, so I can't complain that I'm out for the summer. However, just as Lloyd is probably determined to play in the Concacaf world cup qualifiers, I'd be pretty jazzed to play in the fall season for the Chucks, even if the stakes are much lower.

- M