How much should I ride coming back from a broken ankle?

Question

I am 50 yrs. old, 6'3"/1.88m, 207lbs/94kg.
I sustained a broken ankle on Jan 3, 2007, from 3,000 lbs landing on it. The next day I had emergency surgery, the surgeon implanted a 2.75 inch screw in the inner malleous. I am beginning rehab. I normally average 16-20 mph depending on how difficult the climbing is here in the woodside hills area of the San Francisco southern peninsula, and ride for 50-70 miles. Doctors say my genetics helps me heal like a 28-34 yr old male. I will be riding with a slim aircast ankle brace.

Answer 1

The importance isn't how much you ride, but how strenuously you ride. You'll want to decrease the pressure you feel on your ankles by staying in lower gears than you used to. If you feel pain then go lower gears. Try to avoid the hills.

Bike riding is relatively light on your legs (especially compared to jogging) so if you don't feel too much pain you should be alright.
Definitely consult with your doctor to be sure the implant won't create any side effects due to too much use of your ankle.

Answer 2

I badly sprained my ankle about 3 weeks ago. I was in a hurry going down the stairs, lost my balance and landed on a bad side of my left foot, causing my left ankle to be stretched going on the inside. The first 48 hours were excruciating and the pain was un-believable. I've never had a serious ankle injury before.

So I immediately treated it using the RICE method. The following day, the bruising and swelling were so horrible. I found out that I got a second degree sprain and immediately panicked after that. I had a football game on that week and it been looking forward to it because I've been training for rt. I had teammates that had similar injuries and it took them months to fully recover, some of them stopped playing altogether. So I kinda had a short-term depression because I can't imagine myself not being able to run and play sports anymore.

Because I was so desperate to recover again, I contacted a lot of people that I know who do sports and asked them if they had similar injuries. One friend of mine, from the boy's football team in my university, told me about H.E.M. Ankle Rehab. I got a copy 4 days after I got injured. I immediately read and followed what was instructed and felt improvement on the first day. I was able to walk a bit, but I was in pain.

A couple of days after that, the swelling and bruising were subsid-ing significantly and on the fourth day, I was walking comfortably again. Although I've had felt a bit of stiffness, I continued doing what was instructed. My sister was surprised that I have recovered this fast. I told her about this book and was shocked on how effective the procedures were. I'm just so happy that this book was shared to me and how effective it is.

Heal your ankle fully & fast?

Answer 3

This is really a question for your doctor. It wouldn't require an appointment. Just call the clinic and tell them you need an answer from the doctor.

Aircasts are really good for immobilizing the foot so it can heal. I have one myself right now for an ankle tendon tear.