The Likely Cause of Ankle Problem

Sheila and I were discussing something about Worker's Compensation over lunch the other day and I suddenly remembered the one time I attempted to file a Worker's Comp claim a few decades ago.  The reason for me filing a Worker's Comp claim as well as memories of this painful incident also came flooding back to me in an instant.  

In hindsight, this Worker's Comp incident is the likely cause to my occasionally recurring ankle problems.  I only experience this problem when I do something careless with my ankle about once every four years or so but I've always wondered about its cause.  I've always just chalked it up to having a physically demanding career and being active in a lot of different sports.  Having been reminded of this incident while actually in an exceptionally painful recurring flareup, however, it all makes a little more sense now.

For a very brief period of my life (a short period I would choose to forget for far too many reasons to get into here), I was the supervisor of a home improvement store's lumber yard (I truly hated that job).  This was one of a few "worst jobs I've ever had in my life" and where an incident injured my left leg, ankle and foot.

A customer needed a few 16 foot long treated 4x6 pieces of lumber.  "Pieces of lumber" isn't really an accurate description of these heavy timbers.  These are big and heavy timbers so I needed the help of one of my guys to load these onto the customer's truck.  There weren't enough pieces left in the current open bunk of lumber so I needed to open a new bunk of lumber.  This happens all the time so this was nothing unusual.

Each of these bunks of lumber is tightly bundled by two steel bands for safe shipping.  I pulled my snips from my tool belt and went around to the other side to cut the first of two steel bands then came back to my side to cut the remaining band.  

This is a long bunk of lumber so I had to reach in about six feet from the end of the bunk with my cutters.  In order to reach this second steel band, I placed my left foot alongside the bunk of lumber.  There were other timbers from an open bunk of lumber sitting on the ground on this side of the bunk of lumber so I placed my foot on the ground in-between one of these big timbers and my bunk of lumber, reached in toward the remaining steel band securing this big bunk of lumber, and forced my snips under the steel band...

I should also mention that each of these big, heavy timbers weighs about 90 lbs.  The whole bunk of lumber includes about 89 timbers, if I remember correctly.  That puts the total weight of this bunk of lumber at about 8000 lbs.  We had extra large forklifts just to handle these particular bunks of lumber.

With my left foot planted firmly on the ground right next to this bunk of lumber, my left leg in contact with the bunk, and the left side of my foot against another big timber.  There was just enough room in this tight space to slide my foot in far enough to reach this steel band that still needed to be cut.  

So I reached forward to slide my aviation snips under the remaining band, forcing it under the band, then squeezing the snips to cut the band.  The band is under tension so, when I cut it, it exploded open and flew off the top of the bunk of lumber.  The moment the bunk of lumber was freed from this second steel band, it suddenly rolled to the left, pinning my left leg on top of the hard edge of the timber I had placed my foot next to so I could reach the band I needed to cut.  The whole bunk had instantly rolled wildly on top of my leg as soon as it was freed from the second steel band.  

My adrenaline must have been pumping because I was only feel a 'pinching' sensation on the left side of my ankle when this first occurred.  I immediately tried to slide my leg out from under this heavy load but my leg wouldn't budge.  I tried to lift one of the top timbers...  just my end of this 16 foot timber... in an attempt to start throwing these timbers off myself, one by one...  because of the position I was in while lying on the ground, I couldn't get enough leverage to move even one of these big timbers.

The guy helping me retrieve this lumber so we could load it into the customer's truck came running around to my end of the bunk in a frantic attempt to get me out from under this four ton bunk of lumber.  Pulling me out wasn't an option so he started to lift one timber at a time and trying to fling the end of lumber away from the bunk.  As one end of a timber was lifted, the others underneath would shift causing intense pain in my leg.  This new plan wasn't working either.  As more of my guys came running over, one ran for one of larger forklifts.  

As the bunk rolled, it also expanded wider than the length of the forks on the forklift could reach so the forklift couldn't get under the whole bunk all the way to the back where I was pinned.  He tried to lift the front two-thirds of this loose bunk but that only caused the bunk to roll more and it was rolling more toward the direction of being on top of my left leg.  Now I was beginning to feel more constant pain.  Although only a few minutes had passed at this point, there was enough time of waiting on help that the pain was beginning to become significant.

Realizing that the forklift was of no help, two of my guys got into position, one guy on each end of this bunk, and started lifting these timbers off me, carefully, one by one.  It was like playing a game of giant pick-up sticks.  They tried to carefully lift each timber, by hand, without disturbing the rest of the pile of timbers so no more timbers would roll onto me.  As they lifted more and more of these timbers off me, some did continue to roll and settle causing more pain.  

These guys worked very quickly and managed to get me freed within a few short minutes.  After they dragged me a few feet away from this bunk, my left leg wasn't looking too happy and now the pain was really setting in and getting worse.  I had some abrasions on each side of my leg, it was bright red, and it was beginning to swell into a sort of Z shape.  

The store manager was called and my guys told him what happened.  He couldn't believe that I had one of these bunks of lumber on top of me.  He actually thought my guys were kidding him!  That is really the last thing I remember until I was being examined by a doctor.

I think two of my guys helped me hobble to a car and another employee drove me to an Urgent Care facility a few blocks away.  I don't remember an ambulance so I think they helped me to a car and someone drove me.  

I don't know exactly how much weight pinned me down but I know it was roughly about a ton or so of this 8000 lb bunk of lumber.  Oddly, I remember the incident vividly but I really don't remember much of the Urgent Care visit.  I do, however, remember the pain afterward and trying to hobble around...  very much like how I am trying to hobble around this past week.  

I also remember that the Home Improvement store manager didn't want to give me any time off to recover.  The doctor was telling me to ice the leg a few times a day and keep the leg elevated for a week or two while the store manager was telling me to be back at work tomorrow.  As I wrote at the beginning of this blog entry, this was one of a few worst jobs I've ever had in my life and I truly hate it.  This incident didn't help endear me to this job in the least.

I recovered in less than a week, mostly, because I was forced by my store manager, no leave (leave was only unpaid excused absences at this place) and I needed a paycheck.  I eventually went through some additional physically demanding Air Force training for a physically demanding new job in the Air Force sometime later so I know I had recovered fully.  I stayed in great shape and never really had any recurring problems with this leg injury until sometime after I was retired from the Air Force.  Every few years, the pain returns, swelling returns, and I have great difficulty getting around for a few days or couple of weeks.  

The crazy thing is I never made the connection between this recurring problem and my injury at the lumber yard until Sheila and I had this conversation about Worker's Compensation the other day.

Have I mentioned that I hated that job?  I suppose one could say that, in hindsight, I was correct in my assessment of that job.