Back to walking the dog after an undetected ligament tear

"It was really bad luck. I was out walking my, very large, Labrador Malcom and he and his best friend, another large Labrador, barrelled into me and knocked me flying.

I fell and landed on my left foot and heard a crack. A trip to A&E resulted in an x-ray and a diagnosis of a “sprain”. “Just rest, ice and elevate and it should be fine in a couple of weeks”, said the doctor at the minor injury's clinic.

I hobbled around for 2 weeks. Driving a manual car was impossible and climbing the stairs a real challenge. I was describing my pain to a friend, who suggested visiting Carter and George. Her husband had received really good treatment and suggested that they should take a look at my “sprain”. I went to see Matt, who examined my ankle. He said that my ankle looked concerning, especially as I had no pain where he might expect for a sprain. I described how I had fallen and after further examination, he said that he suspected I had an injury consistent with that of an American Football player!

He said that if he was right, I needed an MRI to confirm it and possible surgery. Matt referred me for an MRI and sure enough he was right, the MRI report was a full side of A4 listing various degrees of soft tissue damage including a complete tear of the 3 major ligaments that join my leg to my ankle. It seems I had more in common with American Football players than I thought.

I was referred to a surgeon and he operated within 2 weeks of my MRI, 6 weeks in a cast and then a second surgery, followed by a boot. If I had continued to walk around on my “sprain”, the surgeon said I would have certainly developed Osteoarthritis in my ankle. I was convinced that I would never walk without a limp and would never run again but Matt assured me that I would be able to recover. My physio with Matt started 2 weeks after my second surgery and Matt worked hard to get as much movement back in my ankle as possible. He gave me exercises to do and worked on my ankle each week. The recovery was slow and after my treatment with Matt, I then saw Maddie for conditioning.

Both Matt and Maddie were really positive and supportive and the exercises they gave me to do we within my limits and things started to improve. I am thrilled to say that I now have around 95% movement back in my ankle and Malc and I are back walking as much and as far as we used to.

It’s been 2 ½ years since my accident and in the summer, I ran my first ever triathlon. I am so grateful to Carter and George for not only spotting my injury but for the recovery plan and unerring confidence that I would be able to recover.

Everyone at the practice was so friendly and professional and I trusted Matt immediately, he was friendly, professional and I had total confidence in his ability.

My injury was pretty significant. Their follow-up care was excellent and I will always call them in the future with any injury. I could not recommend them enough."