Monday I went to my return-to-work medical in the afternoon. As expected he agreed with the Orthopaedic Consultant that I should do a phased return with 4 hours per day for the first couple of weeks and take it from there. I decided to do a core session in the evening. Since it was my last day off, I should really have taken the opportunity to do a weights session as well, but I didn't want to risk exhausting myself when I expect Tuesday to be pretty tough going.
Five weeks ago a 10-minute core session followed by 15-minutes of weights exhausting me would have been a funny joke. Today that is pretty much my limit. The mile walking to Asda and back on Sunday wiped me out. In addition to stripping all the muscles to repair the bones, making them much less efficient, my body is clearly also using up everything I am eating on the repair job instead of as energy storage.
Tuesday was my first half-day back at work. I got home at 1pm after 4 hours in the office. I was shattered and crashed out on the sofa for an afternoon nap.
Wednesday was back to the fracture clinic for my 5-week update. I got a different Consultant this week and he has backed off on my current level of weight bearing to try and protect the healing of my syndesmosis joint. So I am back on the crutches for another fortnight, but I am allowed to get back in the pool. I am not allowed to start aqua-jogging due to the loading direction. Only arm work, no turns or pushing off, and lots of pull buoy support were clear instructions. He also said I am still 6 weeks from walking without the boot, which was very disappointing. In trade for that and the crutches he did move me on to an elite athlete recovery plan, with an rehab accelerated timetable and additional physiotherapy.
And I finally got copies of a couple of my x-rays.
These are from 5 weeks post fracture and 4 weeks post surgery.This is the front view where you can see the two screws through the fibula and into the tibia.
Apparently the break in the tibia is in that thick bit at the bottom (I can't see it, even zoomed in, so I am taking their word for it) but as it was clean, transverse and has has 5 weeks, 4 of those bolted together, it looks fairly solid already.
You can also see how much the screw heads stick out from the bone and are close to the surface. They are now visible through the skin as the swelling reduces.
In this photo (you might have to zoom) you can see the fibula break about half way to my knee. It is surprisingly clean for an oblique compression fracture. There is a large bone callous formed around it, which isn't too clear in the x-ray but is large enough to feel through the skin, and it is likely to leave a long-term deformation in my fibula.
Thursday I got back in the pool for the first time in 5 weeks. I did a steady 20 minutes with a pull buoy and no tumble turns. I managed a surprising 950m. Pretty pleased with that for being out of shape and being very limited in what I could do.
Friday I got up early to go and swim again, only to find a private booking meant the pool was closed. After work I did my weights and core sessions to make up for it.
Saturday and Sunday I managed to swim both mornings before crashing out on the sofa for the rest of the day. Each swim I went 25 further through the 20 minute mark as my feel for the water comes back. Hopefully my timing won't be affected when I add my kick back in.
First week back in the pool and I am already a week ahead of my rehab plan. I had expected it would be difficult to get back in to the water, but using the pull buoy and doing careful one-legged push-off from touch turns is working out quite well. It is just volume for the sake of it but it is better than nothing.
I am static on steps instead of the increase I expected. This is down to being told to reign it in by the Consultant. Most of this weeks are crutches instead of hobbling.
The muscle loss from my quads seems to have stabilised a bit. My left is down to 55 cm but my right has stayed at 48 cm.
Targets - Run 0 miles, Bike 0 miles, Swim 0.6 miles. Stretching session x1, Core session x2, Weights session x2.
Aqua-jogging x some. Possibly some physio prescribed rehab exercises.
Monday - Core session.
Tuesday - Back to work.
Wednesday - Fracture clinic.
Thursday - Swim at bucksburn 950m arms-only in 20 mins.
Friday - Weights and core session.
Saturday - Swim at bucksburn 950m arms-only in 20 mins.
Sunday - Swim at bucksburn 1,350m arms-only in 28 mins.
Weights session.
Stretching session.
Actuals - Swim 2.0 miles (3,250 m). Bike 0 miles. Run 0 miles.
Aqua-jogging and physio - cancelled by Consultant.
2 short core, 2 short light weights and 1 stretching / rollering session. 0 mins of yoga.
Cumulative actual, (Cumulative target), [Cumulative Stretch target]
S 2.0, (0.6), [0.7],
B 0.0, (0.0), [0.0],
R 0.0, (0.0), [0.0].
Core - 5, (2)
Weights - 5, (2)
Yoga - 0, (0)
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