How soon to ski after broken leg?

[gertlush]

Broke my fibula Dec 2nd quite low down and had 4 screws and a plate put in. The ankle, ligaments etc were all untouched. The ortho doc advised me to stay on crutches until Jan 22nd. That's all fine and my recovery is going well.

 

Does anyone have experience of recovering from a leg injury and how quickly you can ski again? I was thinking poss. in Feb I could get out and do some skinning up hills and just glide back down. I'll save the more streno stuff until sometime in March. Is that crazy talk? When is my bone actually "healed"

 

Ryan

Edited December 21, 2007 by gertlush

[ericb]

Broke my fibula Dec 2nd quite low down and had 4 screws and a plate put in. The ankle, ligaments etc were all untouched. The ortho doc advised me to stay on crutches until Jan 22nd. That's all fine and my recovery is going well.

 

Does anyone have experience of recovering from a leg injury and how quickly you can ski again? I was thinking poss. in Feb I could get out and do some skinning up hills and just glide back down. I'll save the more streno stuff until sometime in March. Is that crazy talk? When is my bone actually "healed"

 

Ryan

 

Ryan - no one understands you injury and healing timeline better than your Ortho....why are you asking us? One thing you consider is that regardless of the speed of bone healing, you will undoubtedly have a great deal of atrophication, and with inadequate muscle strength to stabilize joints (knee, ankle, etc.) you may be at higher risk of injury to areas not directly related to your initial injury. Again, the ortho or a PT is the appropriate person to evaluate your functional stability.

 

A good PT will tyipcally have exposure to patients of many different surgeons, and might be able to give you feedback on the reputation of your surgeon relative to others - specifically as it relates to their conservatism for post-injury return to activity. Unless you discover they are notoriously conservative, I'd take the advice of your surgeon.

[i_like_sun]

The rule of thumb for most fractures is 4 to 8 weeks from the date of your surgery, depending on the bone's blood supply, and the severity of the break. The Fibula is one of the "best" bones to break, because it gets plenty of blood and is secondary to the Tibia as a supporter.

 

That being said, [no skiing syndrome] is thought to be a very serious and possibly life threatening condition. Research shows that it can lead to such massive cases of clinical depression that unintentional suicide becomes a real concern. Therefore you should ski NOW.

[marylou]

If it were me, I'd hold off until next season. You will regret doing too much too soon.

[Pandora]

Last year I broke my fibula skiing, but no surgery was required. I skied six weeks later, though clearly your fracture is more serious. Eric makes a good point about how after so much time on crutches, the muscles will have atrophied and offer little protection to your joints. I would take into account what your orthopedic surgeon says but make your own decisions based on what your body is telling you: if your legs feel strong and stable, start easing back into skiing. And don't give too much weight to what people on the internet tell you! Good luck.

[BackCountryPunk]

Hey matey, check out the book at MEC called "Injuries in Outdoor Sports". Obviously pay attention to your Dr, but this might have some info specifically pertaining to you. Rehab exercises and the like. I know that sometimes dealing with a Dr they might be thinking more about golf than skiing....

[Boyne_City_Rambler]

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Edited November 11, 2019 by Boyne_City_Rambler

[genepires]

Is the hardware still in the leg? 

I have a friend who had a similar situation and time line as you a couple years ago.  He mentioned the huge amount of damage that would happen to the bone if it broke in the same place with the plate still inside.  He was able to ice climb but there was pain in the general location the following winter. 

he had the hardware taken out a couple years after the accident.