Miscellaneous Blog Posts

Ankle mystery solved

My left ankle has been weird since last August. And I haven’t done much about it as there were enough things to keep me busy besides bike riding.

But the lingering pain finally made me revisit the hospital to get it sorted. The worst case scenario I had in my mind was that an immediate surgery would be ideal due to some major damage to the bone or ligament, which would mean I’ve let the past half year completely go to waste.

After MRI, it turns out that my ankle bone has necrosis in part. I got injured riding my bike, where a fail bail led to a harsh landing on foot and the impact load against tibia crushed the talus bone, along with its cartilage layer. No wonder it hurts. The area of necrosis seems as large as half a quail egg. Bone graft is an option, but not before giving a shot at natural healing for a year or so.

Now I’m glad. At least no time was wasted in the process, and it doesn’t hurt that much when I ride. It may be common knowledge, but bikes are far easier for your body than walking or running, even if you are talking about bikes for street actions.

For walking and riding, I got prescription ankle braces. For some reason I don’t know, I ended up ordering two to cover both sides. Seriously don’t know why I did it but my ankles must be happy.