The doc I have is not really communicative on the future progression. I assume PT is in the cards but I will take it as I go.
I broke my ankle almost 7 years ago. Ended up having surgery to get a plate to fix the fracture. PT started once the cast came off and I was cleared to bear weight. The ankle is as good as new and I have normal range of motion thanks to the PT. I had a knee scooter instead of a knee crutch. The scooter worked great and made life so much easier than crutches.Originally Posted by peakbagger
If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.
Ouch! That sucks, but if you were gonna screw yourself up, at least you picked a good time and place to do it.
4 months off hiking after tearing a bunch of ligaments in my ankle. Also lucky with the where and when; otw back to the TH with <2 miles to go, and was able to use my trekking poles like crutches after wrapping it with an ACE bandage.
Real crutches didn't suck much less..hope you heal up quick!
Do you still have the hardware in? Apparently, a lot of folks leave it in ( I know a few), but the doc recommends having it removed after a year to reduce inflammation from the hardware and get the bone to build more strength. Yes I do have knee scooter band use it on the main floor of my house, but I have stairs I need to deal with. I am unsure how it would work walking behind my snowblower. I also think I can keep a bit of conditioning by using my stair climber with the knee crutch.
I still have the hardware. I asked the doctor about removing it and he said normally they didn't. Your injury is much different than mine was so that maybe the reason for the difference in whether to remove the hardware or not. The crazy thing is that I can feel the screw heads just under the skin at the end of the plate closest to the joint and occasionally I bang that part of my ankle and it feels like the screw heads are going to come through the skin. I wish they had removed those screws!! Good luck with your recovery. We take walking for granted until we can't walk then we realize how lucky we are to be able to walk.
If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.
Sorry to hear about this Peakbagger. Remember to cherish each improvement however small.
I am recovering from bimalleolar fracture and torn ligaments and my PT says 1 year for hiking and potentially 2 for backpacking. I just keep doing the rehab exercises and try not to go stir crazy thinking of missing snowshoeing season. It's going to be a stretch goal. Almost at 6 months and I can finally walk down stairs without a hitch in my git-along (most days).
Meanwhile, I have made progress on my non-essential project list that I always avoided when healthy!
AT Nobo 2013; NPT-2014-2019; NCT-PA miles 0- and CNY miles 0-53
Update 12/14. I got my sutures out today. X-Rays looked good, lots of hardware in the right place. I got a removable walking cast but no walking for 4 weeks. Hopefully I can use my new knee crutch. Optimistically another 6 weeks before any real weight bearing.
peakbagger, it's good to hear that you're on the mend. Always enjoy reading your posts about the Whites and vicinity. Reading about your incident was thought provoking and a bit startling. I hope your recuperation goes well.
I'm so sorry to hear about your mishap, Peakbagger. I'm not surprised that you were sufficiently prepared for the situation. It does make you realize how fragile we all are!
Your recovery period sounds similar to what I had to go through a year ago after my (second) full knee replacement where the surgeon inadvertently fractured my tibia as he was pounding in the prosthetic (1 in 10,000 occurrence). I wasn't allowed to bear weight for 6 weeks. Even though I was good about my knee PT, I was still well behind my rehab timeline relative to the first knee replacement. While I eventually caught up, I had back and hip issues throughout the summer that forced me to really ramp up a stretching regimen (Cat/Cow, spinal twists, iliopsoas release, hip openers). A year later, and I'm finally feeling reasonably healthy, but not yet fit enough do any wilderness backpacking.
Good luck, focus on PT, and be careful of those stairs this winter!
GA←↕→ME: 1973 to 2014
Glad you're on the road to recovery, and refreshing to hear someone say "Hey, I screwed up..." A good lesson for us all, which is don't get cocky or too relaxed and inattentive.
A few years back I did a solo winter trip in the Adirondacks to hike (well, snowshoe/crampon) Mt Marcy and was returning to my Bushnell Falls camp by way of the Hopkins trail. I was almost done, going down a particularly steep section of about 1km length, really moving too fast and not paying attention. I made one little slip that could have been disastrous, but barely managed to catch myself. Snapped me back to my senses and I immediately thought "What the hell am I doing?" There was plenty of daylight remaining and I was close to camp. And I had a good headlamp anyway, so there was absolutely no reason to rush.
The Five Basic Principles of Going Lighter ~ Cam "Swami" Honan of OZ
Few things ring louder with more seriousness than an experienced climber with a cautionary tale, who did not perish in a mishap. Good for you to share this experience that could be life saving at the decision point to call for help or trying to "push through" to make it out on your own.
Much respect from this end of New England.
Peakbagger- glad you are OK and hope that you heal quickly. As a SAR volunteer it is always interesting to hear the other side of the "story". Honestly it sounds like you did a great job of being prepared and dealing with the incident- I wish everyone planned that well!
One thing I would recommend for those interested- most agencies are moving to a coordinate system called "USNG". There is a phone app for Android and IOS called "USNG App" (as well as lots of other apps with that format) that will give you your coordinates in the USNG format. It is easier to read over the phone (or to text), you don't have to remember Lat Long rules, and the app only does one things so it isn't complicated to remember how to use it in an emergency.
Honestly, the Dispatcher may or may not know what you are talking about, but if they record the information SAR and most other rescue orgs can pinpoint you on a map within meters with the coordinates in 10 seconds or less. Getting you out on a litter will take a "bit longer".
Yup, at 240 pounds I really would not want to impose on the minimum group of 18 folks that NHFG usually lines up for litter carry. The USNG is something new I will look into. The local dispatcher position in my small town is low paid position with turnover. It would be far better swapped to regional service with better resource's but the town would rather keep it local.
Last edited by peakbagger; 12-23-2021 at 15:20.
Ha, ha. When I was carried out of the Wildcats right after Hurricane Irene, the valiant 18 told me, "We're so glad you are not a 300-lb. man." (I was, and am, too.) I have nothing but praise for NH SAR. They gave me a pain pill when my ankle started to swell, and even tilted up the sled at one point so I could see the sunset.
11 days and counting to my next appointment. The surgical scars appear to be healing up well. The walking cast I have to wear despite being warned not to walk on it, is clumsy and heavy, the big bonus is I can take it off. I have been using a knee crutch far more often. It was not designed for a huge walking cast but with modification I can use it. The big plus is no need for regular crutches so I have free hands. I can now snowblow my driveway if needed, its slower than having a full walking pace but I can live with it. I even moved some firewood from a wood shed to my basement bulkhead with a wheelbarrow. I would not wish a screwed up ankle on anyone but the knee crutch is the way to go. The weather like many recent winters in the whites has been weird just a constant chain of warm and cold spells, whatever snow that lands seems to melt. I expect those who have some flexibility for hiking days are probably bagging a lot of winter summits.
I second this. It's one thing to read about a serious mishap of an inexperienced hiker ; I may think to myself that I'm better prepared than them. But to hear from an experienced person holds weight. I appreciate the sharing, and will put more thought into my locale and accessibility while solo-hiking.
Two Months from the accident I got my okay to walk on it. The Fibia fracture healed well, the tibia crack is not fully healed but not in load bearing area. Now 6 weeks of PT. The key thing was the surgery scars are healed up. I did not just break bones. I stretched all the ligaments holding the joint together and the surgery didnt mess with them so I now need to rehab the soft tissue. I will not know the details until next week. I have definitely lost a lot of range of motion but it is nice to be able to drive. Next doctor visit is 6 weeks. We have a potential big snow storm coming so it will be nice to have to legs to run my snowblower.
I get to pack away a lot of my gear as tentatively I will have the hardware removed in the fall if all goes well and that will entail another batch of downtime.
Time for an update, after 4 sessions of PT and lot of homework, I am now crutch free. The soft tissues are working but now its tome to get my balance and improving my proprioception which was probably a root cause for my ankle roll. Look like I will be balancing on one foot a lot.
The big issue is that some of my hardware is limiting my ability to use anything but low cut shoes as anything high puts pressure on the area under the skin where the hardware is. Three weeks to my next doctor visit.
Thanks for the cautionary tale. I know it’s a “There but for the grace of (insert deity here) go I” thing. Took a few hard falls myself.
Here's a good tutorial for USNG.
If you're familiar with UTM, USNG still uses Zone but basically just swaps out the 100k grids with letters instead of numbers. Makes it easy to send truncated coordinates and still give SAR a pretty good location fix, although 100 meters is about as much as I'd want to "clip" it.
Truncated position formats for less precise positions
The USNG format is designed to support measurement precisions of 1m, 10m, 100, 1,000m, and 10,000m. by truncating the grid coordinate values.
10S GJ 06832 44683 - Locates a point within a 1 meter square 10S GJ 0683 4468 - Locates a point within a 10 meter square 10S GJ 068 446 - Locates a point within a 100 meter square 10S GJ 06 44 - Locates a point within a 1,000 meter or 1 kilometer square 10S GJ 0 4 - Locates a point within a 10,000 meter or 10 kilometer square
The Five Basic Principles of Going Lighter ~ Cam "Swami" Honan of OZ
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