Jul 30 2008
Broken
On Tuesday evening I play five a side football with guys from work, and a few other Ad Agencies around Edinburgh.
Tonight, with about five minutes remaining, I was involved in a very clumsy tackle by one of the guys on the other team. Essentially, we were both running full speed, and I had the ball on my right foot. I moved it over to my left as the other guy, my friend Andrew, was coming in from the right to try to make the tackle. As he came charging in, he went through my right ankle, twisting it almost completely 180 degrees, before falling onto it as it snapped back around. As I was hit, I fell and was spun around, landing on my back and slammed my head off the hardwood flooring.
Normally the fact that my head had bounced of the floor would have caused me some concern, but with the excruciating stabbing pain in my ankle, the serious effort to not throw up, and the concern that I’d broken something over riding everything else, it was forgotten about until I was asked a few minutes later if my head was ok. It is. There isn’t even a bump.
My ankle however is fucked.
It wasn’t broken thankfully. I realised almost straight away that whatever damage has been inflicted, the pain was different than a break. I haven’t been to a doctor, or the hospital, yet and I’m not sure if I will but I suppose that depends on how it feels tomorrow.
At the moment, I can’t put any weight on it at all, it hurts like hell, and I’m sure that if I hadn’t sat with an ice pack on it for about three hours it would be twice it’s normal size. That still might happen while I sleep. That’s assuming I can get to sleep. Did I mention it hurts like hell.
I have a feeling I’m not going to be able to play any football for quite some time, and that walking is going to prove to be a slow painful experience.
July 30th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Chris, you need to get the ankle checked out. If the tackle was as you described it you’ve probably torn ligaments. Even if you haven’t torn anything it is a serious sprain and it’s best to get it examined.
Several years I tore my calf muscle at the gym. It was very sore at the time but after I hobbled home and iced it I thought it would heal by itself. Unfortunately, it healed with a lot of internal scar tissue which has caused me bother ever since. If I’d gone to a physio they would have been able to break up the scar tissue as it built up, helping the muscle to heal properly.
So, please get along to a Sports Injury Clininc.
John (a concerned reader who you’ve never met!)
July 30th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Hi John,
Thanks for the concern. I totally agree with you. I tried walking a little this morning and the pain was excruciating. So basically the injury is as bad as I thought it was.
There’s a sports injury clinic just along the road from work so I’m going to call them in a day or so if it doesn’t get any better.
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Like John W says, it sounds like you’ve done the ligaments in. Better to get it checked out by a professional and sorted properly otherwise it’ll be weakened and could cause you a ton of grief in years to come.
August 4th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Thanks again for the concern guys.
The ankle has been healing very fast. It took a day and a half of constant ice packs, but I was able to put weight on it and walk without limping after that.
I’m not going to be running on it any time soon, but given a couple of weeks it should be completely pain free and back to normal again.
September 7th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
[...] played football on Tuesday evening for the first time since the injury. I was a little concerned how the ankle, and foot would hold up through the course of the game. [...]