I know it was awhile ago that I rolled my left ankle, fell, and broke it. But I also know that despite PT, there are times where both my ankles tend to try and fail me and I know that I’m going to need some extra support. That’s when I fall back to using an ankle support brace, as well as doing physical therapy moves I learned after healing so that I can rebuild my poor ankle strength. I am so glad there are so many options online for physical therapy advice, braces to purchase, and so many posts of people who have gone through similar so I feel less alone in the situation I find myself in.
I’m not sure why my ankles tend to roll and give out the way they do, but I know it happens. Is it being 40? Is it having fibromyalgia? Am I just that clumsy? Either way, one thing I know all too well is how annoying finding a good ankle brace can be to get it to fit in shoes.
The ankle support brace my doctor gave me after the break was rather bulky, making it so wearing shoes meant I had to loosen the shoe a lot and be rather uncomfortable at the sensation. Still, it was what I had at the time and I knew I had to deal with it for the sake of hopefully not re-breaking myself.
I just knew after I rolled my ankle again a few months after being done with PT that I needed something more comfortable for times that I was struggling with my stability. Even if just PT alone doesn’t seem to want to completely solve the problem for me. Meaning that at times, I’ll have no choice but to re-do all the exercises again, and wear something to keep myself from hurting myself too often.
Once you are healed from breaking your ankle, you’ll deal with the same sort of problems I did. Your muscles will be weak, your foot will feel stiff, and you’ll have to learn PT exercises to be able to walk again without potentially cause more problems. Healing time for breaking your ankle is 6-10 weeks, with about 6-8 weeks of PT. Or at least, that was what I ended up with. During the PT phase you’ll end up needing an ankle support brace, and hopefully can find a more comfortable one for you than the one I showed above haha.
At the time I broke my ankle, I actually also managed to break a small chunk off my opposite knee cap, and sprain my wrist as well. I didn’t have the stability to use crutches, and oh my gods did breaking the ankle hurt for a really long time! I’ve actually recently sustained a radial head fracture on my left arm, and it doesn’t even hurt a fraction of what my injury in 2020 did!
I ended up opting to getting the brace above, since I like the insoles I purchased from them before. As you know I have flat feet and perhaps that doesn’t help with the whole ankle rolling problem I end up having. Needless to say, I’ve been very placed with this ankle support brace, and it’s way more comfortable to wear even in my boots when it’s snowy or icy and gross for far too long of the year up here in Idaho! Ahh, someday I’ll move, but I’ll still probably enjoy my combat boots and need these braces anyway. There are times where my ankle almost rolls me to the ground multiple times a week after all!
What do you do to help support your ankle(s) if you’ve ever broken one? Or even if you’ve just rolled and sprained them numerous times like I have int he past? I’d love to hear what you’ve found that works that I may have overlooked!~
