Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Any positive stories about getting back on the bike after ankle surgery??

Hi all,

Currently recovering from surgery on a broken ankle. Got a plate and 7 pins in there.

I'm a long way off getting back on my feet but all I can think about is when I can ride my bike again.

Anyone here had this sort of surgery and how long did it take before you could get out again? How long before you could do proper efforts like all day rides and hard climbs??

I've read too many negative stories on the net about it taking ages and your ankle not being the same. They are probably all written by overweight hypochondriacs and it will be fine - but still would be good to hear from a cyclist who has been through the same thing to put my mind at rest. Or not!

Thank you
Mike

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

Add new comment

17 comments

Avatar
CXR94Di2 | 4 years ago
0 likes

I shattered my calcaneus 4 years ago. I spent 16 weeks off my feet. I cant stand for long periods or work on my feet all day or the next day I limp badly. However I can cycle day after day with no issues

Avatar
grunghi | 4 years ago
0 likes

Hi, I've broken my fibula (weber 2) on january 1st of this year. I've had a surgery, 7 screws and a metal plate and I've been in a non-walking cast for 6 weeks. I've started riding my trail bike lightly 2 weeks after the cast came off, now it's 6 weeks in and I do daily commutes and a few light trail rides a week. A staircase here and there is possible, but I'm avoiding bigger jumps and other risky stuff just to be safe. The ankle is still a bit swollen but it doesn't hurt that bad, I have almost full range of motion and I'm walking  without a limp. Guess the fracture wasn't that bad though.

 

 

Avatar
JimboBaggins | 4 years ago
0 likes

Hello Luis,

I broke my left ankle cycling in Sep-13 in two places (both of the bones, just above the joint) - was cycling home in the rain towards some pedestrian lights next to stationary traffic, two pedestrians walked out w/no warning, hit them and came off without being able to uunclip, and fell on my leg.  Ouch.  This was in Aberdeen.  Sight horror story when the minor injury unit at the ARI sent me home without crutches, telling me to make sure I put weight on it so it didn't stiffen up...without having x-rayed it.  The x-ray the next morning was interesting...

After a week or so in a cast while the doctor thought it could heal naturally, they re-x-rayed and decided to operate to put screws and a plate in.  The loss of muscle mass in my leg was pretty horrifying and I was quite despondent for a while about whether I'd be able to cycle again.

Injury was Sep 24th, operation was around a week later; first ride on the trainer was Nov 23rd, so around 8 weeks after.  I was training almost every day on the trainer - gentle at first obviously, and was riding back on the road on Dec 15th, and doing a twice-daily commute in January.  In 2014 I rode some pretty decent sportives in Scotland, the torrential Tourmalet Etape, a 300km audax-type thing in Scotland, the Tour des Fjords in Stavanger - so was quickly back to full fitness.  I've skied also (xc and downhill).  In fact I've just got stronger and done more cycling each year after my injury year.  Oh, and I haven't had cause to want to take the pins / plates out.  Some people in the US seem obsessed this, but I think if they don't cause any irritation, there's no need.

Physio is obviously essential to get back range of motion (although I didn't get it all back).  I saw both the NHS people, and paid for some weekly private sessions, and did daily exercises. 

The previous replier (zzk) is absolutely right in evreything they say - all depends on the nature of the injury and the surgery.  But they are also right that with some work on rehab, and then just focused training, you will come back stronger.  Plenty of pros have - Taylor Phinney completely shattered his ankle; Luke Rowe shattered his leg; etc etc.

Good luck, and I hope it goes Ok for you.

Avatar
zzk | 4 years ago
0 likes

Any injury sucks if you are active no matter what sport you pursue, but the good thing is we often bounce back quicker than the average. The real issue here is exactly where the fracture was and most importantly if it went throught the articular surface of the joint. You should also find out if the surgeon palns to remove the plate at any stage and if so, plan your training/ season around that, but that will be a long way off.

The reason why the joint surface is important as this is the area taking the load and any irregularity/ defect left there will determine future arthritis in the joint. So providing alignment is good, healing on target then the early phase of rehab is to establish a full range of movement: dorsiflexion (pointing toes towards you) and palntarflexion (pointing toes towards the floor). Inversion and eversion- ankle in and out are secondary, but important. If you work on this early then strength work can come later. Using an exercise band can add resistance in a controlled way and help once you have established movement without pain. 

 

Now no doctor will tell you when to start riding soon enough, but you can probably get away with it sooner than you think. It is possible to turn the pedals on a turbo or trainer days after an injury pain allowing. Its not advisable, but lowering the saddle immobilising the ankle in the neutral position and v low resistance simply allows you to turn the pedals. You can even do it with a cast on and unlikely to effect outcome unless you go daft. More sensible is start to think abut it 4 -6 weeks after injury once you have had check Xrays and review with your surgeon. They'll still be conservative with their advice unless sportsmen themselves. At that point consider work on the trainer easy and controlled. People will advise low resistance, but you may find a higher cadence results in loss of control at the ankle and more pain than a lower more controlled workload with more resistance. There will be some bedding in, so keep intensity and volume low. If no reaction feel your way forward in both volume and resistance. Work seated only at first as out the saddle efforts, significantly increase the ankle load. 

After 10-12 weeks it may be worth trying a flat ride. Accelerations and small hills will test the ankle out on the road considerably comapred to the trainer. At this poijt you could also look to some specific strength work off the bike, especially addressing the affected side. Thereafter start some out the saddle work on the trainer and then out on the road. Listen to your body at all times. Small incremental steps. Expect discomfort, but severe pain should result in you seeking advice. This only applies if all is going smoothly. Good luck and rememeber most people come back stronger!

Avatar
Nat Jas Moe | 4 years ago
0 likes

I know this is not the ankle but my son had major spinal surgery which was to stablise a servere scoliosis. As a result he has a fused spine, with two rods in there, from the bottom of his rib cage up into his neck. While he can't ride a drop handle bar bike, he can't see where he's going, he does cycle on a flat bar bike. He also rock climbs as well, and at one stage was working as an instructor. I guess what I am saying is that he hasn't let it hold him back,quite a determined bloke. Just make a gradual progression and listen to what your body tells you, oh and check with the physio and your consultant surgen.

Avatar
Iqluisvasquez | 4 years ago
0 likes

Hi Mike;

Hoping you are still active in this website.

I love cycling and unfortunately got a fracture skiing two weeks ago, tomorrow will be my surgery.

So, I was searching and I saw this post, would like to know more about your experience if possible. 

Any other way I can make contact.

Thanks and rally hooe you are cucling a lot after your recovery. 

Luis (iqluisvasquez [at] gmail.com

 

 

Avatar
Mike_B | 10 years ago
1 like

Thanks Graham - good to hear. Sounds quite similar to my injury.

Running and walking both completely superfluous activities in my opinion - as long as I can ride a bike properly ill be fine  1

Avatar
kamoshika | 10 years ago
0 likes

I suffered a broken ankle being hit by a car last November. It wasn't as serious as yours sounds, but it did require an operation and a couple of screws inserted. I was in plaster until the new year, and went for a very tentative, very short ride the day after the plaster came off  3 Probably not to be recommended but I couldn't resist! I was back on the bike properly sometime in February / March, and built up from struggling to do fairly flat 20-30 milers then to doing a hilly 106 mile sportive last month. It still bothers me a bit walking around sometimes, and I'm not running again yet, but it's fine on the bike.

My advice would be take it easy and don't try to do too much too soon. Go and see a decent sports physio (the physio I saw at the hospital was useless and wasn't interested once they'd seen I could walk on it, albeit very gingerly, as soon as the cast was off) and make sure you do the exercises they give you.

Good luck with your recovery  1

Avatar
Mat Brett | 10 years ago
0 likes

Agree with londonplayer. People aren't motivated to go online and post, "Broke my leg but the surgeon was really good and I recovered quickly without incident."

I snapped my elbow off last year and read a bunch of horror stories about recovery and long-term problems. I was swimming again in less that 4 weeks.

Avatar
paulrattew replied to Mat Brett | 4 years ago
0 likes

Mat Brett wrote:

Agree with londonplayer. People aren't motivated to go online and post, "Broke my leg but the surgeon was really good and I recovered quickly without incident." I snapped my elbow off last year and read a bunch of horror stories about recovery and long-term problems. I was swimming again in less that 4 weeks.

 

Well, I'll chime in to say that the medical team I had after shattering my ankle were absolutely amazing and the recovery, although long, was pretty smooth considering the amount of damage. 

I signed up for the 2017 Ride Across Britain at the end of August 2016, then a week later I was hit by a van on my first proper training ride. The guy was doing 50mph in a 30 zone, and ploughed through me at over 30mph. Considering the speed and the fact I was thrown 40 foot through the air, I was super lucky. Mostly minor cuts and bruises apart from my right ankle and foot, which had rotated almost 360 degrees and was hanging rather limply from my leg.

I had shattered my right talus completely, done damage to some of the other bones, damaged the blood vessles through the ankle to the foot, and damaged many of the ligaments and tendons. 4 hours of surgery later and the brilliant team at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital had pieced it back together again, although they said that the blood supply had been so badly damaged that they didn't expect the bones to heal and that it was likely I would lose my foot.

Happily, I've still got the foot. 12 weeks completely non-weight bearing and a few months more to get to the point where I didn't need crutches. I was back on the bike on the turbo on new year's day 2017,  10 minutes of spinning with virtually no resistance, and I very slowly built from there. I had deferred the 2017 Ride Across Britain place to 2018, and managed to complete that (and all the training leading up to it) with no problems. I can't take any real impact through that ankle, so no running or jumping, but I can still ride. At the time of doing Ride Across Britain in September last year I was a stronger rider than I had ever been before the injury. That was a lot of hard work by me, and the brilliant work of the medical team that put me back together. 

 

Avatar
londonplayer | 10 years ago
0 likes

I've got 11 pins and a steel plate in my right ankle. Broke it both sides and split the tibia down the middle for extra effect.

I think I'm right in saying that the metalwork is redundant after about 8 to 10 weeks after the fracture(s) has healed. The important thing is that the orthopaedic surgeon has done a good job and set your ankle back to how it was originally - or as close as can be expected. ie that all the bones are in alignment. Generally, the people who have problems have either had a catastrophic injury OR a bad surgeon.

Personally, 7 years on, it doesn't really affect me anymore. My achilles tendon was damaged as well ( the doctors didn't even mention it because compared to my fracture, it was just an also-ran) and I find I sometimes get some tendonitis. Apart from that, long term prognosis is good.

Don't read too much into the bad stories you read online. Just like reviews/forums, people will generally only vent when things go badly. Those of us with good experiences tend to keep quiet and get on with life.

You will be fine, trust me!

Avatar
Mike_B | 10 years ago
0 likes

Thanks for the replies. Reading these stories abound you guys coming back from far worse problems than mine is inspiring.

Think the sports physio is a good shout. Now just got to try and limit the amount of time I've been spending ogling new bikes on the net!

Avatar
mattho72 | 10 years ago
0 likes

I'm in the same boat having snapped my achilles 9 weeks ago, had surgery, still in plaster , calf muscles have disappeared , just wanna start riding again!! Doc said as soon as I'm out of plaster in 2 weeks I can start with zero resistance work on the Turbo. It's a start!!
Good luck with your recovery..

Slow n steady wins the race  37

Avatar
Gkam84 | 10 years ago
0 likes

Not many surgery's for my. But I have gotten back cycling after being told I have Parkinson's.

I was having issues with balance and tremors while out riding, which was forcing me to only do a mile here or there.

Now I'm back, all be it on a recumbent trike. I can do any mileage my body can handle, stop have a break and then get going again  4

Avatar
Mat Brett | 10 years ago
1 like

I have a plate and a bunch of pins in one of my ankles. I think it was about 12 weeks until I was back on the bike (about 17 weeks for running). Seemed like forever at the time but I was able to ramp up the mileage again quite quickly after that and get more or less all movement back, and definitely all fitness.

The best thing I did was to pay for a couple of sessions with a sports physio. They'll be able to tell you what you can do in your individual case to get back to normal as soon as possible without taking risks.

Avatar
foxyloxy | 10 years ago
0 likes

Yes Mike,I was buried on the coalface in 1988,and nearly lost my left leg below the knee,but fortunately Mansfield General Hosp,and Harlow Wood Orthopeadic Hosp,saved my leg.I was off work for 18months,and found the physio and the constant to and fro,harder than the accident.I started slowly once the all clear came,and set little goals,around the local lanes.My left ankle is 15 degrees off centre,but it does not make any problems,I use Look pedals,on all my bikes.I am 66 and have cycled since age 9,and am still Time Trialing at least once per week,and beat the Vets standards for my age at 10-25miles.Keep your chin up pal,you will be pleasantly suprised how you will get on.I had to build up all of my muscles on the left leg,and I play havoc with airport scanners.Tony Fox,Mapperley CC,Notts.

Avatar
philhubbard replied to foxyloxy | 4 years ago
0 likes

foxyloxy wrote:

Yes Mike,I was buried on the coalface in 1988,and nearly lost my left leg below the knee,but fortunately Mansfield General Hosp,and Harlow Wood Orthopeadic Hosp,saved my leg.I was off work for 18months,and found the physio and the constant to and fro,harder than the accident.I started slowly once the all clear came,and set little goals,around the local lanes.My left ankle is 15 degrees off centre,but it does not make any problems,I use Look pedals,on all my bikes.I am 66 and have cycled since age 9,and am still Time Trialing at least once per week,and beat the Vets standards for my age at 10-25miles.Keep your chin up pal,you will be pleasantly suprised how you will get on.I had to build up all of my muscles on the left leg,and I play havoc with airport scanners.Tony Fox,Mapperley CC,Notts.

 

Hi Tony, which pit were you in? Just asking as my ladys grandad was a very keen cyclist and worked in one of the Mansfield pits for most of his life, his name was Tony Hardwick

Latest Comments