Bad ankle, need ideas, suggestions to get back in the saddle! Please read!

[EEventing]

Hello everyone, I hope you take the time to read as I am desperate and ready to get back to riding! Long story short, I have a terrible left ankle, broke it about 2 years ago riding and have had 4 reconstructive surgeries and 5 ankle surgeries all together. I have very little movement…just about at neutral and due to all the surgeries and trauma Ive lost movement as time has gone on. Its still very painful but thats another story. I am horse crazy and want to get back to riding…I rode today for the first time and it felt amazing to get on! I did lots of walking and decided to try a little trot to see how it feels. Unfortunately it is still fairly uncomfortable but my biggest problem is that I have such little movement my heel doesn’t go down at all and when I try to post its super uncomfortable. My foot kind of rolled out and every time I went to post its like I was posting on the ball of my foot…or right underneath my toes.
I have the flexible stirrups and I couldn’t really tell a difference. I need help!!! Its so frustrating not being back to ride but I feel like there has to be something out there to help. Is anyone familiar with handicapped riding stirrups irons or boots or anything that might be a suggestion? I feel like there has to be other people out there in a similar situation that might have a special stirrups iron or some therapeutic riding experience maybe…. I tried to google it and had no luck, but also don’t really know what to search for.

Please!!! If anyone has any suggestions or websites to check out please let me know!!

[Paks]

I’m a little more complicated than you two bone on bone knees and an ankle fused at a 100 deg angle. I tried riding with my stirrups home for a while using an open sided stirrup, but the arch of my foot really isn’t up to that. Now I use composite reflex stirrups. I hate that they are plastic but they really do help. The other thing is experiment with stirrup length. You might be surprised at the difference in comfort the stirrup length can make.

[EEventing]

Thanks so much for the advice. I am open to trying anything and everything! Yes, my foot is the same, my ankle is just at 90 degrees, no movement really.

[Ceylon_Star]

[QUOTE=Paks;7718311]
I’m a little more complicated than you two bone on bone knees and an ankle fused at a 100 deg angle. I tried riding with my stirrups home for a while using an open sided stirrup, but the arch of my foot really isn’t up to that. Now I use composite reflex stirrups. I hate that they are plastic but they really do help. The other thing is experiment with stirrup length. You might be surprised at the difference in comfort the stirrup length can make.[/QUOTE]

I use the same stirrups and they made a HUGE difference for me and my weak ankle (took a fall in October and tore all the soft tissue in my left ankle. No broken bones, and I’m as healed as I’ll ever get, but it’s weak and needs as much support as I can give it). Between the gentle flex of the shock-absorbing footbed, the nice wide tread that supports more of my foot, and the good tread that keeps it under the right part of my foot, I can’t go back to regular irons. I don’t like composite irons, but I find that the reflex ones are a bit heftier, possibly due to the bolt in the bottom of the footbed (which I think is there to allow the rider to adjust how much give there is in the tread?). I like them WAY more than Royal Riders or other similar style composite irons.

If the reflex irons don’t interest you, I’d look into getting some of the Thinline stirrup grips. Not only would they widen the tread of a regular iron a bit (similar to the way the Ultimate comfort grips are), but there’s the added benefit of the Thinline shock absorbing properties.

I’ve never been comfortable in a jumping saddle, but I do find myself more comfortable with my stirrups on the longer side when in my dressage saddle. My western saddle I swapped out the narrow stirrups for some wide endurance-style ones and I’m seriously considering getting a narrower necked pair to go on my dressage saddle too. They are by far the BEST stirrups I’ve used post-injury and blow my reflex irons out of the water. Unfortunately, the endurance stirrups aren’t show legal and I don’t think they’d be safe for jumping, but the reflex stirrups are legal for all but the hunter eq classes as far as I know.

[CYF]

Have you been doing physio to try to recover some of the lost range of motion? Swimming to strengthen without the jarring or possibility of accidents?
If you’ve got a horse you can trust enough, don’t worry about the range of motion (we all know, it’ll come back with time and use), and just drop your stirrups entirely. Strengthen everything else while making sure you don’t hang that foot in the stirrup and worsen the damage you’ve already racked up!
One thing (exercise?) you can try that should help - over time and with appropriate support from your arms to ensure you don’t over do and damage, is the good ol’ chestnut of the edge of the stairs. Balls of your feet on the tread, hands on the wall and railing, gradually push your weight down on your heel. Key word: gradually. Go as far as you’re comfortable with, then hold for a count of at least five, then press a little further, again, holding for the count of 5. Bring back to comfort zone, hold (count of 5), then up to ABOVE the comfort zone (not quite onto your toes, but definitely lifting the heel above where you’re carrying it). Then walk up the stairs and back down again. In what ever fashion is comfortable for you (not insisting, nor recommending, that you do that exercise on every stair you go up and then down on.)
Just like with rehabbing a horse… consistency and pushing “just” to the edge of tolerance is key. The physio departments always say “if it hurts (a bit) while you’re doing it, you’re doing it right. If it hurts hours later - it’s way too much!”

[I_Winglish_AQHA]

I have had both of my ankles rebuilt (more the right than the left) and have found the wide track non-flexible composite stirrups to be the most comfortable. All of my injuries were to tendons and ligaments so I am not sure if that is the difference but my ankle would continuously roll out from the flex in the flexible stirrups. I also found doing a lot of calf stretches to help my flexability both in and out of the saddle. My calf muscles essentially support my ankles since the soft tissue is shot so getting them supple helped me to get my heel down. If not when posting it felt as if I couldnt get my heel down

[EEventing]

Thanks guys!
Yes, I am doing physical therapy. I go 2-3x a week…I started in May and have been going since and plan on going for a long time! Unfortunately its pretty beat up that I am not expected to get much more movement back. I also see a massage therapist who works on my ankle once a week for an hour.

[walkers]

Go gaited,no posting. I had to after destroying my ankle.

[Drive_NJ]

Try driving

http://eventingnation.com/home/emily-allen-former-eventer-seeks-combined-driving-glory/

[kkmrad94]

I still have one surgery left to go (hopefully that’s it) on my ankle. What I’ve found is that the shoes I wear make a world of difference. I do not have much in the range of motion category so I have a hard time with “heels down”.

I’ve found that so far no matter how many stretches I do, I make zero progress. I bought flexible stirrups but I still have the occasional ankle roll when I try to put too much weight on them. :\ My ankle isn’t correct yet since it likes to curve in instead of sitting flat…

If you find something that works please keep me posted! Good luck in your search for a more comfortable ride. All the little things help!

[wateryglen]

Ride home and forget about heels down for awhile.
Ride w/as long a stirrup you can handle. Dressage/western length.
Stabilize your ankle w/support.
Mount/dismount w/a mounting block every time. Or dismount slowly onto sand.
I second the suggestions to try some of those wider stirrup irons (come in vinyl/metal too) to stabilize the ankle further.
Skip any jumping or jarring.
Try a search on this subject in this forum and you’ll find LOTS of suggestions & experiences.

[ShotenStar]

I would also try riding in lace-up (not zipper) paddock boots and half chaps. The laces allow you to use support wraps if needed and adjust the amount of ‘hold’ on the ankle.

And I agree the the other posters: don’t fret about the heels down issue. It will happen over time as you get fit.

star

[csaper58]

I second wearing lace-up boots. This site shows how to Ladder Lace boots. This lacing style gives more support to the ankle, and less pressure on the top/arch of the foot. PT. or a specialty Running Shoe store should be able to demonstrate the lacing for you.

www.trish78.hubpages.com/hub/Different-Ways-To-Tie-a-Shoe-Lace

[dressagedevon]

I blew out my ankle a couple of months ago and it still hurts to this day, mainly because I never rested it like I should have, anyways, I found this wonderful brace at target for 14.99. It has plates on each side which prevent my ankle from rolling to the sides and it has straps that cross over in the front and offers all around great support. I put it on then zip up my boots and viola, I can ride and my ankle doesn’t give me trouble! Worth a try for only 14.99!

[red_mares]

I modified my zip up sneaker-ish Ariats by punching holes outside of the zipper for laces. There was no getting my brace inside of lace-up boots. The zip-ups only went about ankle high, but the brace had plenty of support. Eventually, I got to a less restrictive brace & lace ups.

Take this with a grain of salt, since I’m once again sitting icing my foot full of angry tendons, and not allowed to ride for about 6 weeks. I think the IKEA closet that took hours to assemble is more to blame than riding though.

[TomsMoon]

Were you able to use a brace inside your boot to stabilize your ankle? I am just coming off broken ankle, tibia and fibula, and ready to finally ride after 6 months. I am using a mounting block, western saddle for now but would like my foot to be more stable.