Ankle Injury, Will It heal 100%?

About A week ago, I Sprained my ankle trying a tantrum. I want to know if this is a common injury in wakeboarding, and will I be able to ride the same as I used to or am I going to have to baby it?
Will it injur again by stepping on it the wrong way?
Thanks
Rich

I hurt mine riding 2 years ago and it still hurts after a few sets. You can ride the same just be careful. I wonder if mine will ever heal.

Rich...this is my first year riding and I did the exact same thing the first time out behind my new (new to me that is) boat. I sprained my right ankle on just a simple toeside W2W gone bad. Anyway, I had to take about 4 weeks off from riding all together before it healed enough to ride again. It sucked, but I kept re-injuring it everytime out...so it was necessary to let it heal. Then I sprained my left ankle trying what you did...trying a tantrum, which as a beginner, not sure why I tried in the first place...guess I got tired of going wake to wake. Anyway, my advice would be to stay off of it for a couple of weeks atleast and if it is not tender to the touch and just walking around, then its probably safe to hit it again. Sprained ankles suck though for sure...it has definitely made me a little more timid in my riding.

I also hurt my ankle doing a tantrum. The sprain happened across the front/right side of my right ankle. That was about 3 months ago, and it still hurts. After it first happened, I could walk on it after only a few days so I thought it was fine - I was wrong. I probably didn't take it as easy as I should have. I was still wakeboarding every week and even trying inverts. I would just deal with the pain. Sometimes I would come down wrong on it and I couldn't get my binding off for about 5-10 min. The funny thing was, that after 10-15 min the pain would go down and I could walk on it fine. After months of frustration I have finally decided that I am not going to throw any inverts for the next couple months. I am just going to work on other things - 3's, toeside tricks, etc. I also went to the doctors recently and got a couple ankle braces and some good strong IB Profin. My ankle never swelled up bad, even when I would reinjur it - I think I may have strained my tendons.

My advice to you is to take it easy for the next few weeks. Even if you think you are feeling better, give it a couple weeks. And if you don't have FULL mobility and flexability like you did before you hurt it - it is not better. When I stretch my ankle I can still feel it. Hopefully yours isn't as bad or as slow to heal as mine has been.

I sprained my ankle yesterday tweaking my board out behind me and didn't get it back in time. I have iced it three times today. I am going to try to ride this weekend. I have had worse sprains then this one so hopefully I will be ok.

I have had the tantrum ankle sprain myself. It seems to happen when a lot of pressure it exerted on the toeside edge when under rotating the tantrum. It wasnt a normal sprain. It was painful on the top area of the foot/ankle. It never healed until the off season. The sprain is wierd, its hurts like hell when you ride but normal everyday activites dont bother it. Trevor you had the exact same thing I did. It doesnt swell up just kills when you re injure it. I havent had the problem for two years now but like I said it didnt heal until the offseason.

(Message edited by dahui on July 29, 2005)

Da Hui-
It sounds like I have the same injury you had. How long did you sit out during the off season? I usually ride year round and don't plan on having an off season, but I need for this to get better. It is very frustrating because I feel like it is getting better then something stupid will happen and it hurts like hell.

Do you feel that it is now as strong as it was before you got hurt? Are you able to throw your tantrums again?

well if you let it heal, then wait another couple of weeks it'll be ok, but like me, most people will go back to abusing it as soon as it stops hurting.

Trevor
I took about 6 months off for the winter and it feels as good as new. It does take a long time to heal. Its been about two years and I havent had any problems. The hardest part about the injury is that it always feels fine a few weeks later until you tweak it again. Ill ask a friend of mine who is a physical therapist and see if he has any suggestions.

It won't ever feel right until you take off enough time for it to heal up completely. If you sprained it bad enough it may keep giving you reminders for years. I sprained my ankle really bad in 1981 and it is still "clicky" and fatigues easily.

Work on strength and flexibility once it quits hurting.

I did the same thing underrotating a tantrum, its called a dorsiflection injury, where your toes come up towards your shin. I did this in 2001 and have had surgery and tons of PT and it didnt work. I snowboard and wakeboard with an ankle brace 100% of the time now. You need to strengthen you ankle up with exercise. In the off season I run about 10 miles a week with those strength shoes(those funky looking shoes where your heel doesn't touch when you run) and have only had 2 minor tweaks in the past 2 years!!! I have customized my bindings for more support also. If anyone wants more info just email me.

Matthew
I have been training for a while concentrating on plyometrics. They concentrate a lot on dorsiflexing the foot during sprinting and jumping. I never knew that was called a dorsiflection injury. Maybe the plyometrics assits in strengthenig things. I think those strength shoes are a good idea. Ive always wanted to try those.

I sprained mine bad trying a switch roll a couple years ago. I tried going back out on it after a month. It reinjured on the simplest fall. So I switched to wakeskating for a couple months before returning to the board.

It's taken almost a couple years to get back to normal. But I punished it hitting ramps quite a bit in the meantime. It was always the same story... I'd hurt it landing something but it would feel fine the next day.

You should be hurt John, 50 year olds should not be throwing rolls to revert at OWC like its their job! In case nobody knows it John is the "old guy" who totally kills it at OWC.

Anyway I got a few emails about my supersuportive bindings, so instead of emailing everyone here is what I did.
1. Buy a soft landing board, I have rode a ton of boards and the tfd and the temet are the softest in my opinion.
2. Get an ankle brace, I use the McDavid 195R, it has these velcro straps that give support like an ankle tape. They are about $25, don't be cheap and buy the $9.99 one with no straps, trust me!
3. If you ride hyperlite bindings you will not come out if you have on an ankle brace, hyperlites lining is too soft and grippy,get a few of those foot condom things that go over casts. Use plenty of lube so you don't put your toes through the end. Buy 3 or 4 to last the summer. I have ridden the new LF bindings with the neo liner and did come out ok on a crash, but I ripped the claws off a set of HL bingings and tweaked my back because only one foot came out on a hard fall.
4. My left ankle is really bad and my right is still 90%. I ride older ultras and took off the overlays and replaced my left one with a belmont overlay, option 2 strap and a longer lace, they are easy to get in as you can see there is a big nalgene bottle in there. On my right binding I simply put a belmont overlay over the ultra overlay, you will need a few longer screws. I call them ultra-monts, the guys at OWC called them bel-sucks
Here are the pics




I have rode these bindings like this for 2 years with no problems with the bindings and only 2 minor tweaks on my left ankle. I have learned krypts, scarecrows and a few 540's this summer with pretty much no pain. I am sure the 500 miles I ran in the off season with the jump soles helped too. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Where do you get those foot condom things?

Foot condom came from some online medical supply place, they are called "dri-foot" watertight stretch latex sock. Extra large fits over an ahkle brace nicely.

Hey Matthew, that's not fair... I still have a couple months until I'm fifty!

Once you damage the ligaments in your ankle, there's no turning back. But what you can do is strengthen the muscles of the lower leg, whose tendons run across the ankle joint and attach to various areas on the foot and toes. Also working on your proprioception may help as well.
But if you fracture any of the bones within the ankle joint, that's another story.

What about cartiledge in the ankle? Does it get damaged often?

I'd just like to give props to this post. I have been experiencing the exact same problem. The problem is that I don't think I'll have the will power to stay away long enough to heal.

David D- Do you mean as in the Articular surfaces of the Ankle joint? There really isn't a "cushion" in the Ankle as there is in the knee
The wear and tear will be similar to the knee joint surfaces.
Hope this made any sense

Sorry John, you ride way too good for your age. When we saw you at OWC last year we were like "look at that old guy with the gloves" Then after you made a lap we were like "Man that old guy with the gloves can tear it up!" I ride with a 44 year old every day that throws tantrums, backrolls, and tons of 3's every time out, that is after he barefoots, skis and air chairs. Props to old guys.
Jade, get a skate and work on that, I got a catalyst and am now hitting shove-its and ollie 180's. The falls are much easier on my body. Getting old sucks On the plus side I am the best wakeboarder & snowboarder at the school where I teach.

where do you get the McDavid 195R ankle brace?

I got mine at a Meijer store in michigan.

What's funny is I haven't been reading this post because it's so subjective... I've never liked posts that ask about specific injuries because most of us aren't doctors and each injury is different and yada yada yada. Good news is two fold: 1. I'm a little drunk tonight and reading the posts one by one. 2. I've had a similar ankle wrecking injury doing a tantrum. It was my first attempt and I actually landed it! BUT I didn't land it evenly and really tweaked my rear ankle. It was similar to what you're saying and it hurt like hell for a few weeks and then was just fine about a month later. The one thing it has done, however, is make me very leary of trying another one... just can't muster up the courage.

Thanks for all of the info guys. I am walking around pretty good, but It still Has some pain along the bone on the outside of my foot. I don't know if any ligaments were damaged. My doc seems to think I did more than just a sprain.
Now that I am older I try to think things through a little more. I hate to say it but I think this season may be over for me. I want this ankle to heal all of the way so I'm not sitting out next season. I am looking into that foot condom thing. If anyone is interested... I ride the HL murray bindings and the support is great. I think that these bindings will aid in better support of my ankle. I have crashed on a lot of tantrum attemts and never had a problem, but this last time I tryed to jump as hard as I could instead of letting the pop off of the wake do it for me. As I jumped my foot came half way out of the binding and that's how I landed.
Thanks for the info
Rich

Rich, when I hurt my ankle it was also half in the binding and stuck really hard. I was using Hyperlite 360's and they are like suction cups and don't want to let go. I attribute part of the damage to my foot not coming all the way out on the landing. Give it at least a month and try wakeskating for a couple more months. A skate can be hard on the knees but they are easy on the ankles.