Friday 16 November 2012

Post surgery day 6


I’m finally home after surgery. Until today, I felt pretty rubbish. Particularly yesterday morning which was a real low point of feeling pretty fed up indeed. I got a bit of a fright after three days when I took my dressing off to find my foot was a fair bit bigger and more purple than I expected it to be. I guess in my mind I’d already gone through the ‘ankle like a purple football’ phase once already. It’s a slightly more normal shape after much time under an ice pack and I can move it a little more than, well, not at all.

So I’m happier today and feeling like it’s a bit more ‘on track’. I’ll just let the next few days roll with some gentle movement and more ice until next week it’s more established in the proliferation phase and hopefully ready for some slightly less gentle stretching.

Up til today I must admit I just couldn’t face training at all. I’m not sure if this was a physical thing or whether I was just feeling a bit low. But tonight I’ll try a few hangs and see how I get on. Even if it’s just a warm-up and then stop, doing something might be really good for morale.

6 comments:

  1. Fight it! You'll get it well in no time.

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  2. Good to hear you're on the mend - again! Might seem like a backward step but you'll be taking huge leaps in no time. Was great to meet you at TCA recently - keep the good spirits up and you'll be back in the attic in no time :)

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  3. Hi, Very sorry to hear about your injury; your posts about it are inspiring though. I think a general anaesthetic can be pretty debilitating; can get to the mind/brain too - can really shake you up. If the fuel in the tank is going on recovering from that then I guess it's just not there for training. I bet you are feeling better by now (the 20th).

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  4. Hi Dave,
    I'm, a BASE jumper/skydiver and 2 years ago, I broke my ankle. I found a fantastic sports physio and she returned me to the air (I compete) within 8 weeks. She said one of the big things to recover quickly was reducing swelling. The more you are swolllen, the more muscle wastage there is. To that end I was advise to sleep with my foot elevated on a pillow and in a tubigrip to compress it.

    During the day, I also did hot & cold compressions. As I progressed I started walking, hoping, balancing in a swimming pool. I also got one of these: http://www.healthandcare.co.uk/cold-therapy/sissel-cold-therapy-compression-ankle-cool-pack-wrap.html?gclid=CNeEltj63bMCFePHtAodpRoAvA

    Hope that helps.

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  5. Speaking of injuries, since finger pulleys are the most common injured part in climbers, what are your thoughts about increasing blood flow in the hands in order to recover faster? I have trouble finding studies that have looked at this, although a lot of athletes use cooling/warming techniques.

    If this effect was proved, we could devise a vacuum glove (like this one: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/august/cooling-glove-research-082912.html), which could either heat or cool hands while increasing blood flow through the vacuum. What do you think?

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