DON'T BE BROKEN BY A BREAK

After breaking his leg in a skiing accident, Chris Marshall-Bell strove to bounce back as rapidly as a pro cyclist. Here's what he learnt along the way

- Chris Marshall-Bell

It was an innocuous-seeming skiing incident, but I knew in an instant that I had broken my left leg. I didn't hear a crack, but my ski snagged in the hard-packed snow, and my boot, rather than unclipping, wrenched my ankle violently. Landing in a heap, I sensed it was a bad one. It was my first serious injury, and I knew that a long road to recovery lay ahead - albeit not yet sure what that meant. When would the excruciating pain subside? When would I be out of a cast? How long would the bones take to heal? Once the initial panic passed, I began to think about how bike racers routinely bounce back from the agony and uncertainty of broken bones: I was going to have a lot to learn from them.

Cycling is not my livelihood, but it was still very important to me to know when, or roughly when, I'd be back on a bike. I knew that if anyone could reassure me, it would be Phil Burt, former head of physiotherapy at British Cycling - so I gave him a call. “Rehab is not linear,” Burt said. “You will get back to how you were, but you have to let the body catch up.”

Six months later, I’m finally beginning to believe him. Though my ankle is not yet 100% - it still hurts if I'm on my feet too long, and I’ve only just returned to running - I am back to my pre-injury level of cycling fitness. Given the amount of damage - sprained knee, complex fracture of the ankle/fibula, and complete tear of the ligament connecting foot and ankle - I am feeling lucky just to be physically active again. Honestly, I’ve been astounded by how well my body has recovered - and I want to share the key rehab lessons I have learned along the way.

Time heals