Ankle Injury Rehab

[Achamian]

I had a lump of scar tissue in my ankle from an old injury that was a problem. It was painful, limited movement in my ankle and eventually led to chronic plantar fasciitis that was making my job at the swimming pool difficult. It was at the point where i couldn't walk barefoot around the pool for even a few minutes of my day without paying a hefty price as soon as i sat down. I'd consulted a physical therapist, done lots and lots of self massage and stretching exercises to work it out. Walked miles over two summers on loose sand to work it out. I Essentially followed every reccomendation and it was still a persistent issue. After two months on the one wheel i am very very pleased to say that i can now walk barefoot around the pool again. The scar tissue in my ankle feels like it's literally dissolved. It's miraculous really. I just realized yesterday that it's been weeks since I've felt any pain at all in my foot or ankle. The onewheel is responsible. It's just so hard to reccomend it as a machine to rehab an ankle injury when so much more can happen once you hop on but honestly to anyone with any board skills who needs to rehab a foot or ankle injury i would reccomend a one wheel. Even my anger at the runaway issue takes a backseat to the realization that just the act of riding the thing has set me free from what was years of physical pain.

[E-Wave_I]

I have a similar condition. I may have had a childhood trauma from jumping from trees, but never "broke" my ankle as far as I or my parents can recall. A pretty severe arthritic condition reared its head when I began working in solar, installing panels on rooftops and walking steep pitches all day. I had an experimental surgery to install a temporary frame to distract the joint, then had a 2nd surgery to remove that, then a third surgery to clean up the cartilage borders. After 4 years of surgeries, changing work duties and daily self-guided rehab, I had better movement and less pain than ever. I purchased my OneWheel this summer and have been surprised as well by how it challenges me to stretch. The gentle intermittent pushback forces me to hold my foot in dorsiflexion while traversing gentle bumps in the sidewalk. I switch between regular and goofy stances about every mile or major traffic crossing to give my bad ankle a rest. The unnatural motions required to ride this board also really work my hips in ways I never expected. It's a great gentle nudge out of my comfort zone. I know it's electric and not really working muscles, but I do feel it is at least helping me work on my sense of balance and reaction time.