Parents Broken Ankle - How long to heal?

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Wendie

Proud Parent
My 14 year old daughter (XCEL Platinum) broke her ankle with a fall off of the beam at a recent meet (Feb 23rd.) Her foot landed half on the top mat and half off - which twisted her ankle and broke it.

For those parents whose kids have broken their ankles - how long was your daughter out of commission? When was she flipping again? Our sports med doctor gave her a month in the caste/walking boot and then two thumbs up to going full on in gymnastics. I am wondering if that is reality or way too soon.

Any thoughts/experiences shared would be appreciated!
 
Mine was in a boot for a month. She practiced bars with no landings,doc approved. She conditioned. The first 2 weeks after boot off, she practiced no hard landings. So she did all floor except tumbling. Beam without dismount. Bars but no flyaways. She did tumble on tumble track and vault into pit. After 2 weeks she was full on beam and bars, they next week added vault. The tumbling came back to floor. She did it beginning of September competed end of October.
 
Think it all depends on the severity of the break. My dd had salter 1 break. Cast 2 wks and now boot. She is walking some without boot. Just trying to ease her back into it as quickly as possible..lol
 
I second @Shayfit , all depends on type location and severity of break. My dd’s was considered mid foot by some and low ankle anatomy by others. —- ended up being 4 months of boot-crutches (absolutely NON weigh-bearing entire time—did not even do bars over pit as that was a risk) then walking slowly weening out of crutches (another couple weeks), solid week on weight bearing before slowly weening out of boot and learning to walk again!! . It was 6 very long months before being allowed to do basic tumbling in gym. She began by wearing supportive shoes even to walk and do basic bars. She was a level 10 at the time, so really had to take time getting back to pounding elements.
 
My son broke his ankle at the end of July. It was an avulsion fracture. He was in a boot for 6 weeks, then a brace. He still did stuff at gym with the boot (pommel, high bar, rings, pbars). In the brace, he was able to start doing some jogging, etc. After abotu 6 weeks of PT he was released to do everything with the brace on. He is competing all 6 events now, with the brace, although his floor routine is still not where it was.
 
As others said, it depends on the break(s). One of my DD fractured both her tibia and fibula on a ROBHSBT on floor and was out for at least 8 weeks, non-weight bearing. She was splinted and then 2 different casts, then boot with aircast, then boot, all on crutches. After that, she had to wear the aircast in her shoe for a period of time. She never missed a day of practice and did whatever conditioning she could when there. She wanted to remain involved with the team. We had several weeks of PT/rehab that included slow progression back to certain elements in the gym. She was allowed to do bars and beam fairly early on, but no pounding on floor or vault. She missed most of that season since she broke it the day before Thanksgiving. Luckily, she was able to compete 1 full meet and qualify for state meet and competed at it. The bad news is that she is still trying to conquer her fear of the back tumbling combo that resulted in the break. This has been a comeback season and she has progressed well.
 
My daughter broke her tibia the Monday before her first meet last season. Her dr had her non weight bearing in a boot for 5-6 weeks. I think this is what helped her heal much better than a teammate that started weight bearing after 3-4 weeks. She was conditioning that whole time - core and arms. She started swinging bars after 4 weeks no landings. She then started a progression of activities based on how it felt. She was back to doing all events within 8 weeks but she was definitely not able to compete at al last year. Her muscle atrophied so she needed to build that back up. And her endurance needed to be restored. She was expecting to be back 4-6 weeks. It was closer to 9-12 weeks.
She is 100% healed. No continued swelling or issues. Her teammate that started back quicker still has swelling of her ankle.
Don’t rush it. Make sure she listens to her body. Any pain means she needs to back off.
Good luck!
 
Hi! Thank you for answering. Do you know what type of fracture it was? My daughter has a Salter Harris Type 1 or 2 (possibly 4) depending on the xray.
 
Think it all depends on the severity of the break. My dd had salter 1 break. Cast 2 wks and now boot. She is walking some without boot. Just trying to ease her back into it as quickly as possible..lol
Same - We have a Salter 1, or 2 (or maybe 4) depending on Xray. She is out of the boot as of Monday and going to gymnastics but no hard landings.
 

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