Ankle and foot injury after slalom crash

[trevorleagas]

A good friend has just had a really bad crash while slalom skiing. She is in the UK and has the following injuries: 4 fractures and a broken heel. She is extremely depressed and the doc told her: your foot will never be able to go sideways on both sides (thinking of an edge change). Is there anybody out there with a similar experience and overcame it to get back on the water again? Any words of comfort will help this very low fellow water skier.

[OldboyII]

Poor girl...

The injuries you listed do not sound as a "death sentence".

Regular doctors always exaggerate, the only one she has to listen to is an experienced doctor from special sport clinic who deals with sportsmen/women.

I had broken shoulder with displacement , broken ankle, torn hamstring and other surprises and always heard from doctors - "this is the END". But it is not still...

My ski friend last year fell from the roof and fractured booth heels, he spent month or two traveling from bedroom to kitchen and back on "four legs" - knees and hands, BUT - this season he was skiing both alpine and water.

Time heals, just do not rush it.

 

 

 

[dwfrech]

I think I can offer some input on this problem. I am sorry for what our friend has experienced. I have suffered a heel fracture (the bone is called the calcaneus) when I was 20 years old. I am now 52. It was a very bad fracture, wherein the bone was crushed and actually called a compound fracture (broken out skin, due to hydrostatic pressure). All of that is kind of unsettling so I won't get into too much more. I had ORIF which is internal fixation by surgery, to rebuild my heel. It took at least a half year until I could walk again. Now this kind of timeframe is mentally very difficult. I think the human mind will not accept that kind of recovery pace, and sometimes one will become despondent and think it will never get better. That is a very hard situation. It will help to have someone like you who cares about her, and is providing realistic encouragement. It's not a matter of pumping up expectations, but making the person feel okay that they are not fully recovered or recovered to some degree right away. Vigorous young people don't always get that and want to be 100% or know they will be. There will probably be some uncertainty. I have seen some of the greatest Orthopedic Surgeons specialized in calcaneal fractures, and they have to deal with the same uncertainty. I have had operations with non-guaranteed outcomes. It is scary but they helped. I am able to waterski and walk without pain now. Running worked for a little while, but I eventually gave that up since my flexibility and achilles tendon are not the same as someone without this injury. I don't know what kind of fracture classification your friend has. It could be that she may have limited eversion/inversion of the foot. That won't kill waterskiing (think of the hard shell boots ... that doesn't matter like the old neoprene style). Anyway, if you want to talk let me know and we can trade a few emails. I have a lot of sympathy for anyone in that situation. I wish her the best. Sincerely, Dan