After a sixty some years of swimming for enjoyment and fitness with occsional competition as fun I had to have ankle surgery that resulted in a fused ankle.
I am in therapy and rejoined my local masters group last week But I wonder how much ambition I should harbor, I now I lose about 30% vertical mobility in the ankle and probably won't be able to kick effectively. But I thought perhaps the *** stroke and butterfly could be my focus.
Do any of my fellow members have suggestions - experience to share?
Art "Happy" Klein
Niagara masters
:)
I've got teammate who was born with a congenital ankle problem. This has made it very difficult for him to kick effectively. This said, he's an excellent swimmer.
Are you able to do any kind of stretching exercises to restore some flexibility? I'm not sure I exactly what a fused ankle is, but I get the image of it being impossible for you to point your toes--so your foot is permanently stuck in a kind of L shape.
Could you talk to your rehab person, explain how important swimming is to you, and see if they can come up with a plan to let you extend the range of motion over time?
I agree with the earlier correspondent to figure out how this affects your times, then go from there. It's a pain, I suspect, but it is possible to make such adjustments. I am coming back from a painful shoulder, just had a meet for the first time in 6 months, and my times were 5 seconds slower in the 200 and 24 seconds slower in the 500--but still I was happy to do this well!
Good luck. Give yourself a bit of time, work towards making the best of the ankle flexibility, get better at breaststroke (where it might even be beneficial!), and check back with your progress.
I've got teammate who was born with a congenital ankle problem. This has made it very difficult for him to kick effectively. This said, he's an excellent swimmer.
Are you able to do any kind of stretching exercises to restore some flexibility? I'm not sure I exactly what a fused ankle is, but I get the image of it being impossible for you to point your toes--so your foot is permanently stuck in a kind of L shape.
Could you talk to your rehab person, explain how important swimming is to you, and see if they can come up with a plan to let you extend the range of motion over time?
I agree with the earlier correspondent to figure out how this affects your times, then go from there. It's a pain, I suspect, but it is possible to make such adjustments. I am coming back from a painful shoulder, just had a meet for the first time in 6 months, and my times were 5 seconds slower in the 200 and 24 seconds slower in the 500--but still I was happy to do this well!
Good luck. Give yourself a bit of time, work towards making the best of the ankle flexibility, get better at breaststroke (where it might even be beneficial!), and check back with your progress.
