Broken Left Ankle & manual car

[driving_frown]

Broke left ankle... discharged from fracture clinic after 3 weeks... told wear air cast till week 6, then get back to work and no physio... feels like DIY medicine.
Asked how long till I can drive a manual car and only response was that I could drive an automatic.
All feels a bit crazy... Interested to know how long it was before other people were driving a manual plus any advice.

[dibblecorse]

Not quite the same but was 11 weeks after my last knee surgery ... needed GP sign off ...

[stevensdrs]

Shattered my ankle and had the meccano set on my leg for 4 weeks then 6 weeks plaster. I was driving 2 weeks into the plaster cast though the medical advice was to wait until the cast came off. If you can work the clutch you can drive.

[parabolica]

Same as you OP (twice!) Both times it was 6 weeks in a cast then physio for a few weeks after that. Most frustrating 12 weeks of my life as I had not long got my license! Couldn't drive for those 6 weeks in a cast and then a further 4-6 weeks after removal as the ankle wasn't strong enough to operate the clutch on my old 1.2 Clio.

Luckily I lived on private land at the time so was able to constantly practice in the car until I was feeling able to get back behind the wheel, but it took a while (+ a very protective mother at the time). Auto would have been ok the first time as I broke my left, not so much the second time as I broke my right ankle in 2008.

[Ares]

Issue can be insurance.

My ex had surgery and told not to drive for 10 weeks. After 5 weeks she was fine, running, riding horses etc. After 6 weeks she took her car out and had a non-fault fender-bender.

She contacted her insurance to process the claim, and had to disclose the surgery. When she admitted (foolishly?) that the doctor had 'advised' her not to drive for 10 weeks, she was told her insurance wasn't valid and she could have been liable for prosecution. Luckily, the other driver sorted the repairs out directly so it didn't become an issue.

When she investigated further, the issue is not the issue of being able to drive normally, it's your ability to react in an emergency - i.e., would she have had 100% strength and control to perform an emergency stop etc.

[curlie467]

At a guess, you really wouldn't want to be pulled over or have an accident with your leg in plaster.

[ishay]

The fact the hospital didn’t set a time for you to not drive may have been to help with your insurance. They suggested to me that was why they don’t get too specific.

I’m lucky I have an automatic as an option and no cast (left knee) so I’m driving happily. It wouldn’t be ideal to explain the crutches in an accident though (not to the insurance but to the other driver)

I’ve made good use of disabled spaces at work and in private car parks though. So there are upsides!

[driving_frown]

Air cast is bigger than a fibre cast it would press 2 pedals at the same time :/

Unsure how I am meant to know ankle is healed enough at 6 weeks to ditch the cast...
told no physio required...
told I will only be able to drive an automatic in case I break ankle again.....

which is why I am wondering how long till I can drive a manual car, whether people do go back to a manual, or whether I need to change my car so I can get to work

[gnc]

got a friend who in 1969 drove his frogeye sprite with a metal caliper on his broken left leg, had some funny looks when he was getting out of it and it didnt do the clutch anygood.

[555 Paul]

When I broke my left ankle I was able to put full weight on it (briefly) and drive and drive within about 2 weeks. As soon as I got my first cast cut off I started putting a little weight on it.

[mgst170]

I’m @week 5 since breaking my right ankle.

Supposedly a good ‘Webber a’ break.

I was driving from the get go, as I didn’t go to the hospital for a week 🙈 as it hadn’t got any better.

Aircast/moonboot thing off now and all good, even hard braking.

No physio unless I think I need it.

Ultimately all depends on the severity of the break.