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I broke my ankle 10 km from the nearest road
This is a vent more than anything. And a warning.
Less than a week ago, we walked to the lightstation at Wilsons Prom (Victoria, Australia). On the way back, I stepped awkwardly and rolled my left ankle. With nothing holding me up, I was unable to prevent my fall, so fell onto my ankle and twisted it. I heard a crack. Immediately after, I reached to touch my ankle fearing a bone would be sticking out - it wasn't and my foot looked normal. But it seemed like it had lost most stabilization and felt "loose". But I could "walk" (limp) at about a third to half normal speed.
Assessing the situation, there were no roads nearby and no way to land a helicopter. We thought we could walk to the beach which was on the way back anyway, get reception, and get picked up via boat. Anyhow, the beach was a few km away but down the mountain we were on. We get there and have reception, so we call the park. A boat was not available, so we could either walk to the nearest road or call the emergency services and get rescued via helicopter. I walked it.
Total 10 km over 5 hours to get to the ranger who drove us to my car. It is hard to describe how horrendous this was. Towards the end it started to rain, but I didn't want to loose time so I didn't put my rain jacket on, so was completely soaked by the time we met the ranger.
Got the the ER eventually. Broken tibia and fibula. Most of my tibia-talus joint is still intact, which is how I put weight on it, but a part of the tibia is broken off at the joint, and the fibula is basically snapped in half. Will need surgery.
Here's a pic of my foot at the hospital:
https://i.imgur.com/rEwXWq7.jpeg
Anyhow, I think there's a few things I learned. I also want to make sure this never happens again.
- My first aid kit did not contain paracetamol. Whilst I understand often this is not suitable to go in a first aid kit, I think it would have been beneficial.
- I am somewhat overweight (fat) and was carrying a ~10 kg pack. Once I started to go down I think the process was unstoppable. Being overweight impacts agility and means a fall is more likely to result in a break. I am making it a priority to get back to a healthy weight.
- My glasses were fogging up, so they were taken off. This may have contributed to the roll. Although my eyes aren't terrible without glasses.
- Lack of general fitness may have been contributed and attempting to go too fast. It was a 20 km hike.
- I do a lot of hiking alone. Whilst in this case it wouldn't have made a difference as I was with someone and we had emergency reception, something like a satellite communicator would be beneficial in the future in case I am hurt and completely immobile.
- We decided to change which way we took back at the last second, which meant we would need to push harder.
- I am prone to pushing myself way too hard, every time I have gotten away with it. This time I didn't.
- Need ambulance cover.
- Need private health insurance.
- I wonder if variations on the fall could have made it much more worse than it was. I feel it is possible this could have killed me.
- It happened SO FAST. Walking normally and 5 seconds later a broken ankle.
If anyone else has any ideas on how to stop this from happening again, please let me know. I will also search this sub.
I have an enormous amount of sick leave saved up, so this will not impact me financially. I also had to cancel a trip to Norway, Iceland, Faroe Islands, USA, which fucking sucks, but I got most of my money back via refunds and insurance can handle the rest. I need to get fit for this trip when I book it again.
On the plus side, the nurses and doctors were friendly, and the morphine and laughing gas they gave was an experience I will never forget.
#activity #hiking
source
This is a vent more than anything. And a warning.
Less than a week ago, we walked to the lightstation at Wilsons Prom (Victoria, Australia). On the way back, I stepped awkwardly and rolled my left ankle. With nothing holding me up, I was unable to prevent my fall, so fell onto my ankle and twisted it. I heard a crack. Immediately after, I reached to touch my ankle fearing a bone would be sticking out - it wasn't and my foot looked normal. But it seemed like it had lost most stabilization and felt "loose". But I could "walk" (limp) at about a third to half normal speed.
Assessing the situation, there were no roads nearby and no way to land a helicopter. We thought we could walk to the beach which was on the way back anyway, get reception, and get picked up via boat. Anyhow, the beach was a few km away but down the mountain we were on. We get there and have reception, so we call the park. A boat was not available, so we could either walk to the nearest road or call the emergency services and get rescued via helicopter. I walked it.
Total 10 km over 5 hours to get to the ranger who drove us to my car. It is hard to describe how horrendous this was. Towards the end it started to rain, but I didn't want to loose time so I didn't put my rain jacket on, so was completely soaked by the time we met the ranger.
Got the the ER eventually. Broken tibia and fibula. Most of my tibia-talus joint is still intact, which is how I put weight on it, but a part of the tibia is broken off at the joint, and the fibula is basically snapped in half. Will need surgery.
Here's a pic of my foot at the hospital:
https://i.imgur.com/rEwXWq7.jpeg
Anyhow, I think there's a few things I learned. I also want to make sure this never happens again.
- My first aid kit did not contain paracetamol. Whilst I understand often this is not suitable to go in a first aid kit, I think it would have been beneficial.
- I am somewhat overweight (fat) and was carrying a ~10 kg pack. Once I started to go down I think the process was unstoppable. Being overweight impacts agility and means a fall is more likely to result in a break. I am making it a priority to get back to a healthy weight.
- My glasses were fogging up, so they were taken off. This may have contributed to the roll. Although my eyes aren't terrible without glasses.
- Lack of general fitness may have been contributed and attempting to go too fast. It was a 20 km hike.
- I do a lot of hiking alone. Whilst in this case it wouldn't have made a difference as I was with someone and we had emergency reception, something like a satellite communicator would be beneficial in the future in case I am hurt and completely immobile.
- We decided to change which way we took back at the last second, which meant we would need to push harder.
- I am prone to pushing myself way too hard, every time I have gotten away with it. This time I didn't.
- Need ambulance cover.
- Need private health insurance.
- I wonder if variations on the fall could have made it much more worse than it was. I feel it is possible this could have killed me.
- It happened SO FAST. Walking normally and 5 seconds later a broken ankle.
If anyone else has any ideas on how to stop this from happening again, please let me know. I will also search this sub.
I have an enormous amount of sick leave saved up, so this will not impact me financially. I also had to cancel a trip to Norway, Iceland, Faroe Islands, USA, which fucking sucks, but I got most of my money back via refunds and insurance can handle the rest. I need to get fit for this trip when I book it again.
On the plus side, the nurses and doctors were friendly, and the morphine and laughing gas they gave was an experience I will never forget.
#activity #hiking
source
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