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Skiing on a sprained ankle?

ella_g

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My oldest kid sprained their ankle yesterday doing parkour, and has a ski race this weekend. They're convinced that once the pain of putting the boot on is over, that skiing will be more or less fine or at least possible. Im alternating between thinking it's a terrible idea and thinking that arguing with a teenager is going to require a lot of energy. Has anyone skied on a sprained ankle? Their plan b if they can't get the boot on is to snowboard, bc putting on snowboard boots will be easier than ski boots :huh:
 

Guy in Shorts

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Pretty much true. You can ski as long as you can suffer thru getting the boot on. Requires dialing back to live within the new limitations. Full bore race carving may not be very feasible.
 

cantunamunch

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Has anyone skied on a sprained ankle? Their plan b if they can't get the boot on is to snowboard, bc putting on snowboard boots will be easier than ski boots :huh:

Yes. Pure carving is not so bad - the two things that hurt like hell are: trying to steer (yaw angle) the ski through the bad ankle and correction for bad lateral balance (too far inside, frex.)

Teenagers can't be stopped, but maybe you can extract a promise to take the boot off, ice and elevate as soon as the racing is done.
 
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ella_g

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@cantunamunch wise words! Im going to keep the bar really low and just ask the kid to stop skiing when the race is done and not jump off of anything .... @Bad Bob if this was a normal year we'd just skip it but there's barely any racing this year so the kid was dying to go, no big expectations.
 

Andy Mink

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It also depends on where the sprain is. On the lateral or medial sides, probably no issue since the boot will stabilize lateral movement. If it's across the top, that might not be as good. Either way, if there is swelling it's gonna suck getting them on and really suck getting them off!
 

S.H.

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If you can get the boot on, you can test the ankle during warm-up/inspection.

Biggest hurdle is getting the boot on.

If they can ski without doing *anything* to accommodate the injury, then go for it. Otherwise, it's not worth it. Don't let compensation for an injury result in another injury or ingraining bad habits.

One race really isn't that important. Especially this year.
 

NE1

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Yes. Pure carving is not so bad - the two things that hurt like hell are: trying to steer (yaw angle) the ski through the bad ankle and correction for bad lateral balance (too far inside)
And possibly being stuck in chattermarks I would think,
 

robertc3

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My racer daughter skied on a sprained ankle early this season. It hurt to get the boot on and there were movements that bothered her, but she wanted to be there and she wasn't going to make it worse in the boot, so we let her go for it.
 

crgildart

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I disagree about the biggest issue being getting the boot on. I think getting the boot OFF will be more painful than putting it on. I also think that kind of pulling and stretching can cause more damage to the ankle than the act of putting it on or skiing. Skiing with the boot buckled is the safest part of that day.
 

Steve

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Try putting the liner on first and then sliding the liner into the shell. That will put less stress on the ankle I would think.
 

mdf

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I had a chronic ankle problem one year. It hurt a lot in the morning, but skiing was OK except for chatter on bumpy ice when I lost my carve. (It hurt when that happened). By the end of the day my ankle felt fine -- ski boots make a pretty good cast.

The next morning my ankle hurt again. This went on for my whole ski trip.

A little different, since it wasn't a fresh sprain with swelling.

I think the comment about compensation makes sense -- not only is it bad for him, he isn't going to have a good race time anyway in that case.
 

S.H.

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I disagree about the biggest issue being getting the boot on. I think getting the boot OFF will be more painful than putting it on. I also think that kind of pulling and stretching can cause more damage to the ankle than the act of putting it on or skiing. Skiing with the boot buckled is the safest part of that day.
yeah, but you can abort while putting the boot on.

Once it's on, you're kind of stuck getting it off somehow.

If it were my athlete, it's really all about if they can ski without making compensating movements or not. If they can, great, let's do it. If not ... then it's really not worth it.

I'm not sure that a race would be worth it if it hasn't been tested in training, unless there was a guarantee of a fantastic surface...
 

Jerez

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FHI... When I sprained my ankle I was told that once you've had an ankle sprain, you will always be susceptible to more sprains. And once you've done it a few times, it can cause permanent damage and debilitation. A teenager will have many years of activity in which he/she will be at risk for more sprains.

The boot will help keep it stabilized. But when I went skiing and hiking again after my sprain, I found i still wanted a neoprene brace in the boot. As was said above, it may depend on where the sprain is.

Have you asked the doctor? If it's not a good idea to do the race, then the doc can be the scrooge and make the whole thing less stressful for you. If the doc says OK then you and your kid will go into it with less anxiety.
 

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