Can my friend dive on a busted ankle?

[WetBoy101]

I'm guessing if he can walk to the boat, he can climb up two rungs! You lift your body weight with the good leg and the other only holds the static weight as you lift your good leg again. :headscratch:

 

[kmurray719]

Also worth consideration is whether diving on the injured ankle will cause any "secondary" injuries, set back any healing/progress your buddy has made already or cause any permanent injury.

I sprained my ankle last fall (2nd degree, close to 3rd degree) and was able to dive about 5 weeks later, but couldn't have managed more than one dive at a time. It was slow to heal in general, and at about 80% of "regular" functioning when I went on a liveaboard trip 4 months after the injury. After diving 4 dives/day for a week, I developed bursitis in the ankle joint from using the ankle so much with the ligaments still weakened. So after 6-8 weeks of letting that heal, and the extra use on my trip, I'm back to where I was in my general healing about a month before my trip. Whether he can actually dive on the trip may not be the only important thing to consider.

 

[danvolker]

Also worth consideration is whether diving on the injured ankle will cause any "secondary" injuries, set back any healing/progress your buddy has made already or cause any permanent injury.

I sprained my ankle last fall (2nd degree, close to 3rd degree) and was able to dive about 5 weeks later, but couldn't have managed more than one dive at a time. It was slow to heal in general, and at about 80% of "regular" functioning when I went on a liveaboard trip 4 months after the injury. After diving 4 dives/day for a week, I developed bursitis in the ankle joint from using the ankle so much with the ligaments still weakened. So after 6-8 weeks of letting that heal, and the extra use on my trip, I'm back to where I was in my general healing about a month before my trip. Whether he can actually dive on the trip may not be the only important thing to consider.

Great points!
People who want to be active in sports for their entire life, have to be very careful with injuries.....particularly tendons, knees, ankle area, etc...
I know so many people who were athletes in school, but they played on injuries for the next decade, and now in their 50"s they are so riddled with physical issues ( bad knees, bad hips, etc, etc) that they can only be "spectators"..they can no longer be "participants" to sports. The athletes that cared about their future were/are different. I know several competitive cyclist as old as their 70's, who can still hang fine in a 33 mph paceline on the big Saturday morning ride, and they still walk like a 30 year old. They were always careful to heal properly after an injury.

The dive in a few weeks, potentially risks the future of your friend's ankle.

 

[lovles2274]

Blood flow to the muscle and tendon will be impaired, so off gassing as you ascend at dive end, will be compromised....in other words, the danger of DCS goes up a great deal.

I can't say that I agree with this statement. If there is no swelling what would impede blood flow? Muscles have VERY good blood supply (healthy adult) and tendons have a very scant blood flow. This causes sprains and strains (tendon and ligament injury) to heal slowly. The increased pressure might actually hyperoxygenate the injury increasing healing (but, for such a short period of time any benefit would most likely be negligible). I do agree with what the others have said about the possibility of actually injuring the ankle more due to the use of the foot walking and kicking.

Good luck

 

[danvolker]

I can't say that I agree with this statement. If there is no swelling what would impede blood flow? Muscles have VERY good blood supply (healthy adult) and tendons have a very scant blood flow. This causes sprains and strains (tendon and ligament injury) to heal slowly. The increased pressure might actually hyperoxygenate the injury increasing healing (but, for such a short period of time any benefit would most likely be negligible). I do agree with what the others have said about the possibility of actually injuring the ankle more due to the use of the foot walking and kicking.

Good luck

I should probably have said it would have been a concern to me, if I had torn a tendon and muscle...If I thought that there was any liklihood of restriction to the "normal" bloodflow, due to inflamation ( lots of swelling), then I would be concerned about the effects of multiple dives and poor offgassing.....

But overall, I would choose not to dive more because of concern about interfering with the healing of the damaged area, by more trauma to it ( either walking, swimming, climbing ladder, lifting tank, whatever).

Your idea about the oxygen though I might like...but if I was going to play with this, it would be hanging ( not swimming) at 20 feet breathing pure O2 from a tank, and not using the damaged muscle /tendon in any way throughout this ( not walking on it, not swimming, etc). Im sure this would be seen as dangerous advice by most instructors, doctors, or thinking divers particularly as most divers have never been trained to do oxygen decos or anything like this ( meaning they would have no business with trying this). I was just saying what I might want to try

 

[Cleetus Van Damme]

Hi everybody! Thanks for all your advice - that's really very useful for us. Well, turns out my friend has completely torn two ligaments in his ankle. He finds out on thursday if he needs surgery or not. So, it seems a little more serious than we thought it might be. He's talking about a "moon boot", so that can't be good! We'll talk him through all this, and his doctor will no doubt have a view. Once again, we most appreciate all your help. Whatever happens with him, I guess its better to potentially miss a trip and go on the next one, rather than do permanent damage...

 

[Rhone Man]

It sounds like events have overtaken the OP, but it is interesting how many people thought it was OK to do the dive with just one leg being able to kick.

I wonder what the views would have been if someone asked if it was OK for a diver who had forgotten one of their fins to go ahead and do the dive. For me, the idea of diving with only one viable ankle is just asking for conditions to turn bad during a dive.

I can only see three situations where I would do it: (a) hot chick nearby who I need to impress with my toughness, which actually informs many of my poorer diving decisions; (b) undiscovered Spanish treasure galleon sighted from surface; or (c) dive will be conducted in swimming pool.

 

[ColoDale]

A DM friend of mine had a minor car accident where he broke his nose. While the doctors said everything had healed properly, he did end up taking some chamber rides on his first trip after the accident (a short time later). The diving was not out of the ordinary, was the same as all other dives to the same location and he was able to dive, with no reported issues, the first part of the week. While no one can say for sure that the broken nose was not a leading factor, the consensus from doctors and lots of discussion with dive professionals about the event, is that it probably was directly related.

The point is that an injury that has not fully healed or is recent MAY lead to DCS. I cannot say how damaged tissues react to nitrogen but it seems to me that it would not be a good as healthy tissue. Since that episode my friend has successfully made quite a few dive trips with no issues.

It appears that the current doctors are dealing with the injury and may not be knowledgeable about diving effects. Maybe check with doctors in dive medicine as well.