Diving after a broken ankle

[scubababe]

I am wondering if anyone has any experience with diving after having broken an ankle.

On March 18, I broke an ankle and spained the other, non-diving related. The base of my tibia was split vertically and my fibula had two breaks in it. I gather there was a hair line fracture in my foot as well. On March 23, when the swelling went down, it was plated and screwed.

I am expecting my surgeon to tell me I can again put weight on my foot next week, at which time I will begin physio.

I have spoken to my surgeon about diving. Basically he said that I can dive once I can put weight back on the foot - but no giant strides for quite a while and I will probably have one fin pointing down for either quite a while or quite a lot of work.

Does anyone have any experience with this? How did you get back into diving? Any advice?

 

[jbd]

I'm not a doctor nor have I had a broken ankle.

Past work experience would suggest to me that you should be able to get your physical therapist to include exercises that address your need to able to use fins. This may be in the form of adaptive fin modifications. Of course this might require access to a pool. You may need to get the surgeon to write an order to include this as part of your therapy. Make sure you talk to your therapist about this also.

Best of luck!!

 

[scubadoc]

Hey scubababe:

Answers to questions are for information only and do not imply diagnosis or treatment.

Healed fractures generally are thought not to impose any restrictions on diving. The hardware also is not affected by depth/pressure. However, there is the theoretical caveat that there is an increased risk of bubble formation in regions of bone where there has been some disruption of blood supply - leaving an increased or decreased vascularity. There have been no studies to prove or disprove these cautionaries, however.


If you plan to dive with the ankle casted, which i do not recommend -waterproof cast construction uses a waterproof cast liner made of Gore-Tex (W. L. Gore and Associates, Inc, Flagstaff, Arizona) to replace the traditional stockinette and cast padding. The Gore-Tex liner repels water and permits evaporation, allowing bathing, swimming, sweating, and hydrotherapy without any special drying of the cast or skin. The liner material is available in rolls of 2-, 3-, and 4-in. width and is applied directly to the patient's skin. Fiberglass casting tape is then wrapped around the waterproof liner.
http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/1997/09sep/seles.htm

In addition, you will encounter logistical difficulties in gearing up, water entry and exit and locomotion in the water that could be risky to you and others on the dive boat.

There is one other factor that you might consider:
There is significant loss of muscle strength and sometimes actual muscle atrophy with a fracture and a cast. This might reduce your mobility in the water with your fins. You should consider getting into the water and practicing finning a pool before going diving. See also http://www.scuba-doc.com/bone.htm .

Finally - you should discuss this with your orthopedist for any comment that he/she might have regarding your return to diving.

Good things!

scubadoc