u/Willing_Agent_700

Hey guys.
My last post was a miserable one (how the surgery was 3 weeks delayed and a misdiagnosis of my Weber B fracture, the injury occurring straight after rehabbing since 2023 from knee surgery and re-tear etc.)… Here’s a more optimistic, puff-of-the-chest update!

Had the op on Friday and all went to plan. You can see the difference in how much closer the bones are post-tightroping! A few screws and a plate but not too phased now that they’re in.

I’m pretty active (28M) and hoping to return to football asap. Most of the day I’m elevating my leg and feeling pretty useless/slobby. As soon as the leg goes down, it gets pretty painful and the foot swells up quickly!

My nutrition stack is the following (pills):
Marine Collagen
Vitamin D3+K2
Calcium + Magnesium
Multi-vitamin tablet

Am I missing anything? BPC157 Peptide sub-q is tempting but am not fully convinced. I try to eat pretty healthy, drink loads of water and have stopped the snus.

The plan is 2 weeks in a cast, and then re-scan and hopefully move to a boot and we’ll see if they want me to start weight-bearing. I really hope they don’t put in a plaster cast. I’ll then check in with my PT to see if we can start doing some mobilisation/activation as ideally I’d like to get the ankle moving asap (without disturbing anything).

I’m keeping the leg exercises going which seem to be doing a satisfactory job of keeping my muscles activated (bar the left calf, that poor guy has become something like a floppy, slightly soggy tortilla). I don’t look forward to doing the exercises at all, because it involves having to put my leg down/manoeuvre.

Leg Exercises:
Thighs: Leg raises, seated knee extension with band, inner range straightens
Hamstring: bridges, curls with band
Glutes: side clams, hip extensions multiple directions with band

I haven’t done any adductor exercises yet. Will do copenhagens planks once I can put some side weight on it.

I’ll then be in a boot for 6-ish weeks and then I imagine an ankle brace/support-when-needed sort of situation? And then plain-sailing rehab and strengthening?!

If the above goes swimmingly:

My hope is I’ll be actively playing football in 6 months time (mid-November), which means within 4 months I’d want to be running and putting normal weight through my ankle as before. I know this is very optimistic. What do we think?

The surgeon said recovery was 6-12 months, which seems to be quite a broad estimation… so I’ve stuck with 6 months!

I do look at Musiala (German footballer) for inspiration. He had a severe, SEVERE ankle dislocation and fracture and was back playing within 7 months. How on earth he achieved this I do not know, so if anyone has any tips or advice for the journey, please feel free to add to this thread and I will do the same! I know he was surrounded by PTs and an unlimited budget, but if there’s any secret sauce to this recovery, I wanna know!!

If of interest to anyone I will put in updates every now and then on my progress. Please do the same with yours as I’d love to see how you are getting on and what your experience is.

Thanks!

First time poster/ankle breaker! 28M, active semi-pro footballer. Rant incoming… Would love any words of optimism that my healing isn’t impacted by this delay.

Suffered a fibula fracture (minimally displaced Weber B) on 14/4. Dr at UTC couldn’t get hold of orthopaedics for a second opinion on whether I needed surgery, so I was discharged with a back slab cast and informed I would receive a call within 48 hours and have an appointment within 7 days.
No phone call, so I went back to the UTC a week later and they reassured me it would be non-operative and would heal easily, and to wait for my follow up appointment.

I would then call up frequently much to the annoyance of the receptionist at orthopaedics, to then finally get my appointment today (12/05), nearly 4 weeks post-break.
The Dr did a follow up Xray and said I needed urgent surgery within days and simply said the NHS had no availability to see me any sooner. He was quite annoyed that the original Dr “misdiagnosed” my fracture and all he could do was apologise and hope that the bone hadn’t got too far along the healing process.
I’m now waiting on a call on when I’ll have surgery due to “substantial syndesmosis” along with the fracture.

As it would have been 4 weeks, will the surgery be just as successful than having it much sooner post-break?
How can I complain and get some sort of justice? I feel really let down and I’m not sure what I could have done differently to have a better outcome/treatment.

Should I just go private from now on and accept the cost outweighs the risk of placing trust in the NHS (which I’m technically paying for anyway in taxes)?

Should I even have the surgery or choose the non-op route and risk arthritis?

Thank you and would appreciate any help!!

PS. For the sympathy vote: Tore meniscus in 09/23, rehabbed and then re-tore in 07/24, rehabbed religiously post op for 16 months, then within 10 minutes of my first competitive game back 4 weeks ago, someone went straight through my ankle. Sigh.