J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by gfz025

Fractured by Fibula on Christmas day and was told by the doctor the bone would heal in three weeks and I should be able to ski within five weeks. Unfortunately this was not the case, was in Davos after week five and it was too painful to put the boot on. I'm due to ski a week Saturday and am fairly confident it will be fine, maybe with some discomfort.

The Fibula is to a certain extent a non weight bearing bone whereas the Tibia is and as such I would think with my own experience that your injury would take at least 12 weeks before it would be anywhere near ready. As the tibia is weight bearing I wouldn't recommend attempting to ski before week 12 (I'm sure it would be too painful anyway)as the pressures when skiing are too great, walking fine, jogging maybe, but skiing I don't think so.

The other thing to consider is if you were to ski so soon, you would definitely require some physio as the leg will have tightened up so much that a period of physio would be required to get a good level of mobility back into the leg/ankle area.

Sorry I can't be positive but I'm only telling you how it is from my own experience.

JLG sorry I didn't respond earlier, I'm hoping you have been or are in Japan enjoying a bit of powder!

Unfortunately my trip came too early and wasn't able to ski, to top it off had a fall, out walking whilst I was away and managed to damage my ribs (I put it down to being unsure on my leg). That proved to be more painful than my leg and prevented me from skiing through the pain barrier (in the case of my leg).

Anyway I'm at week 9 now and can say with confidence that my leg is fine now, not limping any more and having tried my ski boots on today I can say that I could ski now if I were there. Just booked La Plagne for the 5th March, so will performing my snow dance with fingers crossed over the next couple of weeks.

Hope the powder in Japan is/was good!

Hello JLG, the injury will be 5 weeks on Saturday, have been having some physio for the last 2 weeks which has improved mobility and confidence.

Visited the fracture clinic and was advised by the consultant that the pain I'm experiencing is the residual scar tissue around the injury being rubbed by muscle and that this would take around 12 weeks to heal. He did advise that the fracture takes around 3 weeks to heal and that he had no reason to believe that mine hasn't healed. He also advised that if I do ski then it would be a matter of managing any pain and taking any decision as to whether it's sensible to carry on.

Am still experiencing pain when walking, tried my ski boots on last Sunday and like you the pain was intense. Just tried them again and can report that although not as bad the pain is still there :-(

To be honest the only possibility of skiing will be with the aid of strong painkillers which hopefully will be enough to numb the pain.

I think if I had another 4 weeks there wouldn't be too much of an issue, but I fear that week 5 is too soon.

I'm only going to attempt to ski because both the Dr in St Anton and the consultant have said that it should be ok, otherwise I wouldn't consider it.

Good luck with your progress, I'll report back on Monday with an update if I manage to ski.

Update; Fractured Fibula on Christmas day, had a pressure bandage put on at the doctors which I removed after 1 week.

I'm walking around without crutches now, albeit with a limp, still feeling pain and my calf muscle feels really tight.

At the moment being really careful and using crutches for longer walks so as not to aggravate the injury, but it's improving on a daily basis.

Fingers crossed got a trip booked for the 29th January, would be a shame to miss it. Not quite Japanese powder though I'm jealous!

Has anyone had a minor fracture of fibula around the boot line, I've had a soft bandage put on and am on crutches. The Doctor said it should heal in 3 weeks and that I should be able to ski again in 5 weeks, all things being well. Just wanted to know if anyone has had the injury as apparently it's a very common skiing injury.

Thanks

Was in Schladming last Christmas and the snow was fantastic (very cold too), although lower down it was a bit patchy which wasn't an issue really. Judging by the webcams this morning it's looking vary bare and a bit wet apart from the higher slopes, looks like the forecast is for a drop in temperatures below zero for a prolonged period not sure how much snow there is going to be though. There are exetensive snow making facilities so I would hazard a guess that the conditions would improve, albeit with artificial snow!

PS In case people that travel to Vienna aren't aware, thumbs up to Austrian Airlines who don't charge for Ski equipment from London to Vienna (please check just to make sure; we booked in September and there were no charges).

For something different, try Lake Bled in Slovenia, or Montenegro (Kotor or pretty much anywhere for that matter), spectacular scenery.

What skis have you got? What's your skiing ability, weight, height, etc?