BRACE IS OFF.

After about five months of wearing the Airiest brace every day at work I've decided to try working without it.  I just need to be mindful where I place my feet and where I'm walking. I found that after a ten hour day with the brac on my ankle was very swollen, and aching constantly

I thought maybe the brace was restricting circulation and it looks like I may have been right. I'm still in pain by the end of the day, but not as bad as it was after a day with the brace on. I've read where wearing a support brace long term can make the muscles waste away as they are no longer doing any work....and that's the last thing I want.

As an aside to the ankle injury, because I tended to put more weight on my right leg through not trusting my weaker unstable left side I may have compromised my right knee. I had a little episode at work a few months ago while trying to climb down from my trucks deck via the rear step I had to half jump rather than fall after losing my balance through having no hand holds. That issue has now been sorted after the trucks owner fitted a set of long handles to the rear door outside hinges.

I fear I have done some internal damage to my right knee that isn't getting better with time. I initially injured my feet too causing a case of plantar fasciitis after the jump. That took six months to improve but is slowly getting better after doing excersises my Doctor advised.

The knee hasn't improved at all, and has gotten worse :-( If it gets bad enough I'll get it checked out.

It's been a very long time since I updated this.................

well, the ankle is still chronically unstable seven years after the injury, and six years after the 'corrective' surgery. I'm working full time again driving trucks but I wear an Aircast A60 brace on my left ankle every day at work. I've been using this brace for about four months now, and I have not rolled the damaged ankle once in that time. This is the same brace the orthopaedic surgeon prescribed  for me after my cast came off in 2009. The ankle still aches all the time, day and night but I no longer take any strong pain meds. Occasionally I might do a three or four day course of anti inflammatory drugs[Voltaren, Dicoflenac]wthat helps reduce the daily swelling. Look after your ankles People!  :-)

Something is still not quite right.....

It's now been almost four years since I fell and injured my left ankle and knee. I had the ankle surgery in March 2010 and the knee done in about August of the same year.

I have been working as an Owner Driver Courier here in Sydney, as well as doing country work for two seperate companies. Sydney traffic is a hard slog on a good day, and when a driver is being paid by the delivery, and not by the hour it can be very difficult to make a decent wage after expenses. Anyone who does what I do will understand.

I have been deliberately staying of the tramadol medication as much as I can, and only give in as a last resort. That's usually when the left ankle & knee, and the right lower back, buttock, thigh and knee all start giving me grief at the same time. Then I get re-acqainted with tramadol :-/

I was recently given an opportunity to regain full time employment as an Employee at a local company driving bulk tip trucks. Would have been perfect, ten minutes from home to the yard, no manual handling at all, no parking hassles or CBD traffic. I have been driving my manual utes for hours a day and just tolerating the pain by days' end.

I thought I could still drive  trucks OK even with the left ankle and knee how they are but I was wrong, I don't have the stamina or the fine motor control to engage the heavy clutch smoothly-and I didn't want to damage the vehicle. Bummer.

So I was only away from the Courier work for two days, I'm back into it again. :-(

Current situation....

It looks as though my ankle has healed as much as it's going to. In my work as a long distance Courier, it starts to ache after about 2 hours of driving. Stability is still an issue, it tends to 'roll' outwards with the slightest provocation, and wearing joggers makes no difference. I have started motorcycle riding again on a full size bike but I am yet to do any serious time in the saddle to see how it holds up. I'll find out this coming Saturday.......tramadol will be on hand if needed.

A little update

A little update. I've had to sell my little Honda, on longer rides my knackered left side didn't cope to the point pain and discomfort became unbearable. I could have dosed up on tramadol but it does affect ones mind to a certain degree when taken at a dose that works and that's a dangerous combination when riding a motorcycle!

It's four years now since the fall that nearly destroyed my left ankle, and every day it swells up and gets painful. Stability has not improved and the fact I've gain 20kg since the incident does not help. Some days just walking is uncomfortable, and the cold makes it worse. Pain starts at the left side of the knee and runs down the peroneal brevis tendon that was torn, into the ankle joint. It fills with fluid and feels like I'm walking on 'jelly' at times.

I recently changed the type of Courier work I do, mostly because I could not cope with the constant gear changing doing City based work. Now I'm doing Country work which is less gearchanging[good]but as I'm usually only doing one pick up and one drop I don't get any excersise at all. I've been doing this new job since the beginning of December 2012 and with no more heavy lifting it's much easier on my injuries, and that's a good thing!

A little more info........

Just in case anyone is interested! It's now been over three years since I had my ankle surgery. Wow, where has that time gone? Strewth. Anyway, I returned to work on light[office]duties about July 2009. My left ankle was still unstable and painful at times.

On the 27th of December 2009 I suffered a cerebral vascular accident, in other words a stroke. I was then 49.  Suddenly my left crook left ankle didn't seem so important any more.

Needless to say I made it, with only a very small level of residual effects. I reckon I'm 97% recovered. My Neuro Surgeon told me that if I had still been smoking cigarettes at the time of the stroke I would probably died in my sleep. Smokers Beware! At the time of the stroke I was on a high dose of tramadol for pain, both post surgery from the ankle repair and for ongoing sciatic pain from the disc injury in 2007. I was also suffering pain and discomfort in the groin which turned out to be bilateral inguinal hernias...they were surgically repaired with 'mesh' on both sides in 2010. I can still feel the mesh when I lift things, it's like someone pulling a string from inside my abdomen! A little creepy eh?

Back to the left ankle issue. After the ankle pain subsided in 2011 I was still having issues with the left knee, on the inside when I twisted on it, or stood still for any length of time. Something wasn't right, I was sure. I had it investigated an sure enough, the was a tear in the medial meniscus that would have been caused by the fall that stuffed my left ankle. I had surgery to remove the torn section, that was giving me grief.

After the stroke in 2009 I made the decision to temporarily give up my passion of motorcycle riding, I sold both my '74 Yamaha RD250 classic bike and my 2007 Yamaha TDM900. I was already compromised physically by the back injury in 2007, then the ankle and knee issue after the 2008 fall as well as the double hernia surgery in 2010. I thought my body needed a rest and i had also lost confidence in my left side's strength with the double whammy of the ankle & knee injuries plus the stroke that also affected the left side. I was having trouble co-ordinating my left hand and ankle movements on the 'bike changing gears and thought a break would be prudent.

In April 2011 I received a small lump sum payout for my insurance claim, that I ended up using to buy a vehicle to start my own business as a Courier here in Sydney. Reason being, with my medical history no-one would employ me!

At time of this post I'm still working as a Courier with the ute I bought but it's now in the workshop and is the subject of a dispute with the manufacturer over a warranty claim they rejected because I was operating it on LPG[cheaper than petrol]

My left ankle & knee still has stability issues, and I'm told it will never get any better than it is now-any sort of an uneven surface when I'm walking or standing has the left ankle wanting to 'roll' outwards, it's nearly caused me to fall on several occasions in the last 18 months or so. With my ute breaking down and being off the road for who knows how long I made the decision to put an old motorcycle I bought just three days prior on the road and still do some Courier work to at least keep some income coming in. There's no sick pay, or annual leave when one is self employed!

I did about 100km on my little Honda VT250F today, had no issues changing gear or staying upright when stopped, and being only 140kg I had no issue manoeuvring it either. I expected my lower back, left knee and left ankle to all protest but I've gotta say that I pulled up better than I thought I would. I really thought my biking days were over because of the combination of the ankle, knee, and groin injuries as well as the stroke but it appears not! Maybe at the end of this week I may not be so cocky! BTW that's the front of my work ute in the background, it's Great Wall V-240.