Ankle ligament surgery, yes/no

Hi, I m wondering if anyone here went through this:

I rolled my ankle trail running. Nothing too extreme, standard swell and the usual hint of yellow and fushia skin coloring, a bit of bone bruising too.

Nevertheless, this time I was in France and had fast free access to MRI, so the doc prescribed me one after I told him that I shredded my ankle to pieces 6 years ago mountain biking in whistler and did nothing but wait for the healing process.

Imagery shows all the lateral tendons and ligaments completely torned :(
The doc advised me to get surgery to reattach the whole thing together.

On the other hand, I manage to live quite well without them. I was climbing, playing tennis, hockey, biking, skiing etc without issues.

I have fully recover now and I am in the middle of a great ski season.

I m thinking of booking the surgery in the spring, the doc says it is two month recovery which ain't too bad. I just wonder if it is really going to make a difference in the long run. If the only downside is to give up trail running I m not going to cry for long.

Any advice?

Best

Find a really good physio… On the north shore here Pivotal health in westview is awesome. They are riders themselves and , get it..

interesting that you were doing fine for all those years…

I know people who are super active without some of their knee ligaments but over time they are constantly damaging the meniscus in the knee. Little injuries here and there but overtime they take their toll. I'm really not sure how the ankle is all held together but my concern would be is there damage being done over time?

Nice thing about knowing you need surgery is you can sometimes get a date that won't interrupt your active life too much and you can rehab going into surgery for a quicker recovery.

As advised above, go to a good PT(maybe more if needed) and get their opinion on your injury and what sports you like to do. I've heard good things about Fortius Sport and Health, maybe see one of their Docs there and get second opinion too?
http://www.fortiussport.com/Pages/default.aspx

A guy I occasionally ride trials bikes with is in his 60's and is thinking about getting his ankle fused due to the pain he has to live with due to a shitty ankle.

I had multiple injuries to both ankles in my early teens, tearing pretty much every tendon and ligament, and often not allowing it to heal before I re-injured it. I was in competitive dancing at the time and was impatient, lol.

Other than freaking physiotherapists out when they see how little proper range of motion I have in my ankles and how much they crack and move from side to side, I don't have any issues in my day to day and recreational living. I can skate, ski, mtb, moto, hike (although my knees are more the limiting factor there). The only thing I really notice is that I can pretty much roll my ankles right to the side and still stand on them; it also freaks people out.

If I could go back in time and get the surgery, I wouldn't. Have a good chat with a trusted physio and see what they think the benefits of the surgery would be.

Good luck!

Went through having my ankle fixed 2 years ago it's not 2 month recovery in 2 months your back doing most things but not well. You'll find there is constant tingling in the area of the surgery for years because of the nerve damage they do during surgery and though you do fully have function back after a while there is pain associated with the area of surgery for years to come off and on. If you don't have the surgery there is the possibility that you loose proper function as the tendons and ligaments that are taking up the load now start to fail…it's your choice but if I had to I would opt for the surgery again rather then live with a seriously gimped foot in the future. As far as post surgery make sure you have a spin bike ready and us it religiously as soon as your allowed(about 6 weeks post surgery for me)it will make a big difference in the speed of your recovery.

Thanks for sharing your experiences.
I was pretty surprised too to learn that I had no more ligaments and still was able to do everything fine. I just picked up again tennis two years ago and was starting to be pretty competitive. My ankle always felt stable also it did rolled a bit from time to time. I was more concerned about my Achilles at one point actually!
I rolled my ankle running full speed downhill in a trail covered with thick leaves. I guess the perfect terrain for such injury.
I m getting older (almost 40 now …) and start feeling it a bit. My right knee recovered quite well functionally from the ACL surgery and meniscus repair. Still, I feel it after every hard day pushing it. Seems like my ankle is going to go the same way. Oh well.
I still have time before deciding. My ski boots are holding just fine!