brucedaley.com

Ankle Exercises

Physical therapy on my ankle continues, but I have advanced! The following are my new exercises:

• Stretch calf straight/bent knee, 3 sets for 30 seconds, 2 times a day
• Heel raises off step, 3  sets of 15 raises
• Single leg stand (with bent knee) 5 sets of 30 seconds
• T-Band foot in, out, and up. 2 sets of 20 each
• Bicycle 20 to 30 minutes

A Close Escape from the Knife

Went to the orthopedic surgeon this morning. They said my ankle was feeling pretty tight, so no need to open it up and stitch it back together. If I am feeling pain, they might go in and clean it up, but that is up to me. So it does not look like I will need surgery - this time.

The Doctor's Visit

Today I visited Orthopedic Associates to get a diagnosis of my ankle and got to spend about two minutes with the doctor. This is the blog of one of the people who make the health care finance system in the United States work. Over the past 10 years I have paid something like $60,000 for health insurance (10 years X 12 months X $500) and seen my primary care doctor only once. The orthopedist, who players on the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche trust with their limbs, told me the following:

• He can see signs of past injury from my x-rays,
• It was bony growth from those injuries that caused the snap, crackle, pop sounds when I fell,
• There are already signs that I have arthritis in that ankle,
• At some point, surgery might be called for to clean up the ankle,
• For now the important thing is to get the swelling down,
• Some physical therapy would be a good idea.

It was a helpful visit, and I suppose worth every penny of the $30,000 it cost. But as the handout they gave me in the emergency center states AS ALWAYS YOU ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR IN YOUR RECOVERY.

How I Broke My Ankle

An intrinsic part of sports is injury. The more active the sport, the more likely you are to be injured. So when I broke my ankle at a Lacrosse game, it should not have come as a surprise, except that I was coaching not playing the game. (I slipped on some wet grass scooping up a ball and for the record my team won the game 9-5). Years of ankle abuse and a genetic predisposition finally combine with some undefinable aspect of karma to produce this result.  Monday I call the surgeon to see if surgery is required.