H
Harry Spatz
Guest
Some of you may remember that I broke my fibula and tibia (compound fracture) on Dec 25, 2002 while
riding my Barcroft Dakota. I got 9 screws and a plate which internally reduced the injury. I fell on
a black ice turn after 27 mi. of riding and only 1/2 mi. from home. I was very negative and
depressed, the last time I wrote to the group, but am happy to report things have changed a lot. At
5 weeks the hard cast came off and a removable air cast went on. This was really good news. I could
shower my whole body and remove the cast for physical therapy which started after 6 weeks at which
time I was rated "partial weight bearing" which basically means no weight without the cast and a
slow increase toward "weight bearing as tolerated" at 8 weeks.
Physical therapy has gone extremely well. I learned that I could do physical therapy any time my
foot was not in imminent danger--sitting in a chair, lying on a couch, etc. and used this to
advantage. I worked my ankle like a machine. It was in constant motion and continuously ached, but
no pain. My therapist said ache was fine, but no pain! At 7 weeks I was on my Dakota, in my basement
on a trainer. The shoe is left attached to the pedal, and at first, due to limited ankle motion and
an impressive amount of swelling, required my wife's help to force my left foot into my bicycling
shoe--the same one the foot was in on Dec. 25 when I convinced the ER people not to cut it off my
foot. I barely lasted the 15 minutes I was allowed--the ankle wasn't too bad; it was the calf
muscle--a lot of pain! By the third time on the bike I had very little calf pain and was making 80
to 90 RPM at a hard enough setting to work up quite a sweat in the 30 minutes I was on it. I now do
exercises designed to stretch the calf and hamstrings.
Now at 9 weeks I can walk quite well in my air cast with 1 crutch and can do pretty well with no
crutch. My PT tells me that my foot needs to bend more and my foot is too weak for walking without
crutches, so I basically have done away with the air cast and prefer walking with 2 crutches and
partial weight bearing on my foot, forcing it through normal foot and ankle motions--lots of
discomfort, but no real pain. Shh! Don't tell my surgeon. Technically, I'm not to do this until
March 6 when I see him. Interestingly, I will not be allowed to walk without crutches until I can do
so with a natural gait and no limp. They don't want to have to train you down the road to walk
without a limp.
I have religiously done at least an hour of strength and stretching every day using elastic bands
which I wrap around my foot and hold with my hand (or some other family member's) and this has
really paid off. My PT has been excellent. He seems to intuitively sense how much my ankle can take
and lets me push it to safe limits without being foolhardy. I have suffered no real pain, but do
allow myself to endure consider achiness in my therapy which has been encouraged by my PT who is
quite impressed by my progress, so I asked him the big question, "When can I ride the Dakota on the
road?" He answered to put it out of my mind for now because I needed considerably more strength and
agility than required for full weight bearing in the event of emergency or another fall. Not bad
advice, particularly since the roads are still narrow from the snow and it does make sense to get
over one injury before entertaining the possibility of another!
riding my Barcroft Dakota. I got 9 screws and a plate which internally reduced the injury. I fell on
a black ice turn after 27 mi. of riding and only 1/2 mi. from home. I was very negative and
depressed, the last time I wrote to the group, but am happy to report things have changed a lot. At
5 weeks the hard cast came off and a removable air cast went on. This was really good news. I could
shower my whole body and remove the cast for physical therapy which started after 6 weeks at which
time I was rated "partial weight bearing" which basically means no weight without the cast and a
slow increase toward "weight bearing as tolerated" at 8 weeks.
Physical therapy has gone extremely well. I learned that I could do physical therapy any time my
foot was not in imminent danger--sitting in a chair, lying on a couch, etc. and used this to
advantage. I worked my ankle like a machine. It was in constant motion and continuously ached, but
no pain. My therapist said ache was fine, but no pain! At 7 weeks I was on my Dakota, in my basement
on a trainer. The shoe is left attached to the pedal, and at first, due to limited ankle motion and
an impressive amount of swelling, required my wife's help to force my left foot into my bicycling
shoe--the same one the foot was in on Dec. 25 when I convinced the ER people not to cut it off my
foot. I barely lasted the 15 minutes I was allowed--the ankle wasn't too bad; it was the calf
muscle--a lot of pain! By the third time on the bike I had very little calf pain and was making 80
to 90 RPM at a hard enough setting to work up quite a sweat in the 30 minutes I was on it. I now do
exercises designed to stretch the calf and hamstrings.
Now at 9 weeks I can walk quite well in my air cast with 1 crutch and can do pretty well with no
crutch. My PT tells me that my foot needs to bend more and my foot is too weak for walking without
crutches, so I basically have done away with the air cast and prefer walking with 2 crutches and
partial weight bearing on my foot, forcing it through normal foot and ankle motions--lots of
discomfort, but no real pain. Shh! Don't tell my surgeon. Technically, I'm not to do this until
March 6 when I see him. Interestingly, I will not be allowed to walk without crutches until I can do
so with a natural gait and no limp. They don't want to have to train you down the road to walk
without a limp.
I have religiously done at least an hour of strength and stretching every day using elastic bands
which I wrap around my foot and hold with my hand (or some other family member's) and this has
really paid off. My PT has been excellent. He seems to intuitively sense how much my ankle can take
and lets me push it to safe limits without being foolhardy. I have suffered no real pain, but do
allow myself to endure consider achiness in my therapy which has been encouraged by my PT who is
quite impressed by my progress, so I asked him the big question, "When can I ride the Dakota on the
road?" He answered to put it out of my mind for now because I needed considerably more strength and
agility than required for full weight bearing in the event of emergency or another fall. Not bad
advice, particularly since the roads are still narrow from the snow and it does make sense to get
over one injury before entertaining the possibility of another!
