bobotech

I fell and broke my fibula and badly sprained my ankle about 3 months ago. I have been riding again for the last 2 or so weeks but I have to be very careful when starting or stopping.

I don't have a problem with strength at this point, I have a problem with my right ankle wanting to roll over sideways and respraining. I can ride for 3 miles without much of a problem but its starting and stopping where I have problems.

I seem to have no strength in the sideways motion of my ankle.

How do I fix that?

I have no health insurance or money at this point so this has to be all done on my own. NO physical therapy or doctors visits for me.

I can walk okay but I still use a short walking boot when I go places where the surface is unknown to me because my ankle is so weak and tends to want to roll over and cause me to fall. But I can walk indoors fairly decently.

If I could figure out a way of preventing my ankle from rolling sideways and keep riding, I imagine that would strengthen it over time.

This is so fustrating.

Mondo734

Have you been wrapping or taping your ankle at all? If not I would go out and purchase some wraps, tape, and even a support. Also I would look into getting a pair of basketball hightops. Hightops are made to help reduce the risk of spraining an ankle while playing basketball (a sport in which that is a fairly common injury). Also if it is bruised still you can buy tiger balm from walmart or walgreens and apply that every night to help with the bruising and swelling. Hope some of this help good luck to you.

apollored

Have a look at this site:


https://physicaltherapy.about.com/od/...anklerehab.htm



Also RICE:

Rest

Ice

Compression


Elevation


Hope these help

BikinPotter

Ditto on the taping. If you have high top shoes or boots plus tape it the best support you can give your ankle. Besides support you also need to work on strengthening your ankles. A very simple exercise you can do is writing the alphabet with your toes. Raise your foot, point your toes slightly and move your ankle to draw the letter "A" in the air with your toes, then "B" then "C" and so forth. There are tons of YouTube vids on how to tape up an ankle. Hope it heals up for you! Let us know how it goes.

apollored

Or slightly more complicated take a dressing gown cord and lay it on the floor and tie knots in with just your toes.

Now that will keep you occupied lol

berner

You most likely need professional advice. However, back when I played tennis a lot with ankle weakness, I used a Kalassy brace with excellent results. https://www.betterbraces.com/procare-...FYhM4Aod5C9iXw

009jim

Rolling of you ankle is prevented by muscles up in your calf area of your leg. I suggest you get a Thera-band (this is a 8ft long strip of sheet rubber about 4" wide, which you can usually buy from for <$5). With this thera-band you can exercise the rolling motion of your foot. DO IT GENTLY AT FIRST!. Wrap the band in two and hook the middle over your big toe, then thread the remainder of the band around under your foot and up beside your leg on the outside. Now pull gently on the end of the band and notice it pulls your foot outward and rolls it. You just apply muscle force against that motion and you are exercising your posterior tibialis muscles which prevent the rolling of you ankle.

SlimRider

Bobotech, I'm going in the opposite direction with this. I think you should remain inactive as much as possible for the next three weeks. Try not to move your ankle at all. Walk on crutches, or at the very least, a cane. Keep your entire right leg raised whenever possible. If swollen, soak in epsom salt solution for at least one hour everyday until symtoms disappear. Take calcium supplements and drink milk for the next two months.

After three weeks, then do what couple of these guys are suggesting, and wrap your ankle to begin cycling once again.

PS.

Until then, try to keep weight off of your entire right leg. The ankle of course, is included.

Nightshade

1+

I agree that a cane used properly (the cane must be in the hand opposite the weak leg to spread the weight off of the weak leg) will help a lot. That and a good ankle brace from your local drug store will help you heal faster.