Just thought I would share a positive rehabilitation story. I'm an intermediate skier and am based in North Carolina. On my last planned ski-day at my local resort on March 12, 2021 I caught an edge in the slushy snow, was spun around, caught another edge and my body kept on spinning. I ended up breaking my right leg tibia and fibula inside my ski boot. I had one operation on the evening of March 12 to stabilize the break, and then another operation on March 14 to fix the break. Initially the surgeon wasn't sure if they would be able to just use a rod, or if they would need a plate near the ankle. Fortunately I ended up with a rod.
I spent much of the next 10 weeks working either in bed or sitting at a desk with limited mobility/walking, one of the few positives of the pandemic and remote working. On June 4th I went for my first proper outdoor walk and it took my 40 minutes to walk 1.3 miles / 2.1 km. From there I continued to walk daily, continued my PT and spent time each day exercising on an indoor bike. By June 16th I was carefully exercising on an elliptical and on Sept 21st I completed my first 2km jog with a time of 13 minutes 22 seconds. (Note: prior to breaking my leg I used to jog between 5-8km daily, and would race the 5km distance in less than 20 minutes). My right leg is a little chunkier from the bone regrowing around the break, but other than that things seem pretty good.
On November 25th, 2021 I went skiing for the first time since breaking my leg. My right leg was noticeably weaker and I was not able to put as much pressure down. I took a few days off during the warmer, slushier weather between Christmas and New Year, but other than that have been skiing for multiple days each week and am happy to say that my leg has recovered to a point where it is not impacting my skiing. I've also skied the Black run where I broke my leg and while I currently am not so fond of the steeper slopes, from a mental perspective I don't seem to have any significant issues. I successfully met and passed my goal for this ski season 2 weeks ago where I scored a higher SkiIQ on Carv than my maximum from last year, and as a result I upgraded from my Nordica Speedmachine 110 boots to some Tecnica Mach 1 LV 120 boots.
I put my recovery down to a positive mind set and also pushing myself on rebuilding my leg strength while working closely with my PT. I wasn't sure initially if I would be skiing this season but I am pleased to say that I have not really missed any skiing days.
I spent much of the next 10 weeks working either in bed or sitting at a desk with limited mobility/walking, one of the few positives of the pandemic and remote working. On June 4th I went for my first proper outdoor walk and it took my 40 minutes to walk 1.3 miles / 2.1 km. From there I continued to walk daily, continued my PT and spent time each day exercising on an indoor bike. By June 16th I was carefully exercising on an elliptical and on Sept 21st I completed my first 2km jog with a time of 13 minutes 22 seconds. (Note: prior to breaking my leg I used to jog between 5-8km daily, and would race the 5km distance in less than 20 minutes). My right leg is a little chunkier from the bone regrowing around the break, but other than that things seem pretty good.
On November 25th, 2021 I went skiing for the first time since breaking my leg. My right leg was noticeably weaker and I was not able to put as much pressure down. I took a few days off during the warmer, slushier weather between Christmas and New Year, but other than that have been skiing for multiple days each week and am happy to say that my leg has recovered to a point where it is not impacting my skiing. I've also skied the Black run where I broke my leg and while I currently am not so fond of the steeper slopes, from a mental perspective I don't seem to have any significant issues. I successfully met and passed my goal for this ski season 2 weeks ago where I scored a higher SkiIQ on Carv than my maximum from last year, and as a result I upgraded from my Nordica Speedmachine 110 boots to some Tecnica Mach 1 LV 120 boots.
I put my recovery down to a positive mind set and also pushing myself on rebuilding my leg strength while working closely with my PT. I wasn't sure initially if I would be skiing this season but I am pleased to say that I have not really missed any skiing days.