Finally got the MRI results.

I’ve got a 70-80% tear of an ankle ligament (Anterior talofibular). There’s fluid, inflammation, and supposedly a bone chip floating around (tho directly reading the MRI results I don’t see “bone chip”… a mention of a large osteophyte, so perhaps that’s what he means).

So it’s not so bad, despite the initial horribleness.

Options? PT and Surgery

Surgery would work to repair the ligament, clean things out. The theory is 4-6 weeks in a cast, 4-6 weeks of PT, then maybe another 4-6 weeks until I’m really active again. Of course, nothing is certain, even that it will be “stronger than before”.

PT will be 4-6 weeks of someone telling me to trace the alphabet in the air with my toes, band flexion/extension, calf raises, etc.. And paying someone for it. End result is that it will heal via scarring, won’t be as strong as the original, but will be strong enough.

Feh.

Look. Over the weekend at the LA Fit Expo, Brandon Lilly was squatting 744# on his third attempt and collapsed while in the hole. It’s horrible to watch. Well, he’s out of surgery:

Brandon may have set a world record in ligaments/tendons that needed repairing with tears to both quad tendons, patella tendons, MCLs, meniscus, as well as the left ACL, hamstring tendon and breaking the left knee cap in two.

– Chad Wesley Smith

So you know, that requires surgery. (BTW, get well, Brandon; can’t wait for the come back!)

What I’ve got? Nope.

In fact, I’m not even going to go the professional PT route. It’s just too expensive and I don’t see the gain.

A short trip around Google shows all sorts of ankle PT to do, and it’s all basically the same things. Yeah, being under the watchful eye would be useful, but then it comes down to cost — and after the sudden massive expenses I’ve recently had, just can’t do it.

My plan is to do ankle PT exercises pretty much every day at home. I’m looking at adjusting my lifting to follow something like Paul Carter’s “man-maker” template, but I don’t know just yet. I will do leg work at the gym, but very VERY light. Like squats may start out just being bodyweight, deadlifts would just be the bar with the lightest bumper plates, empty-machine calf raises, etc.. And I may do some “heavier” extensions and curls just to give me a little real work in my legs. 🙂  Slowly over the next 4-6 weeks ramp it up. And watch it week to week to see how it goes. If things don’t seem to be improving, or certainly go bad, then I’ll reevaluate.

I do expect to have ankle problems the rest of my life. I expect to injure it again, probably in a worse way. It’s just going to happen, all things considered. I’ll wait for surgery until I have to.