David .....

..... the physiotherapist

This lunchtime I had an appointment at the local hospital to see David about the slow recovery of my ankle injury from two months ago. The injury has been steadily recovering and I can now walk normally on it but there is still pain in the ankle when walking down stairs and some mobility issues with it.

I'd had an X-ray at the time the injury occurred and knew I hadn't fractured any bones but no one had diagnosed what had happened ( David seemed surprised that I hadn't been given crutches and offered a follow up appointment after the X-ray ). The appointment today was 40 minutes long and after a lot of standing on alternate feet and having both ankles manipulated in every way and position possible, David was able to give me a diagnosis of what the issue is. It turns out that I've ruptured ( in layman's terms, snapped in half ) my anterior talofibular ligament ( ATFL ) .

Apparently it's possible to get around without too many problems without this ligament and David has given me a number of exercises to do to strengthen up muscles in my lower leg and improve my balance in the ankle to try and compensate for the lack of ATFL. He also said that if the problems I'm having with my ankle persist it may be necessary to have an operation to take ligament from elsewhere to replace the ruptured ATFL.

David kindly agreed to pose for a photo with his rather fine Mo ( I like the sign in the reception of the physio department ), so today's blip is .....


..... David the physiotherapist