Most unfortunate ankle injury

One month ago I simply destroyed my ankle, in a bad fall inside the tumble track....There was some damage in the talus, but more important, the lateral ankle ligaments were very damaged. Two were totally ruptured, the middle one and the one in the front side. The other one was stretched.... The deltoid was undamaged.

I don't know if anyone here has experience in this kind of injury, but I consulted two doctors, specialists, and they both told me the ligaments CAN regenerate, and it's not case to surgery. But I heard from a friend who's from physiotherapy, that they only regenerate if the rupture was partial, that was not my case. I'm very insecure with the idea of totally ruptured ligaments regenerating by themselves, I don't wanna stay with instability in this ankle...

Anyone have any idea on how this will impact on my gymnastics? I'm no elite gymnast, and am 31 years old, but thinking in having to stop because one stupid jump I shouldn't have done feels like cutting my wings....It won't affect rings, bar, PB, but it's of course with the tumbling I'm worried.

Any information is welcome =)

And sorry for the bad english.

Totally ruptured will not likely regenerate. They have no scaffold to have new tissue develop on (aka existing ligament), so if they do you'll be extremely lucky. LIgaments also heal extremely slow due to poor blood supply as well. At most you will probably get some scar tissue that will help stabilize the area, but obviously it's nowhere near ligament strength.. and obviously may hinder ability.

If you want to do stuff competitively still it may be a good idea to get surgery.

It is possible to rehab to a point where you theoretically do not need teh ligaments though.... but if you're doing any sort of high level tumbling especially with twisting that may be a bit on the shadier side of things.

Thank you for the answer.

Do you know if this kind of surgery can be done later or it needs to be done asap? Gymnastic in Brazil is a very unpopular sport, unknown for most people, and the doctors seem to simply generically separate atlethes in elite or recreational, though IMO any kind of gymnastic element, except things like a forward roll lol, NEED good stabilization in ankles, knees etc, or I may easly get another injury, even more serious....So with the two doctors I consulted was something like "do you compete? no? then you don't need surgery..." even after I explained that we jump, land, spin and twist in the air.

As for what I want to do, no I dont want to compete. I'm 31, I do gymnastics for conditioning and fun. But agility is a kind of conditioning, which I don't want to lose. Right before I got injured, I was doing things like handsprings, roundoff + tuck back, backflips, fronts, etc. I think the max level I will ever achieve in tumbling is things like double backs, layouts, full twist in front or back...

So I'm lost, I dont know if I look for a doctor that thinks I need surgery, or if I accept this treatment, and risk to retire my tumbling...

If you're not going to compete you likely do not need surgery. I wouldn'tget it.

I know many people who have ruptured most of their ligaments (in sprains) who do fine without them

You just need to get back your range of motion and then strengthen the heck out of your ankles.

Do a lot of stuff into the pit to help save them as well.

Thats nice to hear.

It's strange, because everything I heard and read about it is similar to what you wrote, but the now 3 doctors I saw told me the ligaments will regenerate, because the ankle joint does not have a large ROM, like the knee for example, and thus the ligaments remain close after the rupture, and regenerate, even after a complete rupture....the 3 told me that this is not case to surgery even for elite atlethes. I'm going to get one more opinion from doctors yet, because it's hard to believe in what they are saying...

Now I Gotta be patient and pray a lot....

Well, today again with the doctor, I questioned with more emphasis about the ligaments and he mentioned they form a scar...then I will probably get that scar tissue you mentioned...

Anyway, thanks for the answers, it really helped me to calm down to hear it's not the end of the world, and I will still be able to do stuff, with a special care. I was thinking I would need to stop any kind of tumbling.

Leandro said:

Well, today again with the doctor, I questioned with more emphasis about the ligaments and he mentioned they form a scar...then I will probably get that scar tissue you mentioned...

Anyway, thanks for the answers, it really helped me to calm down to hear it's not the end of the world, and I will still be able to do stuff, with a special care. I was thinking I would need to stop any kind of tumbling.

No problem. You can definitely still do stuff.

You may need some athletic taping of your ankle until you are done with rehab if you are going to continue to practice while you heal though.