Plates on ankle, do you feel them when skiing?

Ankle Fractures are the most common types of fractures and left untreated will lead to pain and for sure a surgery down the line. If it were my ankle I would look at the xray and if a fracture line is visable I would have surgery. Im not even sure why a doctor would give you a option on this. Did you see a Family Practice doc, Ortho or Podiatrist?

Are you still looking forward to get them out?

For the first six months I couldn't wait to get them out - now that the sensitivity has subsided, I seldom think about it, and the negatives (another surgery, another chance at infection, six week period of lessened strength, and sometimes they can't even locate all the screw heads) tend to talk me out of it.

PS My doc told me the dividing line is usually 2mm - more than that gap visible in the x-ray and surgery is advised, less than that and they usually just stabilize it and let it heal.

That sucks, man!

Plated a left lateral malleolus fib/ankle fracture (spiral Weber in May 2009. I rarely notice it skiing, except crossing hardened tracks in GS turns at high speed. The boot takes up the load and largely immobilizes the ankle. Negligible boot-fit issues for me. There's a good TGR thread or two on this subject.

I noticed aching with the weather for a while, now only with the most extreme of storms. I get some pain from what feels like a tendon-plate interaction when cramponing with french technique or certain smears/jams while climbing, but usually work around it. Negligible effect on daily life. I continue to consider having the plate taken out, but, like Greg, I've been too busy skiing and concerned with complication. I ski as hard or harder than I did before the injury.

The couple of times I jarred the fracture while it was healing, I was glad to know that hardware was helping to maintain alignment. Surgery sucks, but any misaligned healing will suck more. In my case, they offered the non-surgery option, but did what they could to convince me to get the plate. Good luck choosing the right decision for you!

Good luck with the healing process, too. The first week was the worst. The swimming pool was liberating. First turns in late October were hesitant. Skiing was back to normal by January or so.

Get after all the things you want to get done while you're laid up. I hardly got halfway through the list.

Thanks you all for sharing your opinions.

It was my orthopedics doctor who told me I was right in the middle of the decision split and I could go both ways.

Charlie, I think I have a similar fracture as yours (all but the spiral part, ie, unstable lateral maleollar fracture). The doctor at Harbourview was not leaning to any side initially, but some recs to go towards surgery from doctors in my home country.

It's good to know how the plate feels, definitely doesn't look like great, but you can forget about it for most of it.

I'm taking the decision in the next few days, let's see what happens!

Thanks for all replies,

Ricardo

My wife has a similar break, and was plated, it seems to have been a good choice, and the ankle mended nicely. But the ski boot rode right on the screw heads/plate. She skied with them for one season and decided that spring the plate had to go. Her doctor tried to dissuade her for all the reasons listed above but she had her mind made up. The recovery time was short for the removal, and she is very happy she had it done. No more boot bang, and she claims the break is not as sensitive to cold as before the plate removal.

If you're still trying to decide, I found that, for the narrow case of a single type of fracture, it was possible to learn quite a bit from orthopedics textbooks. Google Books previews allow easy free access. Professional medical literature is also sometimes useful. Your doc is almost certainly your best reference. A second opinion or a consult may not go amiss if you have the time/resources.

The Harborview docs that worked on my ankle took less than thirty seconds to strongly recommend surgery, so our cases may not be so similar.

Good luck!