Ankle Injury...

[keyplayer]

Having not held a church post for some fifteen years now ( although I've continued to practice regularly ), I'd almost been persuaded to dip my toe back into the water by an old friend who had asked me to accompany some concerts and give a recital towards the end of the year. However a couple of months ago, in a really silly accident which basically involved getting up from a sofa, I broke my right ankle in two places and subsequently underwent surgery to pin it back together.

I'm now out of plaster after eight weeks ( thankfully! ) and beginning physiotherapy to regain strength and movement, although I've been warned that it's likely I won't regain full movement of the ankle. Although I've not yet attempted to play, I suppose it's entirely possible that pedalling may prove quite an effective therapy, and in any case I'll need to just keep working at it and see how things go - but I was just wondering if anybody here had experience of a similar injury, and if so how things had progressed for you.

I'll probably try playing next week - will let you know how it goes!

[Guest drd]

Not a similar injury, but I can certainly vouch for the efficacy of pedalling as physiotherapy for foot, ankle, and knee. I suspect it goes without saying, really, that as with everything else a graded approach would be best.

 

The ability, with pedalling, of being able to make specific and ultimately wide-ranging movements without putting weight through the joints would appear to be the point.

[SomeChap]

Not a similar injury, but I can certainly vouch for the efficacy of pedalling as physiotherapy for foot, ankle, and knee. I suspect it goes without saying, really, that as with everything else a graded approach would be best.

 

The ability, with pedalling, of being able to make specific and ultimately wide-ranging movements without putting weight through the joints would appear to be the point.

 

No experience with injured feet, but I've broken various bones in both hands / wrists at various points in my seemingly accident-prone life.

 

I can definitely confirm that playing has been excellent physiotherapy in my own experience (I even remember trying to play at home on the piano with one finger while the poorly hand was still in plaster! Not as entirely disastrous as you might think, but I believe I had to hum some tenor...)

 

The absolute key thing is not to over-stretch yourself. Be very, very gentle at first and stop at the first sign of discomfort. Don't rush: only do as much as you're enjoying. Build up strength - I found I could literally feel the progress I was making, and that was one of the most rewarding aspects of the convalescence.

 

Overall, I'd say if there's one way to prove pessimistic doctors wrong, it's playing the organ! So long as you're careful and realistic, it essentially becomes music therapy, and people pay a lot of money for that .... Best of luck.