[r-man]

Ach, bloody injuries. Despite my intention to have a rest day, I was persuaded to go to Rubicon. Fair enough, I'll just do some easy stuff, thought I. An hour later, having a very brief go at something a bit harder, my hand exploded off a hold and I flew backwards faster than I've ever dismounted before. Ever. Though I was only a metre above the pad - nay, two pads - I managed to go over on my right foot. A whole world of pain ensued.

My ankle swelled up big time. Looked like a golf ball embedded in the outside of my foot. I poked it all over, but nothing seems to hurt to touch, so I'm hoping no broken bones. I got home, and after some advice from a girl who knows a little bit about physio, I sprayed on deep heat. The swelling seems to have gone down, and I can move my foot up and down fine, but moving it side to side is a bit stiff. I can't really stand on it.

Any advice from those in the know? Should I go to A&E in the morning? Assuming it is a sprain, how long is it likely to be before it gets better - ie. how long before I can climb again?

(I did do a search, but haven't come up with much).

[Carnage]

Bad Luck! Sounds exactly the same as what I did to mine last year. I didn't bother with an x-ray but if you're in any doubt, you should have one.

The main thing that helped me was

Ice - Alot - 10 -15mins max and strapped to it very tightly with a crepe bandage. As many times as you can. Every time the ankle returns to normal temp do it again - for a week. This got me back on my feet pretty quickly.  Get plenty of rest and strap it it up to limp around.

When it feels ready, start doing some ABC's to increase mobility (imagine you're holding a pen with your big toe and writing the alphabet, going through as full a range of motion with you ankle as you can)

Once the ankles had a bad sprain its pretty loose because the ligaments have gotten overstretched so you need to be pretty careful with not rolling it again. When I was just starting to climb again I would tape it rigid with athletic tape so that there was no movement at all to prevent another roll. I would also get a Therapist friend to manipulate it gently which seemed to help alot.

All in it was at least 3 months before I could use it properly and even then it hurt when doing heel-toe cams and, swimming, oddly enough. 

[SA Chris]

It sucks, sounds similar to mine, but less severe. RICE as Carnage says; Rest ice Compression eleveation. Your physio mate should have told you this. Not sure what benefit deep heat has at this stage. As above, i think the key to icing is the change in temperature, not the low temperature itself. So cool it right down, then all ow it to warm up again. Start exercise when it stops aching. Mine took about 4 months to fully heal, but even though i went to physio it stayed swollen until I was massaging the back of my ankle and it gave an almightly clunk and instantly felt better. I guess if I had had an X-ray it would ahve picked it up, you never know. There must have been a minor dislocation somewhere.

I got a cheap elastic ankle support that helped quite a bit, just make sure you can get a rock shoe on over it. If you don't want to buy one you can have mine.

Good Luck and don't overdo it.

[BenF]

Unlucky Robin, that sucks.  Take it easy for a bit.  It sounds a bit like what I did to myself during one of my many painful falls up at Woodwell last year (Nigel will no doubt remember the frequency that I was tumbling out of control onto pointy rocks last summer).  On one occasion I was warming down at the end of a day and hanging off the break at the end of BSSM, just about to descend when the jug exploded and I sort of piroetted at high speed all over the place, bouncing with gazelle like poise off a range of sharp boulders.  Somehow managed to avoid vomit enducing bloodshed (on that occasion at Woodwell) but my ankle was really not right.   Like your ankle it rapidly swelled up and although it soon became much less swollen (within a week) it stayed slightly enlarged for around six weeks (during which time I had a four week trip to the Alps and my ankle cause very little problems).  I struggled to push hard off a smear with that foot for about three months (in fact smearing hard with my right foot caused a hell of a lot of pain for about two months) but it's absolutely fine now.  To be honest most of the pain had gone within 2-3 days, leaving just tenderness and a little pain when running.

My aftercare consisted of staggering back to car cursing, driving home in pain, spending some time carefully stretching my foot and then going to a monster house party (not literally a house full of monsters I may add).  Took massive doses of non-prescribed pain killers at the party which sorted the pain out but caused roughly eight hours of dancing and generally stupid behaviour.  I'm not sure whether this self-medication was of any practical use and I'm sure the many hours of dancing caused most of the damage to an already damaged ankle.  Probably best to rest it or see a doctor (rather than some dodgy bloke selling east european disco biscuits).  I doubt much of what I just posted was of any use to you.  Sorry.

[GCW]

Unlucky dude.

2 options:

1.  Go to A&E and get someone to have a look +/- radiographs as required (or not).
2.  RICE as above and if it's not a lot better after 2 weeks go to option 1.

If it doesn't look a funny shape and you can hobble on it 99% it'll be a sprain.  Have a look at Ottowa Ankle Rules on Google if you want to self-diagnose (eg http://www.montana.edu/wwwebm/Sprains.htm).  If you're tender as per the rules have a trip to A&E.

If it's a sprin it can still take 6 weeks to get properly better so I'd give it good rest for 2 weeks, then gradually build up activity for another couple.  Don't try DC10 for at least 6 weeks.

[fatdoc]

my sprain is 7 months old, cant boulder with confidance, cant run, pain evey morning is hideous..

had an MRI in the first week, totally shagged tendons although ligaments OK...

on second physio: much better and finally getting improvement.

 i agree with post above, once it's not bust and you're through the first week PAY for a physio, or you'll be in the scared up and generally dysfunctional ankle club quicker than you know it!

[SA Chris]

I struggled to push hard off a smear with that foot for about three months

That's some stamina you've got!

[BenF]

That's some stamina you've got!

 

Yeah man it was a fuckin' long traverse.  Should have had a route grade to be honest, maybe an alpine grade even.

[Monolith]

My aftercare consisted of staggering back to car cursing, driving home in pain, spending some time carefully stretching my foot and then going to a monster house party (not literally a house full of monsters I may add).  Took massive doses of non-prescribed pain killers at the party which sorted the pain out but caused roughly eight hours of dancing and generally stupid behaviour. 

I dread to think what your conception of a respite home would be like Ben.

Get yourself to the G.P Robin! (Or Bens respite home)

[BenF]

I dread to think what your conception of a respite home would be like Ben.

Roughly equatable to a night at Voodoo.  But less sweat.

[Monolith]

  I thought as much. A room full of very sick, but happy people. 

[Dude]

Unless your asthmatic or suffer from stomach ulcers, I'd get on the IBUPROFEN ASAP.

400mg 3/4 timea a day for 7-10 days. It will help reduce the inflammation and give you hopefully a quicker healing process with less fibrosis.

I wish I'd got on it sooner when i fucked my wrist

[r-man]

Cheers for the advice everyone.

Just been down to the minor injuries centre - great invention this, I was seen within 30sec. Nurse said it was a moderate sprain - no pain on bony areas, so no need for an x-ray. As expected from everyone's advice, got told to RICE a lot. Also told walk/shuffle on it as much as possible, although it's tempting to just hop. But at least I can move around, which I gather isn't possible with really serious sprains.

Anyway, will have to see how it goes. From reading around it seems that proper rehabilitation and physio is the key to avoiding chronic problems, as well as speeding up the recovery. Fingers crossed I'll be climbing again soon.

If only Tom's Roof wasn't up a gully, I could just do footless problems for a couple of weeks. Ah well. 

[GCW]

Good news.  Enforced rest means you can check/ update the Brownstones Wiki over the next 2 weeks   

[SA Chris]

If only Tom's Roof wasn't up a gully, I could just do footless problems for a couple of weeks. Ah well. 

Sod it. I improvised a crutch using two extendable ski poles, some wood and loads of gaffer tabe and hobbled around Joe's Valley taking pics.

There is also a good bit of video of me falling off Lydia's Mouth and trying to land on one leg, while being spotted by my mate who broke his hand skiing a few days earlier. Amusing.

Apparently you should use it as much as possible without overdoing it in order to stay used to using it normally.

[r-man]

I'm tempted to go for it, but I should probably give it at least a few days before I start hobbling maniacally towards Stoney.

I think Snooker would be the perfect recovery activity. Slow pacing, with a handy cane to support you. A big table to lean on too. In fact, I think Snooker is such a great idea that I've got it all set up in the living room. The TV is on, and the world championships are underway...

[fatdoc]

yep...

and fuck me... for the first round it's totally ace!!


 i love this shit.

only been in sheff since 87, and never got there... i'm ashamed!!