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For those recovering from foot and ankle injuries, the iWalk is far and away the most innovative and versatile crutch available. Here's why.
Today is the one-year anniversary of the day I jumped on a trampoline and suffered a Lisfranc fracture of my right foot. It’s a good day for reflection, to consider how far I’ve come and the challenges yet to overcome.
When I tore my Lisfranc ligament June 2 and needed reconstructive surgery, I expressed to my doctor that I wanted to participate in a 215-mile, 20,000-vertical-foot, hut-to-hut backcountry mountain bike ride from Telluride, Colorado to Moab, Utah three months later. “That’s not definitely out of the question,” she’d said. Her initial optimism was all I needed to keep the ride on my autumn to-do list.
Throughout my recovery I adhered 100 percent to my doctor’s orders except one. With a 200-mile, 20,000-vertical-foot, across-the-West mountain bike ride to train for, I needed to get my heart and lungs pumping harder again. The only way to train those organs is to put in the time.
Recovering from Lisfranc surgery is like touching a hot stove. You know it’s going to hurt, but until you actually experience it you don’t know how much. For me, the ordeal was more difficult physically and emotionally than I’d imagined.
Our feet are amazing and complex. Each has 26 bones and 33 joints, of which 20 actively articulate. A foot has more than a hundred muscles, tendons and ligaments. With all those mechanics built to support 200 or more pounds, how could something not go wrong once you’ve broken it, drilled through it or added hardware to it?
With an impending two and a half-month recovery from a Lisfranc fracture and surgery, I decided to build a plan, which helped with my optimism, focus and determination.
On June 2, 2018, I over rotated while doing a front flip on a trampoline and sustained a moderate Lisfranc fracture that merited open reduction internal fixation (ORIF) surgery. This is the story of my journey from injury to recovery: how I planned, what I learned, and how I stayed motivated to overcome this potentially debilitating foot fracture.
For 20 years I suffered from iliotibial band knee pain and couldn’t run. Here’s how I finally moved past it at age 50 and tackled my first half-marathon and half Ironman courses.