Recovery from injury question.

[Teresadee]

I have a question that I hope someone can answer. I hurt my ankle and haven't been able to skate but a few days here and there since September. I noticed the last time I skated, first in awhile, that my balance is poor. Not just on the ice but in shoes too. Both the injured as well as unhurt side. I expected to have poor strength and have rusty skating skills but I hadn't expected poor balance. Does anyone know why? If you have any experience with this, what helped you? Lack of strength, rusty skills, poor balance..

[Aussie Willy]

It could be that your ankles are pronating which means they are slightly falling in to your instep, thus they are lacking stability. It would be worth seeing a physiotherapist who can help you with strengthing exercises and maybe recommend a way to tape up the ankle to give it stability.

Also the other question I would ask is how long have you been skating?

[ioana]

You could be over-compensating for the injured ankle and that's throwing off your balance. I agree with AW. You should go to a PT or orthopedic specialist to make sure the ankle is fully healed and see if there are any off-ice stretches and strengthening exercises you could do to get back to normal.

[briancoogaert]

Did you see someone for your injury ? I mean a physiotherapist ?
Maybe your ankle is not at its right place.

Anyway, before going back on the ice after an injury, you have to do off-ice exercices, to regain muscles.

[frbskate63]

I've had problems with an ankle injury, and when I went to see a physiotherapist, she looked at my balance (which was a lot worse than I expected), and prescribed several exercises to strengthen my hip muscles. Weakness in the hip was not only affecting my balance, but causing me to put extra pressure on the ankle, resulting in chronic low-level pain.

So definitely see a physiotherapist - after a few months of compensating for not being able to use that ankle normally, you could have developed all kinds of muscle imbalances that affect your balance on ice.

[Aussie Willy]

So definitely see a physiotherapist - after a few months of compensating for not being able to use that ankle normally, you could have developed all kinds of muscle imbalances that affect your balance on ice.

This is very true about any part of the body. A friend of mine tore her shoulder in a skating accident and had to have surgery. As she was recovering she had to do exercises that provided balance because even walking didn't do that. She would be overcompensating for the injured shoulder and couldn't use it freely like she would normally with walking. So it was tough finding the right exercises to do which would mean her body was being used evenly on both sides.

[Teresadee]

Thank you for your helpful input. I've been skating with help (coach) 10 years in Oct/Nov next year. I have a sport medicine doctor who is very helpful. I was given exercises and have been doing them. Skating is more difficult for me due to my tight boot and the flexibility needed in skating. The last few days have been a little better for me and I can see that I just need to take some time right now. I was told that my poor balance is most likely due to the fact that I don't have the strength I should have in my ankles right now. Lots of butt sitting of late. I'm also not completely healed but have been okayed to skate. Thank you again.

Teresa