Dislocated Ankle still stiff a year on.

I suffered a similar injury in 2002 where i fell 40 ft and dislocated and broke my Right talus. after several months in a wheelchair due to a mix of breaks, i then had intesive physio for approx 8 weeks. 7 years on and my ankle still stiffens after a good session in the gym or on the road but streching and exercise on the muscles seem to help. I am lucky enough to be in the British army where i have physios etc whom i can see whenever i get a twinge they tell me to stretch well and to carry on as normal. Hope this has helped a little and hope your ankle loosens sooner than mine :)

Hey

I'm posting this on a few ligament threads for people who are searching because none seem up to date.

Complete or close to full recovery is possible.

I completely ruptured the ankle outside ligaments(inversion injury) of my right foot playing football. The snap was so loud we thought I'd broken it.

I got lazy, disinterested physio advice and ended up re-injuring myself several times over the course of the next year. I used to think I was healed after 6-8 weeks but the ligaments were always as weak as wool.

A year after the original injury, in March '09, I took the painful decision not to play football at all. I had straining the ankle again playin football because it was tired from a good circuit training session two days previous.

I read a book called Healing In Ligaments And Tendons by William Weintraub. This was the turning point. Hope displaced dispair. Hopefully you can still read a preview of the first chapters online.

I joined a gym and a pool.
I began eating very healthy and taking natural suppliments. (Veridian Joint Complex which has glucosamine/bozwelia/other goodies. MSM. Lyprinol Green Mussel Extract.)

I started playing football again 4 weeks ago after a full year out. Yesterday a player stood on my ankle full weight while I was on the ground. I waited for the familiar pain of re-injury. (One re-injury occurred by tapping the ball lightly as it passed in front of me.) Instead I felt no stab in my ankle. I felt no pain at all. The best thing to happen me this month is getting stood on :)

Patience has been the key. I hated hearing that at first but I'm glad I found some.

I still feel the ankle is weaker when I train very hard in the gym but every month I feel better. I'll spend a few weeks thinking I'm making no progress at all but then I'll suddenly realise I can do something better or with more strength and assurance.

It's essential to understand your ligaments and tendons work as a network rather than as separate things. My ankle injury led to me straining my right knee, hip, spraining my left ankle, back discomfort and a shocking weakening of the right foot. The William Weintraub book explains it all.

Luckily, I have a friend who really knows her stuff when it comes to health supplements. When I switched to the ones listed I felt a definite difference.

Pool work alowed me to exercise the ankle without straining it again. It was also essential to correcting the way my body had compensated for the injury. "Running" in the water with a buoyancy aid around my waste worked my weakened legs and got me ready for the real thing later on.

Strength exercises are important. There are many articles on this site that I've found useful. The most useful for me is one that showed that proprioception is actually more important in the prevention of re-injury in athletes. Balance on one leg with your eyes closed. Do it even after your good at it.

Barefoot exercise is now helping me back to full strength in both feet. It's an area that's growing rapidly(both in practice and research). I do everything barefoot or in Vibram Fivefingers now apart from playing games football.

It takes all your life for your ligaments to strengthen so when they fail it's going to take a long time for them to develop again.

Do all the research you can. Listen to your body more than anyone else, everyone is slightly different. And once again, be patient.

Hope this helps somebody.

Gav