‘Ten years on my ankle still hurts’

‘Click’. That’s the noise I remember from when I went over on my left ankle playing football with my mates ten years ago.

Painful? You bet it was. I thought I’d broken my ankle at first, until my mate Andy – a senior physiotherapist at Nuffield Health – pointed out that the immediate swelling was evidence of serious ligament damage and not a break.

“Get yourself to hospital,” he said.

I was living off the bank of mum and dad at the time and got dropped off at their house, managing to crawl up their garden as I could no longer hop on one leg as the pain was too much (I got dropped off at home as my mates wanted to keep playing). I crawled through the back door and the conversation went something like this.

‘Dad!

‘What?’

‘Can you do me a favour and run me to hospital? I’ve done my ankle in.’

‘No, for goodness sake.’

‘Fine. Can you get me my mobile?’

‘Why?’

‘So I can call an ambulance.’

‘Fine. I’ll take you. Just wait there.’

Drama queen? Absolutely.

Three hours later and sitting in Glasgow’s Western Infirmary I had my ankle in a thick sock-like contraption, nothing like the kind of plastic brace Rory McIlroy had in his Instagram picture (below) when he revealed his injury to his 592,000 followers. I was handed pain-relief pills that were meant to last me the week. I had used them up by the following evening.

I’d suffered serious ankle ligament damage and was told to keep off my feet for a couple of days, then start rehab. I remember I could put weight on my left leg the following week but was unable to fully run through every rehab session because of the pain.

Rehab involved standing up and putting all your weight on the damaged ankle, lifting the other leg behind you, stretching out your arms and closing your eyes. You look daft, but try standing there for one minute without falling over. The stress on the ankle helps repair the damaged tissue, and make the ankle stronger. I also did a number of lunges, squats, basically anything that involved putting the ankle under some kind of sustained stress. You only do the rehab a few times a day, for 30 minutes, until it begins to get too painful to do.

I didn’t complete my rehab because I got bored and played guitar instead. I have since regretted that. Last year I had to see a physiotherapist because my ankle, ten years on, still hurts from time to time.

Let that be a warning to Rory: don’t cut corners. The PGA at Whistling Straits is in 36 days but, trust me Rory, it can wait.

Bryce Ritchie is the Editor of bunkered and, in addition to leading on content and strategy, oversees all aspects of the brand. The first full-time journalist employed by bunkered, he joined the company in 2001 and has been editor since 2009. A member of Balfron Golfing Society, he currently plays off nine and once got a lesson from Justin Thomas’ dad.

Editor of bunkered