Ankle ORIF - Fibula fractue

Hi Everyone,

New to this forum. I suffered an ankle dislocation with a fibula fracture just shy of a month ago. I had to have ankle ORIF. It's been approx 10 days since the surgery. The pain has finally started to subside ( thank god lol ). The ortho's told me it may be up to 2 months until i can put any weight on the leg and after i would need to go to physical therapy. I wanted to ask all of you about the therapy portion. With this sort of injury would someone be able to return to Mountain bike riding and mixed martial arts ? If so do you think there would be alot of limitations on the ankle ? I'm a 27 yr old male btw. I drink and smoke but haven't done either and don't plan to until i'm done healing. Eating healthy, taking vitamins - calcium etc... Any advice or insight would be great. Thanks!:)

Someone reply with something please. i would really appreciate any advice or insight deeply.

Broken 101,

Difficult questions to answer without knowing the details of the fibula fracture (Weber class??? etc) and subsequent hardware used in the ORIF. Given that it was a dislocation (and 2/12 non-weight bearing) I am assuming that it was a nasty possibly comminuted fracture, with loss of mortise structure and needed multiple screws or k-wire and most likely included an articular (for distal tib-fib joint) fixation screw. Based on these assumptions I would doubt that the surgeon would recommend returning to mixed martial arts (at all) but I would expect a return to moutain bike riding within 6 months all things being well. If it was a simple fibula avulsion fracture with one screw and no articular fixation then I thin kyou would return to both.

Unfortunately many complicated ankle fractures never reach 100% again, however they generally allow return to most sporting ventures within 9-12 months. You have the advantage of youth on your side.

Physio Dace,

Thank you SO much for replying. I don't know many medical/technical terms so I will do my best to describe the injury to you. I was told it was a Syndesmotic injury. The Fibula fracture was a "simple" fracture that didn't require any screws or hardware. For the reduction the surgeon told me they put two screws through the Tibia and Fibula to hold them in place while the ligament heals. At that point i can keep them permanently or have them removed if i chose to. There were no fragments from the Fibula break at all. The break was approx 4 inches above the ankle. I hope this helps paint a better picture of the injury for you, if not i can try to get more information for you. Once again, thanks so much for taking the time to respond. I don't know much about this sort of thing so it helps to hear from someone who's knowledgeable on it.

Regards

Broken 101,

Yes your description is sufficient. Given that the fibula fracture did not need fixation is a good thing - your body is very good at fixing bones but takes a few years to finish completely; however disruption and fixation of the distal tibio-fibula joint and hence ankle mortise poses the biggest hurdle to returning to a sport such as mixed martial arts. Overall I would be fairly confident that you will return in time (how longs a piece of string???) but I guess your surgeon is the most qualified and positioned to give you your answer. Hit him up at your next review.

Good luck buddy.

Physio Dace,

Thanks again for the tip! Glad to hear there's a chance to get back into MMA and MTB riding. I'll definitely ask the surgeon. I have a follow up on the 25th of this month so i'll be sure to get as much info as possible, i'll let you know how it goes.

thanks man!