I think I broke my ankle while out running - Part II

Well, I am back to careful jogging after having cracked the medial malleolus of my right ankle. I am even playing soccer with my son. Here are a couple of photos of my ankles 13 days post injury:

If you look closely, you will see that the ankle bone on the inner side of right ankle is noticeably thicker than the left hand side. This bone was fractured when I went over on the outside of my ankle while running off road (Refer earlier report here and compare photos). Some people think I have the boniest ankles in the business!

What is really important is the fact there has been no muscle wasting, there is no loss of ankle mobility and the ankle reflexes have been restored to pre-injury working order. If the ankle had been immobilised for this period of initial healing, there would have been a period of several weeks rehabilitation to restore normal strength and function.

Now, I am not suggesting for a moment that a person with a fractured ankle forgo with immobilisation and commence exercising, including soccer as part of their rehabilitation. However; I am using my case as an example of how a carefully managed "sports medicine" approach to injury management can bring about wonderful results. The fracture was not unstable and did not directly involve weight-bearing bones.

First of all, I ensured there was minimal swelling despite having to continue walking and jogging for an hour after the injury just to get home. I then determined what I could and could not do without stirring up the injury - how to remain active while the scarring and callousing knitted the damage securely enough to take the strain of this or that activity. I had the injury site massaged daily after about the first 36 hours. I took no pain medication, including anti-inflammatories which might interfere with the healing processes. The closest was some flax oil, bone broth and joint food to assist the joint and bone with healing. Long, hot Epsom Salt baths with a cool bottle of beer on the side were my pain management. I walked daily up and down steep hills for as long as the pain was bearable, steadily increasing the distances as the days passed. I practiced balancing exercises to strengthen the ankle muscles and to retrain the reflexes.