Well, it depends. But I wouldn’t try hurry too much to do everything. Until the stitches are out, you’ll be more limited. A week to 10 days would be the minimum, I’d think.
Update - Had my arthroscopic surgery for a meniscal tear on 3/25. I was surprised at how well it went, the pain was minimal and i was out an about (on crutches) the next day, it took about a week before I could get around without limping, I’m now 2 1/2 weeks out and it just keeps getting better every day. I’m really glad I did it. The issue now is reminding myself that I have a “good” knee and changing the ways I’ve been moving for so long and really using the knee again.
I’m joining up! I have a bad right ankle. Recently had peroneal tendon surgery–large split tear of the peroneal brevis which couldn’t be repaired and saved, so a tenodesis was made to the peroneal longus. March 26. I had read a lot of nightmare blogs and posts about the surgery and recovery, and I was very nervous about the recovery, but so far it hasn’t been that bad. I’m still non-weight bearing on that leg for another week, but after that I can start walking with my CAM walker/boot and use of a crutch or cane. I can start gentle riding at 8 weeks post op, unless he sees something to contraindicate that when I go back for a follow up appointment in 3 weeks.
Ankle feels pretty good, just a little mild swelling. I haven’t needed much pain medication at all, even during the first few days post op. Very little swelling. I think a lot of credit goes to my surgeon–I think he is very good and “got in and got out” without traumatizing things any more than needed.
I am using a knee walker/scooter and I HIGHLY recommend anyone with foot/ankle surgery to get one rather than using crutches. My insurance pays for the rental. I have a pair of crutches as well, but I haven’t touched them since bringing them home. I live alone and am able to take care of almost all my own household chores, cooking, laundry, personal care, and small pet care because of my wonderful knee walker. I hired someone to take care of my two horses kept at home–a responsible teenager I hired previously when I had a hip replacement is working out wonderfully.
I “knee walked” out through my yard to see the horses this past weekend, which was a real pick me up. The regular “inside” knee walker is tough to use on the rough ground outside, so I bit the bullet and purchased an all-terrain knee walker called a “Knee Rover.” Just received that and haven’t been able to test it outside yet because the weather isn’t cooperating. It’s got some decent tread on the wheels, but still no match for ice and snow that we got yesterday/last night. It drives me crazy to have to stay inside so much, so the all-terrain knee walker is a good investment in my sanity. They also make seated walker/scooters similar to a knee walker, only with a bike seat, for injuries higher than the ankle. Thinking of you knee people.
I think everyone’s experience with peroneal tendon surgery and recovery is different. I tend to heal quickly and I’ve also been through several other major ortho surgeries, so I guess in the grand scheme of things for me, this hasn’t been anywhere near as bad as something like my hip replacements (although they turned out well too). I’m glad I had it done and am looking forward to being able to walk like a normal person without feeling like a knife is stabbing into the outside of my ankle.
I also have a small longitudinal tear and a large area of thickening/degeneration on the Achilles that will need surgical repair after the peroneal is totally healed. My surgeon thinks that will have a similar recovery period, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a little longer because he is talking about probably needing to cut the bad chunk out of the Achilles and do a tendon transfer. But, he won’t know until he gets in there and actually sees it.
We will all get better eventually. Interesting how so many equestrians have ankle problems.
I just had a brostrom ligament repair as well as arthroscopy with debridement for synovitis and impingement. Fun! Doc said I had a lot of tissue loss in the ligaments but he was still able to repair without harvesting peroneal tendon.
I’m currently in a splint cast non-weightbearing and elevating 55min/hour. No problem following these directions. I am exhausted and ankle doesn’t like gravity right now.
Has anyone else had this procedure? Interested to hear about your recovery.
I read a lot of nightmares on the foot and ankle boards, but this hasn’t been so bad. It’s happy as long as I keep ice on it. I asked for lighter painkillers the day after and am already weaning off of those. I will get a boot in two weeks, but not sure when I will be allowed to put some weight on it.
[QUOTE=redkat;7540830]
I just had a brostrom ligament repair as well as arthroscopy with debridement for synovitis and impingement. Fun! Doc said I had a lot of tissue loss in the ligaments but he was still able to repair without harvesting peroneal tendon.
.[/QUOTE]
Me! Me! Me! (hands waving wildly :lol:) a little over a year ago. For extra fun, I had a sinus tarsi synovectomy too.
6 wks NWB, 6 wks PWB, seemed like forever before my PT would let me off crutches. My recovery actually wasn’t too bad, even my long time PT was pleasantly surprised by how well it went. By August I was able to run a little…then I sprained again while watering plants. I don’t recommend that.
The worst part was the 4 weeks with my mother lived with me. :eek:
LOL. My mom comes this weekend for 2 weeks. I might have to go back on painkillers to get through this part.
I haven’t been told how many weeks NWB yet. Hopefully it’s not 6! My ligaments were pretty jacked up, though. It is what it is. Then it might be knee scooter time.
He was planning on cast for two weeks after one week in a splint, but decided (after I told him I had no intention of screwing this up,) that he would put me straight into a boot after two weeks of splint. I will be allowed to move it a tiny little bit in week 3. And showerssss…
4-6 weeks NWB followed by 4-6 weeks PWB is the norm. I was technically NWB for 4 weeks, but it was another 2 weeks before I could put any significant weight on it. I really didn’t want to screw it up either.
The doc (3rd opinion) who didn’t do my surgery does 6 NWB/6 PWB, the one (4th opinion) who did it does 4/4, in the end it was the just about the same.
I broke my fibula (well, my dog broke it for me) almost four weeks ago. I forgot about this “Brigade” on Coth, I should’ve checked in earlier as it’s just nice to know you’re not alone!
I am still NWB, except maybe I am PWB just a little, I have crutches and an indoor knee scooter. Sad how every other part of me is hurting now due to the body compensating and everything… ugh. Made it through the winter from hell to do this JUST as it started to get nice… 
Reading your posts I am very glad I did not have to have surgery!
[QUOTE=red mares;7541357]
4-6 weeks NWB followed by 4-6 weeks PWB is the norm. I was technically NWB for 4 weeks, but it was another 2 weeks before I could put any significant weight on it. I really didn’t want to screw it up either.
The doc (3rd opinion) who didn’t do my surgery does 6 NWB/6 PWB, the one (4th opinion) who did it does 4/4, in the end it was the just about the same.[/QUOTE]
Cool, thanks. He said PWB once I got into boot on the first timeline. That’s about 4 weeks. But since he didn’t even tell me about the second cast part until I was about to go in for surgery I started getting confused. Plus, drugs. So probably 4 weeks on his timeline as well. Good to know it’s really closer to 6. I know I will have 10 weeks total before I get into just a brace.
It isn’t like I can be like, “wait, no, I don’t wanna” at this point. I want to anyway because I really, really want to have a functional ankle. I don’t care what it takes.
If it means my mother visits, then…I will even do that! :yes:
I am “on the mend” as they say. I broke my ankle last year at the end of September and I still don’t have full functioning back. I had a nasty break (split my talus bone in half, two plates eight screws)coming off my horse and have went through two surgeries with one left to go to remove the hardware.
My ankle is “stuck” so to speak at 90 degrees. I can ride and walk around but if I go too far my knee starts to bother me. Anyone have experience with this / getting back to more movement / running?
I do stretches but I cannot feel any movement in my ankle and it just causes more pain and no improvement on moving ankle… Just wondering if anyone had genius ideas. The main issue is my toes try to point down in the stirrups…
Have you done physical therapy? Before my surgery, I had terrible range of motion in my ankle since the bones were sliding all over the place and there was apparently a ton of scar tissue in there.
Thera-band exercises (point/flex,) as well as strengthening my foot by sitting with it on a wobble board going forward/back, or side/side were what my PT had me do before the surgery.
After, my ankle is stuck at 90 degrees due to the repaired ligaments, so I can’t wait to see what my PT has in store for me when I start next week.
Sadly my surgery was an emergency so I didn’t have the chance to work on my ROM before going in. I also have some pretty terrible flexibility, my doctor told me I was the least flexible woman that he has seen.
I have been to PT after surgery one and also after the second one (the second surgery was to clean out scar tissue) I went back to PT again. We finally got my ankle to 90 degrees and that’s as far as we made it. I had to stop going to PT because my insurance only covers 30 days a year and I have one more surgery to go.
I am supposed to be getting a CT scan in the late summer (July/August) to see if I am okay to take the hardware out. Then after that I will go for more PT… 
I’m finally cleared to get back in the saddle! And by back in the saddle I mean “get on something quiet that’s 15hh or less”. The holes in my bones from the screws are 99% closed - the surgeon is a bit concerned about how long they’ve taken to heal but can’t find any reason behind it.
The bad news? I broke my big toe. The one on the bad side at that. It was bruised when my pony stomped on it (I was wearing heavy hiking runners), but it broke when my dad knocked a 4L milk jug out of my hand and it landed square on the toe. Yeowch!
The surgeon, and my physiotherapist, don’t want me returning to vaulting for a few months yet. Surgeon is concerned about the ligaments ripping off again during a dismount, and the PT is simply wanting me to build more musclemass on the bad side to help protect the joint better. I’m taking MSM to help keep the joint as flexible as I can, and I really notice a difference between before I started taking it and now that i’ve been on it a few months. If my pony ever has joint issues that are soft tissue related and not arthritis, I’ll put him on MSM in a heartbeat!
Still waiting for an MRI to check what’s going on with the nerves in my hip. I still have complete numbenss from hip to knee on the left side from landing on that hip, and the nerve pain still fires off once in a while (usually first thing in the morning, or if i’m sitting in traffic with my foot on the clutch and then release the clutch) but nowhere near to the extent it was before New Year’s.
I’m out of physio now, though I still go into the gym at the office and do the circuit that the PT was having me do during my sessions a few times a week.
I can go down stairs normally for the first time since the accident, and I no longer feel like I’m falling as I step down with the good foot while the bad one is up a step.
All in all I’m really please with where I am after all that time of NWB. I’m itching to get back into riding regularly but I’m still waiting for a few pieces of safety tack to arrive before I get on my boy.
Add me to the knee/ankle brigade… sigh.
Fx and dislocated left ankle March 17, 2014 dismounting off my horse. Had surgery March 21st… plate and 6 pins on fibia and two screws in the tibia.
2 weeks after surgery was hopping to grab my crutches and twisted on my right leg. Hit the ground like I was shot. The pain was agonizing, worse than breaking my ankle. All I could think of was that now BOTH legs are crippled. After 10 minutes I was able to function again, but knew something was seriously wrong with the right knee.
Got an MRI… diagnosis. ACL completely gone, grade II sprains in the other ligaments, popped Bakers cyst in the back of the knee and a fractured patella.
Since I was non weight bearing on the left ankle, I couldn’t have surgery til the ankle was ready… Long story short, the ankle is doing great, has healed beautifully and continues to improve rapidly, (started riding 2 weeks ago and it’s been great!)
So, I had knee surgery Thursday June 5th. Got a donor ACL and so far, so good. Up to 80% ROM on the CPM machine, ice and good meds are my friends and overall everything looks good.
I am grateful to all of you for sharing your experiences, it has helped me know what to expect from a riding standpoint!
It’s been a bit insane dealing with two major surgeries in such a short time, but I figured I may as well get it all over with. Can’t wait to be back in the saddle again!
It’s been over a year now, and my knee still hasn’t changed. :no: The surgeons still say that there’s nothing wrong, but most recently I had my athletic training teacher look at my knee, and he said if they didn’t see any instability they weren’t really looking. The pain is minimal, and the instability is well enough managed by the brace that I’ve decided to say screw the risk and start riding again.
The question now is, how do I alter my saddle/stirrup set up to provide as much artificial stability as possible? I’ll never have pretty equitation, but I can live with that. Any ideas on what the most stable stirrups/leathers, especially ones that will take the strain off lateral (outside) side of my knee? Any ideas about knee/thigh block set ups?
It’s been almost a year since I had my accident and broke my ankle. I am on the (possibly) final and third surgery. My surgeon said that he is going to go in and take out the plates and screws then will have to decide if lengthening the heel cord / tendon along the back of my leg will help.
Surgery should be happening in September and I have my fingers crossed that it will be the last one I go through! Thankfully I was able to keep riding through this, but my heel doesn’t quite go down like it should!
Good luck to everyone that’s recovering. The year it’s taken to get to the “last” surgery has felt like an eternity of being gimpy… ( I am 20 years old :|) It has helped to read through some of these posts and know I’m not alone!
Almost a year since my last ankle sprain…
And somehow I still managed to wreck my foot again!
My ATFL is still in good shape, my ankle hasn’t had a hint of a roll in forever. My peroneal tendons & subtalar joint … not so much.
Subtalar issue is a pretty easy fix - I’m due for a shot of cortisone; its been 9 months (I should probably just bathe in depo medrol:lol:) The tendon has me worried.
I got halfway serious about riding at the beginning of the summer. One ride I felt something pull or stretch in the tendon as I dropped my heels. I’d had some scar tissue pulling the week before & wasn’t too worried. I took care of it & by the end of July thought it was in pretty good shape.
Then August. Ugh. I can’t point to any one thing that went wrong, but something ain’t right. I’ve really enjoyed riding again, but I probably should skip the next few weeks. I finally called on Friday to see the doc. Another 2 weeks.:no: Ice, motrin & a boot/brace until then.
I really don’t want to do this again. I was really getting used to being sound(ish). It seems like every September this happens. I can’t help feeling that I’ve got another 6-9 month rehab in front of me (it was every other time); I’ve done it so many times, I don’t know if I have another one in me.
Thanks for the vent, I’m pretty bummed out right now.
